Thavamai Thavamirundhu - STORY TELLER

[Pic- Behindwoods]

Its a classic, written all over it. One of the few albums, where all the songs mean something, tell a story. The stroy line goes something like this......A struggling father raises his kids and wants them to achieve something. His son, instead of understanding his fathers desire, ends up focusing his life on love, rather then career. Against all opposition, he marries his love. He ends up struggling too and finally realises his father's sacrifices.....sounds not that much. But the preview and the soundtrack gives a great expectation to the movie. Its a shame that this movie is not yet released due to legal problems. Hope this one gets out soon and cement the new style of realistic cinema that is budding in tamil cine world.

As for the soundtrack itslef: composed by Sabesh Murali, definetely his best work yet.

Ore Oru Oorukkulle : Sung by Sabesh himself (sounds like daddy). The song feels very authentic. This would gel with the movie; we probably won't even realize that the song is playing. Verdict-->REWIND

Unnai Saranadaindhen : New singers; sound like what Rahman used to compose in the 90s. Good. Verdict-->PLAY

Oru Muraidhan : Pick of the album by Unni Menon. The song is for sure a contender for national award for lyrics (think Vijay). You are sure to feel the pain. Verdict-->REWIND

Yenna Paarkkirai : Slow Romantic duet. Hope this doesn't stand out very odd in the movie itself. Verdict-->PLAY

Aakkatti : A good folk song on the slow side. Again should gel with the movie. Verdict-->PLAY

Theme : Doesn't match the tone set by other songs at all. Verdict-->FAST FORWARD

Aavaaram Poove : Haunting song. Sounds exactly like "thenpandi seemayilae"....even has the words "yar adichar". Verdict-->PLAY

Overall, a soundtrack that is a story teller than a dance track - ****

SIVAJI Parak! Parak!

[Pic- Hindu]

Finally, it is launched. Heard they have taken the promo photos in Mumbai. Waiting for those. Lots more pictures of the function found in rajinifans.com

The Finger

[Pic- cricinfo]

Greg Chapell showing how he feels to ganguly supporters in calcutta. But he claims:

"I vehemently deny making any gesture towards anybody. I did not gesture either towards the media or to the public....I have not seen the pictures clearly, but from what I have seen an image has been captured through a window. I don't keep track of every movement of mine, but I certainly know I did not make any angry gestures towards the public....I'm not saying that the hand that was shown was not mine....but even if it was, what is being shown is a mischievous and malicious interpretation of what happened."

Dude, just say "hell ya! i showed exactly what you think"

AM I A TAMIZHAN?

I've always been very proud of being a tamilian. Whenever i am among a bunch of 'desis', i always had the feeling of representing my culture. And thus, in this journey i've faught (well, argued) hours and hours with many 'settans'. coz' whenever a new settan arrives he goes 'how come you dn't know hindi' and that for some reason pisses me off. But suddenly things are taking a turn. it is making me question about myself.

In the kushboo-suhasini-PMK-thirumalvalan spat (not gonna go into the spat), suhasini for some reason bursts "are you gonna send me back to paramakudi". the reply for that from the "tamil protectors!!!!" was shocking. They hit back "you shouldn't be sent back to paramakudi, you got no roots there. you should be send outside via khyber pass (coz' she is a brahmin). And who are you to represent tamils. You came from outside. you are not even tamil......"

Yes, i was born as a brahmin. But i don't think i've done anything to qualify as an actual brahmin. And will not do so in the future too. Yet, people do see me a brahmin. Although, i've heard this khyber pass comment a lots of times before, for some reason, this time it actually affected me. Are they right? I don't think so. First off, there is no concrete proof that the aryans came thro' the khyber pass. And even if they did, whats a big deal. There is also another theory that all humans migrated from africa. In that case, everybody is african.

And fine, coming to their line of thinking, "you are not tamil unless your family has lived in this land since the beginning of time." Now, whos to say that all the "tamil protectors" are pure-breed tamils (deosn't sound good). In all these thousands of years, how do you even know your great-great- grandfather is a tamil or not. there is no way of finding it. Jusy because noboday can prove that your great-great-grandfather was not tamil, does not make him a tamil. There is a huge chance of mixing. If you know for a fact that you are perfect pure-breed, then you are probably a VAMPIRE.

Even writing this post gives me a bad segregation sort of feeling. Coz' throught the post, i've been saying 'you not pure-breed, i'm tamil, etc". We are all humans. Nevertheless, we all need an identity. And that identity for me is TAMIZHAN. And i am proud of that.