எங்கேயோ பார்த்த மயக்கம்

எங்கேயோ பார்த்த மயக்கம்
எப்போதோ வாய்ந்த நெருக்கம்
தேவதை இந்த சாலை ஓரம்
வருவது என்ன மாயம் மாயம்
கண் திறந்து இவள் பார்க்கும் போது
கடவுளை இன்று நம்பும் மனது
இன்னும் கண்கள் திறக்காத செல்வம்
ஒரு கோடி பூ பூக்கும் வெக்கம்
ஆண் மனதை அழிக்க வந்த சாபம்...
அறிவை மயக்கும் மாய தாகம்
இவளைப் பார்த்த இன்பம் போதும்
வாழ்ந்துப் பார்க்க நெஞ்சம் ஏங்கும்

கனவுகளில் வாழ்ந்த நாளை
கண் எதிரே பார்க்கிறேன்
கதைகளிலே கேட்டப் பெண்ணா
திரும்பித் திரும்பிப் பார்க்கிறேன்
அங்கும் இங்கும் ஓடும் கால்கள்
அசைய மறுத்து வேண்டுதே
இந்த இடத்தில் இன்னும் நிற்க
இதயம் கூட ஏங்குதே..
என்னானதோ... ஏதானதோ...
கண்ணாடி போல் உடைந்திடும் மனது
கவிதை ஒன்று பார்த்து போக
கண்கள் கலங்கி நானும் ஏங்க
மழையின் சாரல் என்னைத் தாக்க
விழிகள் எல்லாம் கேள்வி கேட்க..................எங்கேயோ பார்த்த...

ஆதி அந்தமும் மறந்து
உன் அருகில் கரைந்து நான் போனேன்
ஆண்கள் வெக்கபடும் தருணம்
உன்னை பார்த்த பின்பு நான் கண்டு கொண்டேன்
இடி விழுந்த வீட்டில் இன்று
பூச்செடிகள் பூக்கிறதே
இவள் தானே உந்தன் பாதி
கடவுள் பதில் கேக்கிறதே
வியந்து வியந்து உடைந்து உடைந்து
சரிந்து சரிந்து மிரண்டு மிரண்டு
இந்த நிமிடம் மீண்டும் பிறந்து
உனக்குள் கலந்து தொலைந்து தொலைந்து...

Delhi 6

I watched Delhi 6 today. Shocked to see an empty theatre on a saturday...Scenes involving Delhi traffic and old galis reminded me of my home city Madurai. The story is told against the backdrop of walled city of Delhi which is a character by itself. Director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (Rang De Basanti fame) has tried to incorporate all possible social issues he can think in his mind..He's brought the untouchability, communal disturbance, superstitious beliefs bla bla.....He's used the "Monkey Man' issue in his film but looks like it was too boring. Improvised performance from Sonam Kapoor after Saawariya..."Bua' Aditi Rao is very attractive..and resembles actress Shobhana. Divya Dutta, Atul Kulkarni, Vijay Raaz, Rishi Kapoor, Waheeda Rahman all catchy performances..But still the film lacks the narration of RDB. Masakili song rocks...Brilliant performance from AR Rahman...Wish him all the best for Oscars...

Movies I watched...

Trying to write after a long gap of three years...Got married and have a son now..

Being alone here when my wife and son are back in India for vacation led me to watch a lot of movies, all through Video rentals..that too selected movies...

Recently, I watched the movie 'Traitor'. It was an action-packed, suspense-filled thriller. I enjoyed the movie very much. Now a days I'm attracted to these espionage thriller kinda movies. Don Cheadle, who turns in a smartly even-keeled performance as Samir Horn, a Sudanese-born, Chicago-raised former U.S. Army Special Forces operative is actually an American spy infiltrating a Jihadist plot to stop some of their terrorist activities in US. Brilliant performance by Don Cheadle...

I also watched the movie "Seven" released in 1995. When I looked at this movie I came to know that this is the movie which was remade by tamil director Shankar as "Anniyan". Should be appreciated...The same case with "Amores Perros". This is a Mexican film pictured nicely by Alejandro González Iñarritu. Film starts with a horrific car accident in Mexico city which connects three different stories. The narration of these three stories each involving characters dealing with love, loss and reality might have impressed our own Maniratnam and Kamalhassan to use in their films "Ayudha Ezhuthu" ("Yuva" in Hindi) and "Virumandi". In fact it needs some special talent to remake these kinda movies to suit our south indian audience...

Snow in Atlanta...

It was a longtime since we had snow and flurries in Atlanta. On 6th Feb 2006 morning I saw it was drizzling slightly. When I was about to start to office I saw it was flurries all over. It was very nice to watch. Then when I started driving, the intensity grew slowly and it was snowi everywhere. Hardly can I see anything on the road. Last year we experienced a similar condition, but were of a very short duration and it was for a couple of minutes. But now it went for an hour. Initially it was flurries and then it became snow and later it finished with rain. It went on raining till night. It was a nice experience here.

Munich, Man on Fire

Recently i watched a couple of Hollywood movies during the weekend. They were "Munich" by Steven Spielberg and ,"Man on Fire". The latter was a old movie but i got a chance to watch it. I watched "Munich" in a nearby theatre. I was very much interested in historic events and i was aware of the Munich incident in 1972 through internet. So i was eagerly waiting for the movie to be released. It was a great piece of work by Spielberg. Australian born Eric Bana was terrific. I never knew that it was him who acted in "Hulk". I liked his acting in "Troy" as the brother of the prince of Troy who was the main cause of the Greek invasion of troy. But here in Munich he's shown his class of acting as Avner, an Israeli Mossad Agent leading the team in hunting down the Palestinian "Black September" members responsible for the Munich Massacre. Eric Bana has led the cast with a awesome performance of a man tormented in the beliefs he was raised upon and what he believes after the experience he went through. Thogh it was a very long film i really liked it.

The other movie which i saw was the 2004 film "Man on Fire" which too had wonderful performances by Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning. Its all about an ex-CIA agent/assassin John Creasy played by Denzel Washington employed as a body-guard of a nine-year old Pita Ramos daughter of a Mexican industrialist. The film has been shot in Mexico City where frequent kidnappings (like 24 abductions in 6 days) make people worry and hire body-guards for their kids. Slowly Creasy becomes very much attached to the kid and all of a sudden she's kidnapped. Being wounded badly Creasy recovers and kills everyone involved and benefitted in the kidnapping. Certainly its one of the finest movies I have seen for quite some time. The acting by both Denzel and Dakota are just fabulous.

Happy New Year

First of all a very Happy New Year to everyone.

I made use of the Christmas and New Year holidays and watched some (almost all) of the movies which I missed!! In a span of ten days I watched Thotti Jaya, Aaru, Kanda Naal Mudhal, Thavamai Thavamirundhu, Sandakozhi and some Hindi, English movies.

I saw Thotti Jaya in Cincinnati along with my sister and brother-in-law. It was a quite decent film but I expected something more from Simbhu after watching his Manmathan. I really loved the music and songs. The story is yet another old wine in new bottle. Gopika was gorgeous. My favorite song Uyire En Uyire was fascinating.

I didn’t like Aaru. It was utter waste. I don’t know why actors like Surya do such films.

Kanda Naal Mudhal was really catchy. Performances of both Prasanna and Laila were simply superb. This role would be a landmark in Laila’s career. A perfect comeback for Laila. Prasanna gets another role that suits his strength. He has continued his good performances in Azhagiya Theeyae and Kasthoori Maan in Kanda Naal Mudhal too. Both Lakshmi and Revathy were not acting naturally. All the songs were nice. Kudos to Priya for her directorial debut.

Thavamai Thavamirundhu…. It really touched everyone’s hearts. I don’t know, Cherans last three films disturbed me a lot. His Pandavar Bhoomi reminded me of my childhood days when we used to spend our holidays with all our relatives together. The song “Avaravar Vaazhkkaiyil Aayiram Aayiram Maatrangal” just took me years back. Autograph rewinded me to my past memories. This film took back every individual to their childhood days which can never be forgotten. And now “Thavamai Thavamirundhu”. When Rajkiran takes his sons to school on his cycle, I could see my dad taking me to school on his cycle years ago. Thavamai Thavamirundhu brings about the best in family values, which again most of us will be able to relate to.

The film Sandakozhi, I would say is Run II. All the same. It is yet another action movie with Vishal and Meera Jasmine as lead pair. Meera Jasmine’s acting was awesome in this movie especially the scene in which she asks hero Vishal for matchbox. She has come up with an excellent performance that captures every nuances of the character.

In my next blog I’ll try to give you my views on some of the English movies which I watched recently.

Freezing Rain...

I woke up this morning and realized it was raining. Since i was in regular touch with the weather forecast i knew it would rain in the morning. I started to my office at 7:45AM. Since it was raining i ran to get into my car to avoid getting wet. When i was nearing my office i saw all the trees were white and then i realized it must be snow. But it wasn't. It was freezing rain. It was ice everywhere. The water froze after the rain and it was like going through the crystal showroom Swarovski at the Ispahani centre at Chennai. It was really a great sight to watch coming out of the office during the lunch break.

Kotla triumph...

Watched a wonderful cricket test match after a long time. It was really tiresome to watch the match all the night from here at Atlanta and then run to office the next day without a decent sleep. Nowadays it has become very cold here around 1 degree celsius (33F) which is pretty low when compared to other northern and north-eastern parts of US. Last time i watched a test match was against Pakistan at Bangalore just before i left for USA which we eventually lost. Indians after having fared poorly in the rain affected Chennai test, came back to win the test comfortably. Tendulkar after a long wait reached his record breaking 35th ton in test cricket surpassing Sunny. But it was Irfan Pathan who made the magic as a makeshift opener with his brilliant 93 against the attack of Muralidharan and Vaas. Had a chance to watch Murali's doosra and Kumble's flippers. Kotla is always a lucky ground for Kumble. I do remember his match-winning 10-79 against Pakistan. Felt sorry for India's most successful captain Saurav's exclusion from the Indian team after faring pretty good with a decent 39 and 40 at the Kotla.

Jubilations..

Indo-Pak hockey match always a thriller,
Ultimate winner has instinct of killer
Match started with successive penalty corners,
India unlucky not to lead the champ former
Both teams missed chances they got,
WorldHockey leaders they were, forgot
In fundamentals, Europeans are best,
In this tournament, Asians under test
Pakistan came up with two beautiful goals,
India was looking for some serious fouls
Gem of a goal by opportunist Tushar,
Turning point of the match, desire of altar
Penalty corner awarded in favour of India,
Mighty Sandeep had a very clear idea
Scored the second goal with a stiff grounder,
Another PC and this proved India victor
Audience roared, everyone celebrated,
Thunderous applause and stadium erupted
Indian always cherish this great moment so much,
Beating Pakistan is always a difficult crunch.

This was the poem written by Indian hockey poet Prem Shanker Shukla on account of India's victory over arch rivals Pakistan at the Champions Trophy 2005, Chennai.

Uyire..En Uyire...

Recently i came across a song "uyire en uyire" from the film "Thotti Jeya" which i never saw. In fact i never liked simbu's acting. But i changed up my mind when i watched "manmathan". I didn't get a chance to watch this "Thotti Jeya". I've added it to my list of movies to be watched. But this song impressed me a lot. After hearing a number of times i started humming this song whenever i drive to office. The lyrics were really simply superb and the voice. I recognized two voices, those of Anuradha Sriram and Bombay Jeyashree. Can easily make out the voice of Anuradha sriram. This must be her first time in a slow melody. Bombay Jeyashree's voice was mesmerizing.