(South)Indian music Rockzzzz !!!

With so much of marketing and publicity hype associated with films releasing off late , one can fear that the starry PR efforts are going to take away the honors that many movies deserved.

I still keep wondering the need of the lead actors stealing the limelight of the audio releases of these wonderful musical movies. Perhaps the astronomical budget threatens the makers to go for cosmetics well before the release of the movie, not realizing that good music can even make a difference to those movies.

Commercialization of everything obviously prefers change in good conventions. But from my personal experience, the music compositions of a few movies have been received even better than movies.

Jodha Akbar, Dhaam Dhoom and even Himesh's innovative attempt of Dasavatharam find special mention from that long list.

Its only obvious that these music genii can better themselves every time , the reach is beyond horizons which makes me feel proud.

Rahman is growing better every day like old wine, Harris though gives great tunes though the style has been predominantly the same.

I know I would invite wrath by adding Himesh to this crazy list but 2 of his songs from Dasavatharam make me feel that he has something to offer to good ears too !

I have become so crazy of good music because in such a profession other organs are bound to get exhausted so easily that I rely upon ears to refresh a bit of me everyday.

My three cheers for ecstatic composers who are taking our music to greater heights, perhaps to more listeners amidst the starry affairs which dominate the modern day media.

Cheers !

The "Bhutto" legacy

I was quite away from the 'blogosphere' thanks to my commitments from the professional front.

But I am back, as my instincts drove me for scribbling something, after all so much has happened in the world over the past few months.

The assassination of former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto may have paved way for a larger debate on democracy being thrashed by anti-humane elements , but it was so chaotic to know who killed Mrs Bhutto and perhaps the resounding question 'why'.

While forensic experts, intelligence and many 'others' are wondering why and how the assassination happened, a majority of them are worried simply about the aftermath. It has even gone to that extent that the history of Pakistan may very well demarcated as pre-Musharraf period and the post-Musharraf period.

The 'Bhutto' family is often compared to the 'Gandhi' family perhaps not for their maverick support to democracy , but for the merciless killing of their members for which the whole of their respective nations grieved.

Benazir though inherited the political qualities from her slain father Zulfiqar ali bhutto, remained mostly a defiant strong leader of the masses which also showed that she is a self made leader. When she became the prime minister of Pakistan she was just 26 years of age, a rare case in World political history.

She is known to have had a prolonged battle with army generals who had taken the nation by ransom right from her childhood. Hence she was always forced to go on exile whenever the nation's democracy was at stake.

The assassinations of great leaders have always left behind uncertainty and Bhutto was no different, her people wondering whom to pass the mantle to.

Bilawal Bhutto may have been just 19 years when he became the official successor of her mother, one can only hope that there is no more bloodshed and the history of democratic leaders speak only about their highs and the lows and not their tragic ends.

Thanks for reading !

Hip Hip Hurray :)

I am composing the post just a few minutes after India made history , after they went on to win the Twenty-20 World Cup and gave us perhaps the most cherishable moment of the game for the whole century.

The under-dogs became dark horses and then the dark horses became favourites and then favourites became champions, Thats how Team India scripted their T20 outings in South Africa.

With least expectations riding on the team Dhoni and his men did nothing but enjoy their game each and every moment till the last pakistani wicket fell to rewrite history books.

The fact that makes the victory more special is that it came against arch-rivals Pakistan though they played really well to give us all a nail biting finish.

Two teams who were chucked out of the ICC ODI World cup barely a few months back, have now come over the odds to go to the helm of the game.

Look whom they have crushed en route to winning the cup Pakistan,South africa,Australia and Pakistan.....Wow what a journey it has been , simply impeccable.

The men in blue averaging just 24 in age brought us all an unforgettable moment of pride by becoming champions in this new format of the game. The young bloods showed great deal of aggression and passion and now they have reached the pinnacle.

The whole country of more than a billion has erupted in joy and celebrations galore all over.
Setting aside the bitter past , the political flim-flams, the national problems and all our worries, of each and every Indian, this victory has flooded all with extreme joy.

Team India you deserved the cup and you have made us all proud.

Chak De India !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please bear with me if I had erred as you all know I am writing in a mood of great jubilation :)

Chennai !!!

I just wanted to share this video with you all !

Its cool, and brings cheer for my new aspirations :)

Please bear with the 'ad' tho :(



Thanks :)

Birthday Gift :)

There can't be any better Birthday gift to mother India than a scintillating 'series-win' in the home-of-cricket and the Indian cricket team deserves all the adulation.

Despite all the controversies surrounding the decision to back-out of follow on in the 3rd innings of the Oval test doing rounds everywhere, the coveted series win could not be outsmarted by the final test result.

One can easily understand the vested reasons behind Dravid's decision as it is simply the fear of losing the series had England put up a decent total on the board if they were following on. Because batting on a track like Oval in the 4th innings is more than a nightmare for Indians ,though touted to be the best line up in the world.

Even the batsmen gave a slice of their fears in 3rd innings itself when they chose to bat instead make England follow-on and they were 6 down before declaring. That may perhaps be the reason for Dravid's decision. And all he thought was to put the blame on bowlers fitness which eventually evoked mixed response.

As he is known, the Wall always blocks everything and he did the same. But this incident will remain as the recent blot in Indian test cricket.

The other side was perhaps more of a team spirit and thirst to win. They played as a team and everyone contributed their bit to the victory, except a few exceptional performances by Zaheer in the Nottingham test and kumble's magic with both bat and ball at the Oval.

The pick of the series is the opening pair of Karthik-Jaffer pair who seem to be on the right track for solving India's opening woes. Karthik in particular was exceptional as an opener, portrayed right mix of defense and technique and had won the accolades for his efforts.

The series win showed perfect signs of India improving from over the traumatic world cup exit, with excellent blend of youth experience contributing their bit to wipe of stains.

All the media hype is well deserved, as winning England in England is never easy.If it was 2-0 it would have given us more reasons to celebrate, however this is not bad in anyway.

For the upcoming One-day series and the following tours, as always, we keep our fingers crossed !

Thanks for reading :)

Rowling keeps it Rolling !!!

Its been a while since I wrote my last post, But I'm back thanks to the freak rains of Hyderabad that denied a rare chance of getting back to home early.

I know writing a review for HP and Order of the Phoenix weeks after its release is understandably funny, but "Better late than never".

I am no expert in wizardry and witchcraft and often take pride with the fact that I have not even seen the cover of any of HP books and humbly accept the 'muggle'ness.

This isn't a complete review of HP and OOTP henceforth HP book worms and movie freaks can go ahead reading at your own peril.

OOTP is claimed to be the darkest of all HP movies but hardly contains awe-inspiring magic or visual effects. Perhaps thats why it makes a little boring to see OOTP in Imax, sans any terrifying graphics or effects.

What inspired me more was the tint of slow and the smooth flow of events that inspire Harry to be more tough to baddies as he steps into adolescence.

I was dumb-struck by an astounding performance by the lady who played "Dolores Umbridge".
Her acting prowess is simply the best part of the movie reels. She brought the whole reflex of the character to her facial antics and witty smile. Hats off to her.

The last 20 minutes of 3D experience was not so exceptional, yet sounded interesting.

As always I loved watching Emma Watson in genius Hermione, and she simply carried me away.

When I heard mutters from faithful HP book readers that the greatness of the book was not wholly transpired into the movie, I withdrew my own complaints.

At the end of it all, what I enjoyed most is the thrill of watching a HP movie on its first day in Imax among freak fans despite being a muggle! Sounds crazy ???

Thanks for reading :)

King of Grass - High on Class !!!

It couldn't have been any bigger than this, a dream final any tennis watcher could have wished for on center court, Wimbledon.

It was literally a "Clash of the Titans" and everyone hoped that the rain gods too were relaxing in front of their television sets :)

After days of clumsy freak weather at the Wimbledon the final day was much sunnier and the meadows were looking dry and green all set for the grand finale !

Two great masters of the game - one who was getting used to it and the other making use of it well.

The title clash was between Roger the top seed and Nadal the second, turned out to be a treat to watch for both spectators who had come to the center court with folded umbrellas and for those worldwide before the idiot box with their fingers crossed.

While Fedex was eying Bjorg's record of five straight Wimbledon titles, Rafa was hoping for his maiden Wimbledon title.

Many would have seen Roger emulating Nadal 5 years later or Nadal emulating Roger when the latter defeated Pete Sampras from getting his 5th consecutive Wimbledon title back in 2001.

The game was never a one sided affair, and was equally poised at any stage except for the latter stages of the decider.

I would say Roger had his lady-luck very much by his side as he got away with 1st and 3rd side thanks to a tie break. He proved his mettle with a total of 24 aces against 1 for Nadal , reminding everyone of the yesteryear legend Goran Ivanisevic who is still unparalleled with his serves on the grass.

Roger also had the number of unforced errors more than that of his opponent indicating how collected and composed the younger lad was.

Presumably both had their placements fantastic, giving us nothing less than a 'edge of the seat' experience.

Nadal came back strongly winning the 2nd and 4th sets thanks to some wonderful winners from his dynamic forehand, pushing the king of grass too far from being a cake walk.

The fact that both of them were equally flexing the muscles ,exhibited some exuberant talent and went on to grab 2 sets each before the decider.

While there was some mild chaos due to the hawk-eye decision challenging options, It was Nadal who took everyone by surprise by challenging only those decisions which turned to his favor.

Then came the final set which took away the breath of many and turned out to be the most exciting set of all games in the recent tennis history. Some would have even felt boring at times as both were winning equally and alternatively their own serves.

When the score board was reading 2-2 I was thinking only a tie break can decide the champion,
But then the swiss maestro justified he is a little above the crest when he broke Nadal for 2 successive games with some wonderful backhand winners and aces.

He won the set,match and championship 6-2 in the final set thus re-writing the history books.
Swedish legend Bjorn Borg was all smiles after he found a company for his elite club of 5 consecutive Wimbledon ch'ships.

The tears that rolled down Federer's cheeks said all the story and how great it was getting close to being called a legend.

But Nadal had more positives to take from the match, He stood tall,strong and can only be credited for pushing the champion to a fag end.

And Federer told that It was the toughest grand slam final for him and wished Nadal to have a longer run and that Nadal deserved a win in the center court.

And this match will go down in the history as one of the most enchanting tennis game, and also for the discovery of two great sportsmen - a legend of the present and a champion of the future.


Thanks for your time :)