Skip to main content

Ezham Arivu - History Meets Technology!

For the first time in my life, I got to see a movie on very first show of the first day of release. Yup...I walked to the theatre, next door, got a ticket and walked in to see Ezham Arivu. Wow! It was quite an experience. The story is about a guy-next-door who happens to work in a circus and who also happens to be related to a Great Tamil Prince ,Warrior and Sage, Bodhi Dharma, who lived several centuries ago. Shruthi Hassan is the biotechnologist who seeks to revive the ancient sage's attributes in the young Surya. The movie has everything going for it from the word go. Good music, good-looking actors, lots of masala and loads of action sequences. For one, Surya is ravishing in his warrior avatar. Second, the cinematography is excellent. I was spellbound by the imagery captured while the young Bodhi Dharma traverses different landscapes as he travels to China. It almost feels like poetry on a large screen. Absolutely loved it. Same can be said of the melody and the picuturisation of the song 'Mun Andi'. Exquisite stuff. 'Oh Ringa Ringa' was so fast-paced that it actually hurt my eye. The rest of the songs were pretty ok, too. The plot, I felt, was a tight and neat but the action sequences were a bit exaggerated. But all that is part of the fun in a Tamil masala flick, right? For me, the movie was definitely entertaining and in fact, a little bit informative, too. I got a bit curious about the Bodhi Dharma and even looked him up in google. So, i guess, the movie did what it set out to do - it made an impression on me. Good stuff. But, what I really find interesting, these days is how much our Tamil movie makers are willing to move off the beaten track and carve a niche for themselves by doing things differently. Experimenting with different ideas, right from clubbing history with technology in Ezham Arivu, to creating a different kind of love story in Mynaa, to giving a new meaning for the word friendship in the movie Nadodigal. Yes...Tamil cinema in the past few years has become daring, unafraid to toy with radical ideas. Kudos to the Tamil audience for welcoming such bold themes with great elan. But then again, Vijay's masalas and noisy telegu remakes also make it big in box office. So, I guess, the Tamil movie goer likes every kind of movie. After all, variety is indeed is the spice of life, be it reel or real.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Vodafone Facebook Ad - A Funky Way To Promote Facebook ?

The new Vodafone Facebook phone ad is super-cool. Love the drama, the excitement and the theatre that they’ve built around a tiny little phone. Facebook in mobile phones is no new trend but the ad guys here, have taken it to a different level with this really neat ad. The first time, I saw the ad, I really thought it was an ad for Facebook but then, again, it was for the FB button on their new phone (which btw is very attractively priced!). Once I got over that initial confusion, I really got down enjoying the fun. The stunning backdrop, the cutie-pie hero those ‘oh-so-appropriate’ props, the dance and the peppy music. Loved them all. Not to forget the nearly unforgettable, ‘always playing in your head’ lyrics. I could easily relate to the lyrics because that so described a die-hard FB fan like me who eats, sleeps, drinks and lives FB. But then again, will it sell more of those phones? Maybe. But will it get more users on Facebook. I guess, it will.

Not Quite Quiet.

 I spend a day alone. In quiet reflection. But again, it’s not quite quiet. There’s me and my cesspool of emotions. Turbulent. Rocky. Choppy. Like a sea on tide. I’m trying to ride the swirling ebb and flow. Abysmal despair alternates reams of hope Like a lone oarsman caught amidst raging waters I glide and slide. Uneasily. Visions from the past; Stories wrapped in wreaths of pain That seemed long dead and gone, Rise above from deep inside. Like a tsunami Brutal and destructive. I let it take hold. I let the emotions flow. Wild. Feral. Untamed. Seeping through my very being. While I lay still. Very still. Waiting patiently. For the waters to reside. For calm to reign. For healing to begin.

My First Brush With Media

Yeah...I've done my post-graduation in mass media. I've worked across a wide variety of media, right from print to radio to television to the new media, but, that isn't why I am crazy about media. I fell in love with media, a long, long time ago. I was in third grade when my parents brought home a colour television. Those were the days of Doordarshan and numerous UGC programs and farm-based programs. They were quite boring for a 8-year-old but then, I looked forward to the commercials on television. I so loved the 'Hamara Bajaj' jingle which I would hum while playing 'hop,skip and jump' with my friends. Then, there was the Onida devil commercial that used to scare me to bits. I spend many a sleepless nights, wondering if the devil was hiding just outside the window. Of course, there was the very smart Lalithaji, who was very much like the noisy aunty next-door. Really, those early days help build a fascination for media within me. And the love affair continu...