Movie Mush: Don 2: SRK is back, at last!

It's been long since I watched a decent movie starring Shah Rukh Khan. The last was "Om Shanti Om", after which came the horribly made "Billu Barber" and an even worse "Ra.One". "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" was good, no doubt, but I didn't like the flawed logic in the story. In fact, the only reason I actually went to watch "Don 2" is because of Farhan Akthar. I am a big fan of his work and just couldn't resist missing this one.

All of that said, you got to hand it to SRK. SRK is truly back. He delivers in style in this movie. His witty, dialogs have you in splits in many an occasion. The famous SRK charm has been missing in a few recent ventures of his and has been thankfully utilized well here.


Coming to the movie, the thing that irks you about "Don 2" is that, other than the title and the main characters repeating themselves, it doesn't actually feel like you are watching a sequel. There aren't too many references to the first part. If you haven't watched "Don" (2006), you'd still manage to understand "Don 2" without too much of an effort.


Other than that, the story is any other regular bank robbery story, where the lead character masterminds a bank robbery and his associates turn against him. Even the execution is the same as in many other bank robbery movies that you'd have seen. But what makes "Don 2" worth a watch in spite of all this is definitely SRK's and Boman Irani's roles. Without either of these guys, it seems almost impossible to imagine the "Don.." franchise. It is amazing how Boman Irani can slip into any role with effortless ease. As the baddie Vardhaan, he is every bit as convincing as SRK is as Don.


The rest of the cast includes heavy weights such as Priyanka Chopra , Om Puri, Lara Dutta, etc but they have all been under utilised. Same goes for Hrithik Roshan's cameo as well (Yes, he comes in a five minute role and disappears before you can get out of the realization that he's actually in the movie).

The fact that the movie is shot entirely outside India should have probably inspired the camera man and the editor. Because the Cinematography and Editing are top rate. Comparable to Hollywood standards. Similarly, witty dialogs are a definite plus.

The only disappointment is the music department. Is it actually "Shankar Eshaan Loy", who composed three forgettable numbers and such a pathetic BGM for this movie. Coming to think of the fact that the same combo gave great hits such as in "Dil Chahta Hai" and "Lakshya", it is a shock.


Some sequences have no logic, but going to watch a movie such as "Don 2", one shouldn't probably complain too much. For, it is more convincing than "Don" was, is more logical and a more racy screenplay. Farhan hasn't disappointed.


Planning to spend your holidays well? Go for "Don 2".. 2 hours and 20 minutes of entertainment guaranteed.


A definite 7 out of 10!

Movie Mush: Mayakkam Enna

Selvaraghavan's movies are never perfect.. I personally didn't like his maiden venture (as writer) in "Thulluvadho Ilamai". But he made us sit up and take note of him with "Kaadhal Kondein" and "7G Rainbow Colony". Again, these were not perfect movies: they had some bad acting at certain scenes, some loopholes in the story. But they worked, because Selva makes movies that you can instantly connect to. He is a time tested master at showcasing situations and emotions in a boy-girl relationship that other directors dared not to enter into (at least before his entry into Tamil cinema). And with "Pudhupettai" and "Aayirathil Oruvan", he scaled new peaks though both the movies had a lot of sloppy scenes.





"Mayakkam Enna" is a near-realistic story of a young and aspiring wildlife photographer Karthik alias Genius (Dhanush) who wants to make it big. Along the way, he falls in love with the girl whom his friend is dating, marries her, gets back stabbed by the man he considers as his idol in wildlife photography, meets with an accident and goes mentally unstable. What happens next makes for a gripping last 20 minutes.


Typical of all other Selva's movies, this movie has its share of positives and negatives. Addressing the negatives first, the screenplay is ordinary at instances and as a result, some scenes are not clearly understandable straight away. Maybe it is because the movie was wrapped up in less than two months from start to finish. But compared to his other ventures, the screenplay here wasn't the best.


Secondly, the first half, though is entertaining, I'm not clear on why it even exists. Its almost as if there are two separate movies: the first half where Dhanush falls in love with his "nanbanin kaadhali" :P and the second half where he goes mentally unstable. 


Thirdly, the growth of Dhanush to the standard of an international photographer is shown in something like two minutes. Similarly, some other sequences are abrupt and leave a lot to be desired.

Finally, the casting of Dhanush (with due respect to the national award winning actor) is questionable. He does his role well, yes, but I thought the part where he goes mental could have been portrayed better with someone of more versatility (I don't know, Vikram, maybe, or even Ajith). Maybe the other actors weren't brave enough to play the role or maybe Selva didn't bother approaching them, but I personally think that the movie would have been better that way.


Despite all these, "Mayakkam Enna" is my Tamil movie of the year (I can't compare this with "Deivathirumagal" because the latter is an outright copy of "I am Sam"), because this movie has a soul. It is a modern fairy tale, told in typical Selva style, that tells you to chase your dreams and respect friends and family and be grateful for them. I am totally for it. That is exactly where Selva scores.


Dhanush, as usual, delivers a powerhouse performance and shows a lot of maturity in acting for his age. But, as mentioned earier, this role demands more versatility than even Dhanush's capacity but still he does a neat job of it. Kudos, Dhanush.


Richa Gangopadhyay (photo below) makes a dream debut. A role of immense scope and she scores! She's one of the best finds of this year, if you ask me. I was seriously moved in the scene where she breaks down while she cleans the floor of her own blood due to the miscarriage.

The other friends and family of Dhanush all almost play their roles to perfection. Some scenes are sheer poetry: like the one where Dhanush falls down mesmerised while capturing a photograph of a bird (the photo below), the scene when he requests an old woman to pose for a photo, the climax and most importantly, the scene during the end credits (dont walk out when the movie ends; wait for the end credit; the small scene in it is perhaps the best part of the movie).

All songs are good, though the "Pirai Thedum" song is definitely the highlight. GV Prakash Kumar does a neat job in the background score: silent when necessary. Sometimes, a music director needs to also know when exactly to be silent. GVP scores a bull's eye in that regard in this movie.

I have spoken enough about Selva in the first paragraph, so I don't think I must go into telling that he proves his worth once again. I was pleasantly surprised to note that he has almost minimized the use of (his erstwhile popular) crass sexual innuendos in this movie to a bare minimum. Way to go, Selva! 

The cinematography is decent. The editing could have been better.


Yes, the second half reminds one of "A Beautiful Mind", agreed, but its more than that. It doesn't feel like a copy of that movie, rather it only complements it. Whether it was inspired from "A Beautiful Mind" or not, only Selva should answer.


Overall, if you have an open mind, you will enjoy this "Mayakkam Enna". Or if you expect a movie where the "hero" has to have three fight sequences, two romantic songs and one intro song and should jump 20 floors without getting hurt, you better not watch this movie rather than watching it and commenting all nonsense about it.


I'd give it 7 out of 10. With better screenplay i would have given it even a 9! Sorry, Selva, but thanks for this movie: just next time, take some time to make your screenplay perfect.

Movie Mush: ROCKSTAR: Not As Rocking As It Could Have Been!

Imitaz Ali's newest offering starring Ranbir Kapoor and Nargis Fakhri has more stuff working for it than not. But the problem is that it tries too hard to be an epic, which unfortunately is visible!

The story revolves around the life of Janarthan alais Jordan (Ranbir) who aspires to be a rockstar. I have to admit: When I walked into the movie, if someone had said that there could be another contribution to the movie as good as Rahman's music, I would have laughed at it. But then, there was Ranbir playing the best role of his lifetime and by the end ofthe movie, I really had myself doubting, which of the two was better: Ranbir's performance or Rahman's music. Truly fabulous performance by Ranbir.

The subtle changes in body language that Jordan displays during the various phases of his life - the naive Jordan, the Jordan trying to impress Keer (Nargis Fakhri), the Jordan madly in love with Keer, the Jordan after Keer gets married to someone else, the Jordan after he is grounded from his home, the Jordan when he gets to meet Keer again, etc etc - are an absolute treat to watch.

Nargis Fakhri is drop dead gorgeous, yes, and she does extremely well for a newcomer, yes, but for a role of such huge scope, my personal opinion is that Imitaz should have played it safe by having a more versatile actor playing the role..! The biggest problem with the movie is that Nargis's performance - though good- is not convincing enough. She is much better than the many new stone-faced actors but still, her chemistry with Jordan is not as good as the Saif-Deepika chemistry was in "Love Aaj Kal" or the awesome Shahid-Kareena chemistry in "Jab We Met". Maybe that is where Imitaz Ali misses a trick or two..

Rahman's background score is an absolute value addition and along with the beautiful cinematography carries the first half through without an effort. Sometimes people walk out of theater during songs. In this movie, even those who had strayed outside now and then came rushing in when a song starts: the power of Rahman!

The cinematography - especially the scenes in Kashmir got me breathless. Fantastic work there!

The "love can cure any disease" segment in second half almost got me irritated. Eu tu, Imitaz! It is at certain sections in the second half that you almost get bored of what should have been highly emotional scenes (please note: those who loved "Twilight" could call these scenes the best scenes in Bollywood film history. I have no comments about that!). After a point, you just want to know what happens at the end.. The movies starts dragging, when Keer gets hospitalized. Even Jordan calls her and asks "Tum kab mar rahi ho?". You read my mind there, Jordan! :P

One should appreciate Imitaz Ali for venturing into uncharted territory - yes there was "Rock On", but it was a rock version of "Dil Chahta Hai" - and doing reasonably well in that.

Overall, its worth a watch for ARR's awesome awesome music and Ranbir's carrer best role.

I'd give it 3 out of 5.

7am Arivu: Over-hyped but under-rated!

By Tuesday night, reviews of A.R.Murugadoss's long awaited magnum-opus "7am arivu" had come: Scathing reviews accused that the movie was over-hyped and that it fails to deliver miserably.

However, having booked for "7am arivu" almost a week before all of this, I was upset that I had wasted another 120 bucks of my money for another boring venture. Note: I had watched "Raavanan", "Kaavalan", "Manmadhan Ambu", etc this year, some of them FDFS only to be disappointed!

On Friday, I also watched "Velayudham" at Padmam for Evening Show and felt that it was a nice popcorn entertainment movie and assumed that most people who claimed that "Velayudham" was better than "7am arivu" were correct!

So, I went to "7am arivu" for 7:15 show at Sunday morning expecting myself to be bored and irritated, but hey, to my pleasant surprise, found the movie to be NOT BORING, NOT IRRITATING and NOT MOKKAI..

Let us address the negative critics first before moving to the positives:

1. That the movie was over-hyped:


Very true, from what I hear. But I don't watch too much of TV (yes, even the Diwali special shows included), so I was thankfully masked from most of the hype. But judging from the outcry of so many people, I guess that yes, the movie was probably a little over-hyped, but so what?

I have seen worse movies that were over-hyped (I can name those but that would needlessly start a war of words between "mass hero" fans) and this one definitely is much much better than that!

2. That the storyline was absurd:

True! But hey, its not a documentary about the life of "Bodhidharman" to have a plausible, believable story line. There is an element of fantasy in it and it was, I must say, well executed. Someone as smart as ARM should not have used the word "genetic memory" to explain how "Bodhidharman"'s memory and skills could be inherited by the present day Aravindan (Surya). Someone who understands what that term means would laugh at it.

Apart from that, I found nothing too absurd with the story. If you want reality, go watch Discovery channel! If you come to an escapist medium like Tamil Cinema and ask a hundred questions of how this is fair or not, plausible or not, believable or not is stupidity. Some suapension of disbelief is always necessary!

3. That the graphics were bad in the movie:

Firstly, I request everyone who claims that the graphics were bad in this movie to come and watch the movie in theater before complaining about the graphics. Even "Avatar" would have sucked to you people because you watched a TC rip of the movie in which the graphics were bad!

If, for a budget of 84 crores (that is what i heard! Correct me if I'm wrong!) someone could make a movie with better graphics than this, I would stop writing reviews!

4. That the first half was very boring:

I beg to differ! Time didn't drag on when i watched the movie, either in the first or second half. The biggest plus of the movie was the arresting cinematography by Ravi.K.Chandran. I never felt like walking out of the theater during any of the songs in the first half.

The love sequence between Surya and Sruthi Hassan was not boring, as many reviewers had put it, though it was difficult to believe that a circus artist would walk around in MGM, Skywalk, etc in new clothes at all times.

5. That the zombie-like fight sequence in the second half was funny:

It was deliberately meant to be that way. And the use of CG was near perfect, so stop blaming it! Kudos to ARM for bringing in a zombie like sequence for the first time in tamil film history! :D :P

6. That the use of "Eelam" has been deliberately made to gain people's sympathy and as a marketing gimmickry:

Please shut it, people! All I saw in the movie was a director's genuine angst against the atrocity committed over thousands of people in Lanka. It is ARM's first movie after the LTTE has been overthrown and obviously, he wanted to register his views too! Don't blow it out of proportions!

7. That Sruthi Hassan's acting was flat:


Yes, to this, I completely agree. She seems to have 4 or 5 standard expressions after which all she seems to be able to muster is a stone-face. A real insult to her daddy, if you ask me :D. If she were not as gorgeous as she is, I would actually hurl a few abuses at her! :P

8. That the movie praises Tamil Language when its not needed, and as a marketing gimmickry:

No, I think it is much needed. People who know a little bit of history will understand that the Tamils had a rich cultural heritage. ARM doesn't go overboard with his praises over the Tamil language. It is for the same reason that we misunderstood "Ayirathil Oruvan". A lot of pathetic Tamils couldn't understand the ancient Tamil language spoken in the second half.. Pathetic! Whether ARM praises Tamil language and Tamil culture or not, I am always a proud Tamil. Now that he has, I am just a little more proud!

Now that we have addressed the negatives, all I got to tell you is don't believe the fake reviews of people who haven't watched the movie.

Excellent technicians have played a vital role in making the movie crisp and entertaining. Just, keep your brain at home; go to the theater and enjoy some good popcorn entertainment.

"Happy Independence Day": LOL!

I had seriously believed in the concept of something patriotic, some feeling of brotherhood, some freshness in the air I breathe - knowing that it was the air of freedom - and what not, whenever someone wished me "Happy Independence Day".

It took me along time to realize that almost everyone was wishing me as if they were machines, as if it were a ritual, an utterance for the sake of it. Why, I myself, was more concerned about the cultural event - in school - and the fact that it was a holiday - while in college - on Independence Day.

The youth are too enthused about Valentine's Day, the elderly are too concerned about their Diwali or Ramzan and the poor Independence Day and Republic Day seems to have no takers. Everyone is happy that it is a holiday.

"All right", you may ask, "so what should one do, on independence day?".

I do not ask of you to remember Gandhi and Bose and Bhagat Singh on this day and weep for their sacrifice. If you like them, remember them. That's your choice.


What we can, at least, do is to to assess, on every independence day, if we really are free. This is an almost cliched, old argument that I am almost yawning right now, at having repeating it over and over again.

I spoke of it, at first, at a speech during my school independence day speech. No one really bothered listening. (May be, I made a bad speech, I don't exactly remember). After this, I had again talked of how really independent we actually are on numerous occasions.

The maximum those talks did were to win me a few prizes in a few oratorical competitions. However, I shall repeat it again, because I really don't think a vast section of our population is really independent.

In my book, Freedom is the ability to live your own life without unreasonable limitations.

In that regard, here are the three category of those who are not completely free:

1) Women:

For centuries, man has suppressed women, knowing full well the fact that she was mentally and intellectually tougher than him, using the only weapon he had at hand - brute force.


We can call our women free,


If our mothers can walk the roads bravely at night;


If our sisters can wear T-Shirts without worrying about whether cheap eyes will stare at them all the time;


If our wives (no pun intended) or girlfriends can travel in buses without worrying about some rascal standing behind them.

Though these lines are cliched, they are not outdated and still very relevant, which is why I choose to repeat it over and over again.

2) The Minorities:

No one faces such appalling lack of freedom after women in India as do the minorities.

Christians and especially Muslims are treated with prejudice.

Even among educated people, where Dalits are treated with sympathy, the most important commodity that they have been asking for years, "Respect" is still missing.

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are often frowned upon by other castes, because of reservations allotted to them. This is especially prevalent among young Indians which is a frightening prospect, as it only confirms another generation of hatred.

3) Children:

Of all people, I choose children as the ones with lack of freedom because I strongly believe that they are the ones who are denied freedom at many levels.

They are robbed off their freedom for fun, by ambitious parents who want to make them ready for competitive world.

They are robbed off their freedom for choice, when they are forced by their parents to pursue a doctorate or an engineering, with least consideration for the choice of their children.

While the above mentioned criteria are the problems faced by children growing in educated families, the freedom for living itself is threatened for children living in poor and below poverty level conditions.

The above mentioned categories comprise of a staggering 75% (by the most lenient of estimates) of our population. What we are going to do about it? I am clueless.

So, folks, happy Independence Day. Somehow, I just don't feel proud to say it.

Movie Mush: Deiva Thirumagal

Knowing that this was an adaptation of "I am Sam", I watched this movie with not a lot of expectations because I didn't like the original Sean Penn starer that much. But what stood out in that movie was the brilliant performance of Sean Penn. He carries the movie in his shoulders and makes it worth watching.


It was interesting to see the way director Vijay adapt the story for the tamil audience:


1) The protagonist's wife leaves the child in his hands as soon as she had given birth to the child as she wasn't interested in raising it in "I am Sam" but for the traditional tamil audience, that could be "immoral", so like all tamil films where the mother character is not needed, Krishna and his wife were supposedly in "love" and his wife dies in child birth! Wow, hats off, Vijay! :P


2) In the original English version, the lawyer (one of the best performances by Michelle Pfeiffer till date) agrees to handle Sam's case because, when she makes an occasional remark to her friends that she is handling Sam's case for free, they pass it off as a joke because everyone knows that she is money minded. In the tamil version, of course, the lawyer Anu, played by Anushka, cannot have shades of grey, because that could "shock" the audience, so Vijay makes us believe that she agrees to handle the case out of symathy for the child like Krishna (Chiyaan Vikram).


3) In the original, the friends of Sam have a larger role to play; here, they are reduced to a few scenes here and there. What Vijay misses here is a lot of innocent fun and laughter.


4) There are no negative characters in the original movie! 

There, the child gets separated from her father because volunteers of child welfare feel that the child would be better off at foster care or given away for adoption than be with Sam, whereas, here, the child is plucked from the hands of Krishna by his in-laws. Krishna is shown as being fooled by them and thrown out of the car at the very first scene just to make us sympathise with him.


The characters of MS Bhaskar is shown to have negative shades, but why he abruptly turns good near the climax is anyone's guess.


Maybe it is because we tamil audience have long been familiar with the good vs bad story that directors are not risking making a movie with no negative shades at all.


5) In "I am Sam", we fell in love with the character played by Sean Penn. He was even nominated for the best actor category in the Academic Awards that year. The point to be noted is that the movie was in no point trying to exploit the disability of Sam at all. Here, Krishna falls down at the steps of court trying to catch a glimpse of his daughter, he gets beaten up by police because he refuses to move away from the place where he is standing: aren't the police even smart enough to realize that there is something wrong with the guy!


Never exploit someone's disability to make people sympathize for him. That's the cheapest trick at a director's arsenal and its sad that someone like Vijay who gave us a movie like "Madarasapattinam" has resorted to it!


However, the movie has a few noteworthy positives! 'Chiyaan' Vikram's costumes, hair style, even looks and mannerisms seem to have been inspired from Sean Penn's role in the original. As usual, he does a neat job.


Baby Saara as Nila is perhaps the cutest child artist Tamil Cinema has seen since the kid in "Sillunu Oru Kaadhal". The chemisrty between the dad and his girl child has been portrayed beautifully and that is why, the first half seems more enjoyable than the second!


Anushka, for a change, does not have to dance with skirts here and has ample scope to perform! She portrays the role of a young lawyer with enough dignity. But, however nice the "Vizhigalil oru vaanavil.." number may be, it is an unnecessary addition to the story.

Amala Paul is pretty and makes her expressive eyes give a few nice looks but does nothing more than that. She just seems to be a reason to take Nila away from Krishna. Nasser, Santhanam and the rest of the crew all do justice to their roles.


However, the finest moment of the movie comes right at the climax in the court scene when Hrishna meets his daughter after a long time! Brilliant performance by Vikram and Saara that would dampen the eyes of anyone however much you liked or didn't like any other part of the movie! :)


I do not choose to rate this movie, but, let me just say that it is a good local remake of an international classic made memorable by a brilliant performance by Sean Penn! The only sad point is that it could have been better!

A List of Great Time Travel Movies - Part 2

I'm such a time travel movie freak that I have watched almost all decent time travel flicks. The ones that I have not watched are very few and include Pleasantville, Returner, Prince of Persia and Austin Powers series. And I have not included movies like Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkhaban because time travel is not a key part of the plot of that movie and certain other great movies where time travel is used only as a passing reference.


Make sure you read part 1 of this post here before you proceed with the Part 2.


11) Deja vu (2006)

Denzel Washington is a great actor, no doubt, but time and again he plays the lead in some riveting edge-of-the-seat thrillers. Deja vu is a perfect example. It's sad that I could not fit it at the to ten in my list but is equally as good as any movie that list of ten. In this movie, an ATF agent (Denzel Washington) travels back in time to save a woman (Paula Patton) from being murdered, falling in love with her during the process. The beauty of time travel paradoxes is subtly shown in the last scene. Guaranteed entertainment!


12) If Only (2004)

How many times have you felt that you love someone a lot but never knew how to express it? This movie tells you to show your love, to appreciate your partner NOW! After his impetuous musician girlfriend, Samantha (Jennifer Love Hewitt), dies in an accident shortly after they had a fight (and nearly broke up), a grief-stricken British businessman, Ian Wyndham (Paul Nicholls), living in London gets a chance to relive the day all over again, in the hope of changing the events that led up to her getting killed. This is one of those very under appreciated but beautiful movies. It is a romantic movie but its not cuddling or crying all the way. The movie has decent humor to sustain your interest throughout the length of it. Suitable for a warm afternoon watch with your partner.


13) Happy Accidents (2000)

Things are going great in the love life of Ruby (Marisa Tomei) and Sam (Vincent D'Onofrio ) till one day,Sam tells her that he is from the future - 2470 to be exact, traveling back in time to avoid prosecution for his sister's death, and to find Ruby, whose photo he saw back home. Sounds interesting doesn't it. The movie has a lot of humorous scenes to sustain your interest and never in the run time of 2 hours do you feel bored. Scenes involving Ruby and her girlfriends are absolute fun to watch for its comedy. Make sure you watch this one..


14. Somewhere in Time (1970)



I stumbled upon this one by chance and loved it very much. In this movie, a Chicago playwright (Christopher Reeve) uses self-hypnosis to find the actress (Jane Seymour) whose vintage portrait hangs in a grand hotel.Self hypnosis for time travel can sound like an absurd idea bu kudos to the director for making it look believable. If you have the patience to watch this 41 year old movie, you would be rewarded with a heart rending climax.


15. Time After Time (1979)

 I was seriously impressed by this movie. Made almost 32 years ago, the fact that it sustained my interest till the climax deserves special mention. There are certain plot holes but in one can be excused for overlooking them because the movie moves at a brisk pace. The plotline is that H.G. Wells pursues Jack the Ripper to the 20th Century when the serial murderer uses the future writer's time machine to escape his time period.Such a storyline offers plenty of scope for fun that only a time travel movie can provide and the movie does exactly that!


16. Source Code (2011)

Lets face it. This movie, if you strip it off its racy screenplay, would melt down to nothing. But what made it interesting was the time-travel touch to it and the human factor involved. And also, honestly, I haven't watched a better screenplay in Hollywood this year than this. The climax is a bit of a dampener though. A lot of things were not properly explained and left much to be assumed. Watch the trailer and you'd know what I am talking about, when I say 'gripping'.. If you haven't watched it yet, well, what are you waiting for?


17. The Time Machine (1960)

It would be unfair to not include this movie in this list, purely because H.G.Wells was the man who made the dream of time travel reach to millions through his works.And to not include his work in this list would be nothing short of sacrilege! Not just that, this movie has a decent story and is very well directed and considering that it is more than 50 years old, that itself is an achievement. You a time travel freak? Then, don't miss out on this movie!


18) Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

 If you haven't heard of this movie, you'd surely surprised when you watch it to find Keanu Reeves (yes, the 'Neo' of Matrix fame) play a dumb Ted along with his also idiotic best friend Alex Winter play Bill. The best thing about this movie is its tongue in cheek humor and i doesn't mind make fun of itself. There's no question of logic here. Time travel is used to its creative best level, especially in the last half an hour. Surely, it is one 'excellent' movie to watch with your family and friends and laugh out loud.


19. Hot Tub Time Machine

A 'Hangover' type guys' movie. Lot of crude jokes and sexual dialog combined with time travel madness and mayhem gives you 'Hot Tub Time Machine'. Other than that, it follows the path of all other time travel movies: people travel to the past with an opportunity to change their pasts; whether they do or not, is the only point where all time travel movies differ. Not that it is bad, but because it could have been much better, I rate it only 19th in my list.I felt that someoe like John Cusack had been wasted in the role.Otherwise, you ca always watch it for boyish fun!


20. Kate & Leopold
 

If you like either Hugh Jackman or Meg Ryan, you would love this movie, because both are at their charming best here. But if you don't like them both, you may get bored here. In fact, the time travel element is the only interesting point of this movie. The story is the same old traditional time travel stuff where guy from past comes to the present and falls in love with a woman there. What happens after that is fairly predictable. Watch it if you have nothing else to do..




The ones that missed out:


The Final Countdown

Because it has a disappointing climax!


 The Philadelphia Experiment 

Because it tries to be too smart!


Donnie Darko


Because it is toooo complicated!

 Primer

Because I ended up with a headache after watching it!

The Time Machine (2002) :


Because the 1960 version itself was way better!

The Falling Standards of our Education System - Part 4 - Conclusion

In the first three parts under this topic, we have seen in detail, how engineering, medical and the arts & science courses have deteriorated in standards over the last decade - in terms of admissions in the engineering stream, quantity and high cost of seats in the medical stream and the serious lack of even mere passion among the students of arts and science.

In the final part, the one topic that remains to be discussed is the Tamil Nadu government's recent decision to not abide by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) norms for the minimum required percentage for engineering admissions. Here's the story:

In 2010, the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Mr.M.Karunandhi announced that, "the state government, in order to make available engineering course to all sections of the student community, has laid down the minimum qualifying marks as 50 percent for general category, 45 percent for backward classes, 40 percent for most backward classes and 35 percent for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes."[1]. In late January, the AICTE had laid down minimum eligibility for general category students at 50 percent and 45 percent for all other categories from the academic year 2011-2012[2]. In May 5, 2011 - barely a week before its humiliating defeat in the state legislature elections - Mr.Karunanidhi made it clear that the Tamil Nadu government will not abide by the AICTE regulations and has decided to continue its own norms formulated last year. [1]

This decision is shocking because by doing this, the Tamil Nadu government opposes the highest body for technical education in the nation. And the decision comes in the backdrop where the number of engineering seats have increased by 15 to 20 thousand seats since last year to 1,50,000 seats in the state. More than 51,000 BE/B.Tech seats were lying vacant for want of students in the academic year 2009-10[3]. Less than 10 students were admitted in three private colleges! It is very clear that parents and students did not have faith in the quality of education provided in many private institutions and they could have also stayed away due to prohibitive costs of engineering education.This scenario raises many questions regarding the above-mentioned decision of the Karunanidhi government:

1. If the seats had not been filled properly in 2009, should not the Karunanidhi government been more worried about how to improve the quality of education and minimizing the cost levied by the private engineering colleges so that the poor scheduled castes and tribes are benefited, rather than blindly decreasing the eligible percentage?

2. If an ST student could not score even a 35% in his 12th exams, in what reality could we expect her/him to score the required 50% (to clear the subjects) in an even more testing and tougher stream such as engineering?


3. On what basis did the Karunanidhi government arrive on the figures of 45%, 40%, 35% and 30% for BCs, MBCs, SCs and STs respectively, which seems more like a numerical series than numbers with any intelligent basis of assignment?

4. By reducing the eligible percentage, the number of eligible students increase. Is this move more indicative of the view of the previous government that it is more imperative to fill seats rather than do anything to improve the quality of education?

My point is, to emphasize that the last ruling party in Tamil Nadu did nothing much to improve the standards of education in the state; in fact, I would say that they only contributed to decrease it unbelievable lows. With a new government in place, if the following changes occur, it would help improving the standards of education:

1. Bring back the Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Exam (TNPCEE).

2. Follow the AICTE norms of minimum percentage for entrance exams.

3. Make the twelfth standard question papers more challenging and the corrections, more strict.

4. Enable career counseling and planning facilities to students in the final year of their schooling or if possible, during their 10th standard itself, to make students decide which path they would like to choose.

5. Appoint teachers to specifically train students in rural areas for exams like TNPCEE and AIEEE. This would stop the complaints from rural section that the presence of entrance exams favors only the urban students.

Let us hope for the best...


References:

[1]."TN rejects AICTE norms for engineering studies",
http://www.facenfacts.com/NewsDetails/8980/tn-rejects-aicte-norms-for-engineering-studies.htm

[2]. "Score 50% For Engineering: AICTE",
http://www.fullhyderabad.com/hyderabad-news/aicte-fixes-50-percent-marks-at-intermediate-to-study-engineering-3408

[3]. "Over 51,000 seats vacant in TN engineering colleges"
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-02-04/chennai/28133299_1_engineering-colleges-btech-seats-student-intake-strength

The Falling Standards of our Education System - Part 3 - The Sudden Rush for Arts & Science

There was a time, in the 1990s when people were proud to say that they are engineers; admissions in any engineering college was prided as an achievement and Civil and Mechanical engineering were the most sought after course. And now, there is nothing proud in being an engineer - almost every street seems to have more than 15 to 20 engineers - and some people are too shy to tell the name of the engineering colleges they've got into and Civil or Mechanical are the least preferred courses.

Smart people have realised that the significant advantage of doing B.E has been effectively nullified by the fact that IT companies are recruiting students of Arts & Science as well, in the recent days. Moreover, it costs less and is also not as complicated as B.E to study (true, some pure science courses are a headache, but I am speaking in a general sense).

It is an established fact that the number of applications for these streams have increased manifold in the last few years [1]. B.Com remains the most sought after course. While a certain section of people do B.Com for the sake of having a degree behind their name, many others pursue it with another career in mind - such as those who want to crack IAS or IPS or CAT, etc.

While the fact that there is a change in mindset of people that engineering is not the only UG course to study, the sad news is that Arts and Science courses are not pursued for their intended purpose. Students doing pure science courses in their UG very rarely end up doing research and only a small fraction of those pursuing B.Com seem to study M.Com.

What can be done?

•  Students must be encouraged to pursue their dreams; parents must let them to! That is the biggest problem in our society: People are not clear of what they want to do and even among those who are clear of what they want to do, are not presented with an opportunity to do so.
  
• Between the time of 12th and joining a college, students must be allowed to consider an educational expert or a career counselor or at least someone with an open mind, like the principals of their respective schools to help counsel students to determine what course would be ideal for the students.
  
• The University of Madras recently announced a four year UG honours course scheme, which also has generated a considerable interest in students. Such innovations are long due in the field of Arts & Science.

 One can only hope that with the suggestions mentioned above and with the right emphasis from the media, teachers and parents, Arts  & Science courses could get their due respect in the near future.

Reference:

[1]. http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article2021872.ece

The Falling Standards of our Education System - Part 2 - Admissions in The Medical Stream

As a society, we - the people of Tamil Nadu, have always followed the results of 12th standard very keenly. The name of the person who gets the state first each year is remembered by almost everyone with no exception. While, we can say that it is a proud fact, this year sprung a lot of surprises, even to the general observer. The cut off of 200/200 is the dream cut off for any medical student. The number of students with 200/200 were only 9 in the year 2009 and 14 in 2010, whereas, in the current academic year, it is 65! Yes, almost an astonishing six fold increase since 2009. [1]



In Part 1 of this topic, the problems with engineering admissions was discussed in length. The way engineering and medical admissions differ are that there are 1,50,000 seats available for engineering, whereas, for medicine, there are only 1,653 government seats and 635 seats from self financing colleges are available. Also, to be noted is that for a middle class student, it is all the more preferable to aim to get a government college than a self financing one because the former charges 10,000 per year as tution fees whereas the latter charges about 2,50,000! Including hostel, mess and bus charges, this could be as high as 3 and a half lakhs per year, making the total cost of studying MBBS in a private medical college as high as 20 lakhs! Phew!

From the table [1], it can be seen that, in 2010, to get a seat in a government medical college one needed a cut off around 195. But in 2011, even a cut off of 197 does not guarantee a medical seat under a government medical college. Even seats of private medical colleges threaten to be filled up even before the cut off of 196, but due to the high cost of studying in private colleges for medicine, not many may opt for it and it could be available till a cut off of 190.


Thankfully, unlike engineering colleges which have sprouted all over the state in the last few years, the central government has been strict to grant permission for new medical colleges and hence, the standard of medical education is not as spoilt. But, the biggest problem concerning medical admissions this year is the increase of cut offs as much as 2.5 marks. This obviously resulted from the fact that the correction had not been tough. Else, how can you possibly explian almost a doubling in the number of students for a cut off of more than 195 from the last year?

In sum, medical education is not as spoiled as engineering is. But a variety of factors from easy question papers to canellation of entrance exams to easy correction has lead to a crowding of students in the cut-off 195 to 200 range.

The discomforting factor is that if a hardworking student had scored 195 and could still not get a medical college, how dejected would he/she be? For this precise reason, the government should bring back the medical entrance at least. Let us hope that it does!

References:

[1]. "Cut-off marks for medicine courses in the Tamil Nadu up by 1.5 to 2 marks"
http://www.thehindu.com/education/article2004505.ece

The Falling Standards of our Education System - Part 1 - The Pathetic Engineering Admissions

This morning I saw something in paper, that compelled me to write this post. In The Hindu, there was, "88,744 engineering application forms sold in State on first day" [1] and in the Times of India, there was "Over 2 lakh forms for engineering admissions will be sold (this year)" [2]. As an engineering student doing his final year, I believe there are some things that parents and students need to be aware of regarding engineering admissions.


In 2007, I joined Electronics & Communication Engineering in what is considered to be a good engineering college in Chennai - if not Tamil Nadu. At that time, my cut off was 190.75 and my rank was 6990. My batch was the first batch without an entrance exam for engineering admissions - the then newly formed Karunanidhi government thought that there was no need for entrance exams and that marks in 12th standard was more than sufficient to prove one's candidature for Engineering admissions. People were already telling me how unfortunate I was, because they thought that if I had written the entrance exams I could have got a much more competitive cut off and that in turn, I would have got into a top 5 college in Chennai.


Nevertheless, the engineering counselling got over and I managed to get a decent college in Chennai. But I was still very unhappy thinking over how much better it could have been had I managed to get a better college. But, as soon as the 12th standard results were out the next year, i.e, 2008, I realized how lucky I had been. Because, for the same cut off that I had scored, the ranks were in the range of 9000. Whether that is because the papers were easy that year or students were getting smarter, is debatable. But what I didn't know at that time was that the trend was to continue.

If one can look at the table on the left [3], one would realize how still the competition has grown in the last three years. Certainly, I was very lucky to have managed to get into the college that I did because to enter the same course that I did in my college, in the last year, students had to score a cut off of nearly 196 - almost a 5 mark increase in four years.


It does not need a genius to realize how stressful and demanding the course of one year can be on the poor 17 year olds doing 12th standard every year. The situation is so pathetic that

• Even a cut off of 199 is not sufficient to guarantee a seat in Anna  University for the candidates attending the counselling in 2011.
  

• Almost all the top 10 private engineering colleges see a 1 to 2 mark increase in cut off every passing year.

What caused these problems?

• An almost frightening craze for engineering seats, which has been the trend ever since early 2000s when the IT job boom started.
  
• The abolition of entrance exams in the year 2007 contributed a great deal to this tragic dependence on 12th standard marks alone, in turn leading to a very tight competition for the top marks.
  
• Alright, if the engineering entrance exams have been cancelled, then at least the 12th standard exam question papers should be made tougher. Was that at least done? Nope! In fact, by what I hear from my juniors, the biggest problem was the fact that the question papers were very easy.
  
• If the papers are easy, at least, should the correction of the same not be strict? Alas, seeing the number of centums increasing in Maths, Physics and Chemistry every passing year, one would be forced to believe that the corrections are also not getting any tougher.

What is the solution to this problem?

Either start conducting the engineering entrance exams once again or, if that is too much, at least make the questions papers for 12th exams tougher or if even that is too much, at least make the corrections tougher. It is the only way to save our system from becoming a completely hopeless one which rewards students for their memorizing and presentation skills rather than their techincal skills.

The engineering scenario is just an example and a variety of other factors cause the same problems to exist in Medical and even Arts & Science admissions. We will see them in parts 2 & 3 in this blog under the same title. Moreover, the government has done something very cheap to plummet the standards of education to new lows. We will discuss it in the final part of this title and conclude it.


References:
[1]. "Craze for engineering courses continues"
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2024141.ece


[2]. "Over 2 lakh forms for engineering admissions will be sold"
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Over-2-lakh-forms-for-engineering-admissions-will-be-sold/articleshow/8377225.cms


[3]. "Tough competition for engineering seats"
http://www.thehindu.com/education/college-and-university/article2004518.ece

Movie Mush: Engeyum Kadhal

I was about to go to theater and watch this movie, but since my friends told me that it is 'mokkai', I decided to merely download and watch it. And, surprisingly, I found it good. Whether it is because I watched it with very low expectations or maybe because the movie is actually good, I am not sure.


The movie is about a young Indian business man Kamal ('Jeyam' Ravi) - a playboy - who falls for an NRI girl Kayal (Hanssika Motwaani) with good cultural values. The whole movie is shot in Paris, which, in itself adds a refreshing tone to the movie. The cinematography is excellent and all the songs are beautifully shot. Especially, the 'Engeyum Kaadhal' and 'Nangai' songs are well choreographed. Jeyam Ravi plays a rich young businessman perfectly and Hansika seems to be the new chubby girl of Kollywood. Together, they make a cute couple and I didn't get bored of watching them, as many of my friends said they did. Most of the songs are intelligently placed throughout the movie except perhaps the 'Nenjil Nenjil' number.

Now coming to the minuses, one doesn't understand why Prakashraj has been wasted in the movie with just two unnecessary scenes. And, a few sequences are copied from Bollywood movies of the past - like the scene where Raju Sundaram gets robbed by a woman and he is left gagged in his room sans all his clothes is an outright copy of a similar scene in Dil Chahta Hai and the song 'Dhimu Dhimu' reminds you of the popular 'Ye Dooriyan' song. In fact, the whole movie seems to be inspired by the new generation Bollywood movies where the whole story happens in a foreign country. It started with 'Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Ghum' back in 2001. Now, kollywood seems to be catching up as well.


All in all, if you can digest a few loop holes and suspend your disbelief in the climax where a dove united the two lovers, you will certainly not find this movie boring.


Go without expectations and enjoy 'Engeyum Kaadhal'.

I give it a decent 6/10.

A List of Great Time Travel Movies

Time travel is my most favorite movie genre, so much so that if I'd get a chance to make only one movie, then it'll definitely be in this genre. What is incredible about this genre is that it taps into the desire of people who wonder how great it would be if it were possible for them to change just one event in their past and how rosy their future could be, as a result. In fact, this general thought is the central theme of most of the movies described below.

1. The Butterfly Effect (2004)

An incredible movie, to say the least. The first time I saw it, I cried at one point. I have never, ever cried watching a movie before, so, in a way, this movie is very close to my heart. The film follows the life of a Evan (Ashton Kutcher), who blocks out harmful memories of significant events of his life. As he grows up, he finds a way to remember these lost memories and a supernatural way to alter his life. The central theme of this movie is how by altering one event of his past, the entire future of Evan changes. He keeps changing events of his past hoping that he can attain a perfect future. But, to his dismay, he realizes that no matter how hard he tries, things only get worse. Ashton Kutcher, as Evan, plays his career-best role in this movie.The story has brilliant screenplay and direction ad every scene is important and contributes to the central theme of the movie. The movie needs 2 viewings, at least to be appreciated of its beauty. If you haven't watched it yet, go get ready for a mind blowing experience.

P.S.: The Director's Cut has a better climax than the original, so watch that version, if possible.

2. Back to the Future (Series)

Who doesn't love this movie?Among the best comedies of Steven Speilberg, this movie - in fact, the entire series - is one that has stood the test of time and it doesn't bore you, how many ever times you watch it. Neat casting, crisp dialogues and an entertaining screenplay makes 'Back to the Future' a super movie-watching experience. In my view, the third part is the best - in terms of entertainment quotient - closely followed by the first and second parts in that order. I am sure everyone is aware of the story and it needs no mentioning. Watch it for its rollicking screenplay!

3. 12 Monkeys (1995)

You can be excused for getting shocked at watching Brad Pitt playing second fiddle to Bruce Willis in this awesome time travel flick. Because I was, too! But I guess Brad Pitt playing such a role was essential in maintaining the suspense and the twist in the climax.For those who haven't watched this movie yet, the story is set in a futuristic world, where a deadly virus has has almost caused an extinction of the human race and whatever humans are left are forced to take refuge underground. Using a time machine, they send Bruce Willis back in time to that period when the virus first broke out to find out a possible solution to find a cure for the virus. You keep guessing and wondering the reason for his periodic flashes but only at the end is the true reason revealed and you are like 'Oh, why didn't I think of that!'. This movie is of that type of time travel movies that stress that it is impossible to change what has happened in the past, no matter how hard you try. Anyways, behold an interesting experience!

 

4. Triangle (2009)

It is difficult to explain this movie, really. And the end of the movie, you are so immersed into it that you want a sequel, explaining the loose ends and finally showing you the fate of  Jess (Melissa George) and her son. The story revolves around the passengers of a yachting trip in the Atlantic Ocean who, when struck by mysterious weather conditions, jump to another ship only to experience greater havoc on the open seas.How it is different from all other time travel stories is that this story is that of a loop in time - a loop with three cycles that keep repeating. Jess gets on a ship with her co passengers and must kill all of them to make the cycle repeat. Only if the cycle repeats can she try and warn their co passengers in the yacht (from her past) to again not get back to that ship. The movie needs 2 or 3 viewings to be understood completely but it is interesting enough to keep you hooked even for the second or third time. Watch it for a whirlwind experience!

5. Groundhog Day (1993)

The thing about Groundhog Day is that it has its heart in the right place. A weatherman is sent to a small town in Pennsylvenia to cover a famous event where the 'rat' predicts whether there will be an early spring that year, where he experiences the same day again and again till he finally spends a perfect day, helping others and thus helping himself stop the cycle. Phil (Bill Murray), as the reluctant weatherman, delivers a splendid performance. This is one movie you can watch with your family, laugh and cry and fall in love with, instantly. The striking thing about this movie is its honesty in characterization. Each character is very well etched and they stay true to their selves. Even thee transformation in Phil is shown in a very believable way. What are you waiting for! Go watch it, if you haven't yet!

6. Timecrimes (Los cronocrímenes) (2007)

I only recently saw this movie after becoming a (self-proclaimed) expert in time travel movies. So, most of the twists were predictable to me, but, could still surprise an amateur to this genre. But what was most impressive about this movie was that its climax had a shocking revalation - unlike any other time travel movie that I have come across. I was as shocked as I was surprised with the climax, which also explains the title of the film. Watch it for an entertaining experience!

7. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

I didn't like the first part as much and the third part was just okay. But its the second part that steals the 7th place hands down. The cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who once tried to kill Sarah Connor in the first installment must now protect her teenage son, John Connor, from an even more powerful and advanced Terminator.The master stroke in this movie was when the villain was made the good guy. This is one of the rare set of movies where the second part is even better than the first (only Munnabhai and Night at the Museum comes to my mind). Most people would have watched it already. But its such a classic that another viewing will still entertain..!

8. Frequency (2000)

 Thankfully, in this movie, unlike many other time travel movies with the 'past can never be altered' rigidness, the past can be altered but with certain consequences. An accidental cross-time radio link connects father and son across 30 years. The son tries to save his father's life, but then must fix the consequences. Whether he manages to fix those or not then forms the rest of the story.  The movie mixes time travel with a serial killer case and moves at a frantic pace. The story has a decent suspense maintained through out its run length, and the tension towards the end is unbearable. If you are game for a decent suspense drama, watch this one..!

9. Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009)

Comedy in time travel is a very under explored genre. Other than the 'Back to the Future' series, it is difficult to think of any other full fledged time travel comedy.In comes 'Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel' to fill the void. It is almost a more sensible remake of 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure', where people from future (here, it is Anna Faris of 'Scary Movie' fame) come to the present to help to-be-famous geeks reach their destiny. But, this movie is certainly more fun than the Bill and Ted movies and has a more logical (I mean the time-travel logic) and plausible story. If you wanna laugh with your friends and laugh hard, this is the movie to watch!

10. The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)

I am not a big fan of romantic movies, but time travel combined with romance somehow seems to get me on a high! The story is a romantic drama about a Chicago librarian Henry DeTamble (Eric Bana), with a gene that causes him to involuntarily time travel, and the complications it creates for his marriage with his wife Claire (Rachel McAdams).Perfect casting is the main plus of this movie. Whether it is his early 20s or late 30s, Eric Bana looks and plays his role perfectly. The love affair between the two is brilliantly portrayed. Guess Rachel McAdams is an expert at these kind of roles (remember 'Notebook'?). Based on a novel of the same name, the movie evokes a lot of emotions, that only a time travel movie can. If you are a romantic, make sure you catch this flick!

Coming soon: Movies 11 to 20 in this list!