One pleasant rainy evening - artoonsinn event

Prerna had a weird sense of deja vu while listening to her husband, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. There had been an influx of fresh graduates in his company which brought a breath of fresh air. The sight of wide-eyed freshers always kept the oldies on their toes, wanting to look young and energetic while imparting their wisdom from experience. Apparently they had some freshers in Aniket's department as well. As a Senior Lead, it was his responsibility to put them through an orientation and help them identify a career path.

Prerna and Aniket were a happily married couple with a daughter and son entering college. Their married life had been fairly uncomplicated. She had been a copywriter in an advertising agency while Aniket was already climbing up the ladder in his IT company. Once in the family way, she chose to become a homemaker.  

It was a pleasant evening with light showers. She loved these quiet family times with her family chatting in the living room, while she got busy in the kitchen. It felt so warm, cozy and just perfect. She got the expected enthusiastic response when she announced hot samosas and tea. Though her son followed-up with ‘just one for me Amma. I am cutting down on oily food’; and her daughter ‘me too Amma. I had a late lunch.’ That’s alright. She will save the balance for another rainy day!

She suddenly heard rolling laughter from her husband. Apparently one of the freshers was a very witty girl with a healthy humor. Prerna was suddenly taken back to her younger days. She was one of the college freshers hired as a copywriter in her agency. She hit it off with her Senior Lead, Rajesh, from the get go. After every witty remark, she always looked out for that chuckle from Rajesh. Slowly she gained confidence and interacted more directly with him. The extended coffee time, perfectly timed water breaks, stolen glances, unnecessary virtual chats….all came back to her. There was definitely some chemistry between them, though it never went beyond the office walls. 

She quickly stole a glance at her husband, when he happened to look her way. What was that look on his face? Guilt? Did he have a crush on this girl? If so, wouldn’t he keep it a secret? Why talk about her? Did Rajesh ever talk about me with his family? Was I the topic of a light conversation on a rainy evening? Or a guilty secret he never revealed? What did he even think of me?

Oh come on………..why fret over something that happened so long ago! It hardly matters now. But why is it suddenly so quiet in the living room? She noticed her husband lost in his own thoughts, her daughter pushing her snack around the plate while her son hadn’t even looked at his plate. And suddenly she felt a gush of cold air…

Author's Note:

Deja vu is a French word. It literally means 'already dreams'. It is a feeling of having already experienced the present situation 

Marete hodenu song - Jun 2019

This is my current favourite kannada song. It is beautiful for the lyrics and music. The lyrics is romantic, sweet and tongue-in-cheek. There are two versions to this song, but I like the unplugged one better-probably because I heard this first. 

Those who know kannada can appreciate it better, but here goes my attempt at translating it to English, just the first few lines:

I forgot what I started out to do....I was so struck by your lightning presence

Forgive me, but the fault is ur's if I fall into your arms

There is a beautiful bond between a fragrant flower and the snatching breeze

Luka chuppi song - Nov 2019

I was always so caught up with the fast numbers in this movie, I never really noticed this song. When I heard it recently I wondered how come I missed it! Then checking on YouTube realised - the picturization is so sad and the complete song doesn't come thru in the movie. Nor does the context bring out the beauty of the lyrics . 

This song is way beyond just a melody. This has to be one of the most beautifully crafted song of a conversation between a mother and her son. Lata's voice has the right touch of motherly feel to it, while ARR sounds so young, excited, vulnerable all at the same time! 

Though I knew the general meaning of the song, I went online to check the word-to-word meaning and it brought tears to my eyes. The play on the word 'dheep' and 'chaand' is so sweet. And when ARR sings 'Lage bin tere mujhko akela' there is so much longing in his voice! And the ending duet is yet another beauty. 

In case you dont know Hindi well, check the lyrics meaning here:

http://songnlyrics.blogspot.com/2006/01/lukka-chhupi.html?m=1

And here is the full song, not the movie version:

Listen to the song 'Luka Chuppi' on Saavn at https://www.saavn.com/s/song/hindi/Rang-De-Basanti/Luka-Chuppi/QQk0fAxGbmk?referrer=svn_source=share&svn_medium=com.google.android.gm&utm_source=share&utm_medium=com.google.android.gm

'96 movie review Nov 2018

Here is my review of the movie #'96. A beautifully crafted romantic movie in Tamil. 

Let me get my one gripe with the movie out of the way, the last 30min could have been crisper and I wish the characters had continued showing the same restraint. Otherwise, ’96 is one of the best movies ever! 

The movie is so wholesomely beautiful that it is hard to figure out where to start! It is a story with a very simple premise……school sweethearts meet after 20+years, what happens next? We have seen many movies portraying teen love, lovers meeting after their life take different paths, even an old man going in search of his lover! While it would be normal for both to have lead a normal life of career, marriage, family, etc., here the guy doesn’t get married. He stays single and still misses his lover. While we would normally see such a guy as a loser or a creep, we are left feeling sad and sympathetic. Full credit to the director and Vijay Sethupathi (VS) acting that he evokes a feeling of helplessness among us. You wish you could do something to make him feel better, but you know there simply isn’t. Probably because the movie starts off showing us what he made of his life that he becomes an intriguing and interesting character from the word go. And combine that with his amazing acting, you root for him all through the way!

I never feel comfortable watching movies that depict teen love. Somehow I feel it is never handled with the sensitivity or finesse it deserves. But this movie does a wonderful job of it. Rather than find a reason for love, the movie focuses on how two young kids bond with each other and how it is so deep, and broken so abruptly that it lasts rest of their adolescent and adult life. There are no cute girl gimmicks or macho stunts. It is a simple and quietly pretty and extroverted girl juxtaposed with a boy who suddenly discovers his feeling and is forever tongue-tied around her. No stealing glances, stolen kisses, etc. It is a really sweet portrayal of love. 

Rather than question his everlasting love for her, everyone accepts his feeling for what it is and lets him be. Isn’t that wonderful? There is no need to look for a certain goal or an end. Just a feeling you want to carry forever, and be content with it! And there is no condemning her for moving on with her life either. The impromptu way in which they discover the misunderstanding and how they missed a chance at life together is so realistic and painful. The unassuming way in which VS reveals his attempts to meet her and keeps track of her can only leave a girl feeling special. How bittersweet is that! 

Do you get that unexplainable vague, yet wonderful feeling when you hear a really beautiful romantic song? A song that is so encompassing and consuming? For me songs like ‘naan paesa ninaipathellam…’, ‘eghirikudhithaen….’ (from boys), ‘ninaithu ninaithu…..’ (7g rainbow colony), ‘yae kahaan…’ (silsila) does that. And now this movie!

About that Chittu Kuruvi song.... Dec 2018

About that Chittu Kuruvi song....

It’s been a while since I fell head-over-heels into an ARR song. Considering the number of songs he has recently composed, that is really sad. While his music for Vijay movies are not my type, I was eagerly waiting for CCV songs. You know how we often like his songs after watching the movie, or reading the lyrics? So I decided to seriously ‘pursue’ those songs after watching the movie. But it was such a disappointment! The movie was so bad, and the songs hardly made an impact. I did make a valiant attempt at listening to the songs. But I couldn’t bear to listen to them after a few seconds. After skipping all the songs I completely gave up.

But somehow the Chittu Kuruvi song kept nagging me. I did like it in the movie, but somehow when I heard it online it didn’t make any sense. The song seemed to jump from one mood to another and for the first time ever I didn’t think ARR’s voice suited the song (blasphemy!). I thought he sounded too old for a youthful song like this. I was so-so disappointed. I couldn’t believe a wonderful combination like this could produce such a terrible collection of songs.

Being an ardent fan of ARR, I next tried starting from the lyrics and that is when it hit me, hit me HARD! It turned out to be such a wonderful song! The change in mood, voice modulations, everything made sense!

For the uninitiated: The song is about a guy falling in love with a girl, and then the girl leaves him. He is heartbroken and also sad for the girl wondering how difficult it must be for her. Then he realizes she is actually happy and doesn’t seem to be bothered by leaving him. Now that is just the crux of the story.

This is said in the form of a guy who loves nature and finds peace and wisdom from nature. Then a sparrow comes along and wants to be friends with him. The sparrow calls him closer and asks if he likes her. The guy is enthralled by the dramatics of the sparrow and compares her (and his feelings) to a beautiful dream or a song he heard in his dream. He even wonders if the sparrow simply feels sympathetic towards him.

Then there is a long rain and the sparrow flies away. The rain becomes more intense with lightning and thunder. He wonders if the sparrow lost its way. He feels sad for losing the sparrow, and also how heartbroken the sparrow must be on losing him. Later he realizes the sparrow isn’t sad, but is very happy. Instead of enjoying the beautiful rain, the guy is left crying for losing his lover.

As you can see there are so many emotions in this song. The peaceful moment before the sparrow comes in, the feeling of falling in love, then his confusion over why the sparrow loves him, and then the heartbroken moment when he loses her, and finally the realization that the sparrow is happy, but he is still in love and missing her. How does he manage to get all these emotions in a <6min song! Seems so impossible, but then here it is! And he is rocking at it!

Now I realize everything part of the song fit so perfectly! The lyrics (the beautiful Tamil words!), music, ARR’s voice, modulations, music, ARR’s voice, modulations, lyrics…….oh god am going in circles…….just like the song in loop right now!

You know how some songs are so beautiful that it encloses you and makes you feel like you are in an island with just the song surrounding you? Well, I have had that feeling for many of his songs….Evano Oruvan (Alaipayuthey), Kannalanae (Bombay), Rehna Tu (Delhi6), Satrangi (Dil Se), Thayya (Dil Se), to name a few. Now here is one more such song.

Thanks to this site for opening my eyes (and ears and heart) to this song: https://www.tsonglyrics.net/2018/09/mazhai-kuruvi-lyrics-english-meaning.html

Here is that beautiful song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt4-FwVe1Fk

Vaksana Farms - Dec 2021 vacation

Vaksana Farms 

After a tiring trip in Kumbakonam visiting temples, a quiet and relaxing vacation is what we needed and that is exactly what the Pico farm delivered! The elegant farmhouse with it’s glass exteriors give you a view of the beautiful greenery around from the cool indoors. Set among farming lands in a somewhat remote village, you can be assured of peace and tranquility, far away from the hustle-bustle of the city and noise of the highways.

True to its name, the farmhouse is a small duplex house with a kitchen, study and living room on the ground floor and sleeping area in the first floor. The house is filled with posters of kid’s favorite – Tintin, Asterix-Obelix, etc., immediately drawing the kids in. There is also a variety of books if you would just want to sit back in the reading nook in the living room and enjoy some quiet reading time. While there is no TV, there is a good internet connection if you want to stream something on your device.

The farmhouse has few dogs, cows and a pony – and these kept our kids busy all the time! For once, I was not worried about where my kids are and what they are upto. The dogs and the puppies were safe and my kids couldn’t get enough of them! The pony is a different story J I can’t decide if he loves people and hence keeps coming to us, or just doesn’t want us there :D He needed some strong words and a pat from Mr Sivaraman to send him away. The pony unfortunately had to be tied up most of the time since he was just too big for us to deal with.

One key ingredient to make a place warm and happy are the hosts and the food -  Mr Sivaraman and his wife had this in abundance!  They made our stay all the more memorable with their warm welcome, home-cooked meals and regular check-in to make sure we are comfortable and have everything we need. I was truly amazed at the number of food items our hostess churned out for us! Within the realms of traditional vegetarian South Indian cooking, she managed to prepare so many different varieties of food and from different ingredients! I also felt guilty and wondered if I should lend a hand…….but then this is my vacation and I am a hopelessly lazy person :P A special mention to Shekar, his wife and Pushpa who support Mr Sivaraman and his wife in running the farm and farmhouse.

While I was not planning to step out anywhere, KIruba’s list of places to visit was tempting. So we ended up going to Akkarai Kali Amman temple. The drive was amazing with mostly a sea of greenery on both sides of the road! While I have driven through villages with paddy or sugarcane fields on both sides, this is the first time I came across clumps of plantain farms, sometimes casuarina trees, mango farm, etc. The temple is situated in the middle of a lake and you would have to walk through a shallow river to reach it. Since there was no one around to guide us, we didn’t want to risk going through the water – none of us know swimming and the water was quite slushy. However, we had a good time playing near the bank and attempting to reach the falls. Despite all the beauty of nature, here again we found trash and filth near the water falls. There was even an overturned garbage can. So we avoided the place where the water falls flows through the rocks.

Probably because of the timing of our trip (too soon after the heavy rains) there was not much to see or do on the farm. That is something I was looking forward to, especially for my kids to experience. I hope to visit again during a more appropriate season. Until then, thanks for a memorable 2021 year-end vacation!

Modern Love Chennai - Review

During my Kerala trip I started watching Modern Love Chennai, and managed to complete the series a few days back. I have watched the Mumbai, New York, and Amsterdam series. And by far the Chennai series is probably the only one where I found my most favourite and many favourites as well. I don't really remember the earlier ones that well but what stands out is Anne Hathaway’s ‘Take me as I am Whoever I am’, ‘Hers was a World of One’ on gay couple adoption in New York series; ‘Raat Rani’, ‘Mumbai Dragon’,  ‘My Beautiful Wrinkles’ in Mumbai series; ‘Episode 2’, ‘In the Eye of the storm’ from Amsterdam. Music was also mostly wonderful in the series. The composition of the theme song, and individual songs in most of the stories was quite good too. 

Before I start with the beautiful ones, let me get the biggest disappointment and in-retro redundant story out of the way - ‘Paravai Koottil Vaazhum Maangal’. Why tarnish the memory of a beautiful movie like Marupadiyum? Of all the philandering husband stories, Marupadiyum is probably the only one with a strong female lead who stands up for herself, decides to find her own identity and become an independent woman. 

I watched Marupadiyum when I didn’t fully understand the gravity of the story. But what struck me is the end to the story - I found it very refreshing, filled with hope and zest for life. And much later when I heard the song ‘Nallathor veenai seithei’ I could fully appreciate the depth of mental turmoil that Thulasi (Revathi’s character) goes through. The whole story is centred around how a woman - who is dependent on her husband financially and emotionally - maintains her dignity and self-respect, and finds her inner-strength to live independently in this world. While this might not be so scary or novel these days, it should be seen in the context of our society during the 1980s and 90s. Now to think about it, wonder if using Bharathiyaar’s song was yet another subtle hint at the strong woman he envisioned! 

With this stupid ridiculous dedication, Bharathiraaja has muddled up the idea of a modern independent woman with being detached and emotionless. How else would you describe a woman who leaves her kids behind with her husband and the ‘other woman’ and decides to live an independent life? To me the character seemed a spineless sacrificial lamb! The story gives rise to so many questions! Who is she to decide that the kids should be separated from her?Don’t the kids have any say in it? Can a family life with kids be so easily replaced by work life? Is it so easy to make kids live with a new woman and they not even miss their mother? Is a woman’s role in her family so easily replaceable? The story ultimately reduces the role of a woman to being a wife, cook, maid, nanny…..but what about the emotional connect? the bonding? How can anybody in their right mind come up with a story like this?! 

And giving characters the real name of the actors in Marupadiyum is such a genius stroke! Arrgh….And what is with the husband character? During the whole awkward episode he seems like another furniture in the room, albeit smoking at times. The only thing the movie got perfectly right is the awkwardness of the whole situation. The extended silence, inability to make small talk, etc. If those weren’t bad enough, she invites the ‘other woman’ to stay over for the night. I kept watching the whole movie hoping there will be some sensible conclusion to this story. Maybe they all realize their mistake and decide to go back to their earlier life, or maybe decide to put this off until kids are out of the nest? But no……….the director managed to keep the awkwardness until the end. And what exactly was the point of belatedly telling us about their first meeting?! To show that she is still hopelessly in love? Or that a love based on intellectual interests will not last? All in all, the father character (Delhi Ganesh) seemed to be the only sensible one. But unfortunately he wasn’t heard by anyone and was made to feel like pazheya panchangam. Moving on……

‘Ninaivo oru paravai’ is the other story I wasn’t ok with. Not that there was anything bad, but I really didn’t get the point of it. A lot of banter between the couple, their interests, etc., were interesting and engaging but the story seemed over-sexualized and unnecessarily so. Until the end we dont get to know why they broke up their relationship. I don’t know if the intent of the story is their relationship arch and the reason for breakup is redundant? But somehow the relationship arch didn’t seem strong enough and warranted an explanation for their breakup. There was also a hint that what is happening in real life was written as a script by the hero - here again there was not much depth to this storyline. On the whole the story seemed very muddled up. What I did love about this story was the beautiful songs in the background. Of late I have taken to watching some English series where mood and feelings of the characters is expressed through beautiful songs in the background. So beautiful that I make it a point to read through the lyrics. It was refreshing to find a Tamil movie adopt a similar style. I especialy loved Kadal Alaigalil ‘Aanaal’ song, Thaen Mazhaiyo songs in this movie. 

All other stories were lovely and beautifully done. ‘Lalagunda Bommigal’ shows the stark reality of girls conned by lecherous men and the unlikely event of a serial conman turning out to be a loyal husband. ‘Margazhi’ is yet another beautifully crafted story of a young girl who finds love and attention during a difficult phase in her life,that helps her come out of her loneliness. The story is quite subtle and interlude between them when they play and disucss about music is very well done. When she realizes her innate qualities when he expresses what he loves about her is very touching. The story does have a documentary feel with tedious scenes. And I am not a big fan of Ilayaraja’s songs in this story. It vaguely reminded me of some old song and not in a very good way. And I wish he had allowed some young singer to lend voice, atleast that might have made the song more pleasing to listen to. I am not sure if this is a popular opinion, but I felt like the movie is trying to say Margazhi has many significance - it is a celebration of music of different kinds and not just Carnatic, music can be enjoyed in many ways and not just in the form of concerts, it reminds you to discover and enjoy music for the sake of it.

It is a very tough pick between ‘Imaigal’ and ‘Kaadhal enbadhu…..’. While one is a very deep and heart touching story the other is a breezy romantic story of a girl falling in and out of love and eventually finding her soul mate. Despite the short duration, Imaigal has packed a lot of layers into its story and is beautifully enacted by Ashok Selvan and TJBhanu. The story brings out the difficulties of a parent with a medical problem/disability while caring for a young child,  how our youthful dreams are overtaken by the practicalities of a family life, how our interests and hobbies go into the backburner once we get busy with out lives,  etc. The story not only shows the frustration of a woman who is partially blind, but also of the people surrounding her, especialy her husband. While you can feel the fear and frustration of the woman, you can also empathize with what the man is missing out in his life. It would seem tad selfish, but living a monotonous life day-in and day-out is sad. 

Where was this Ritu Verma all these years?! She seems like a very familiar face but not sure if I have actually seen her in any earlier movie (except Nitham oru vaanam’). She is so bubbly, spontaneous, cheerful, unabashed……it is like the younger day Khushbo, Jyothika, Laila, Asin, all packed into one! She manages to maintain her energy and humor throughout the movie! It is very refreshing to find a heroine with a great comedic sense. The story also manages to stay true to romantic-comedy genre by creating a humor out of every situation. Her quest for finding a breakup song for a woman is especially funny. The umpteen homages to significant scenes from Tamil romantic movies are so well done. The scene with Baradwaj Rangan is quite funny, especially since he comes across as a very serious film critic while the situation in the story is so naive and juvenile. 

I ended up watching Imaigal, kaadhal enbadhu….. and Margazhi twice in as many days. It was that good! I think this has set the bar really high for any future Modern love series.