AR Rahman's Chennai concert April 08

Jaage hain der tak hamein
kuch der sone do
thodi si raat aur hai
subah to hone do
aadhe adhure khwaab jo
pure na ho sake
ek baar phir se neend mein
woh khwaab bone do

More here - ARR's Chennai Concert

Thanks to Harish, my bro, for taking these amazing close up pics of AR Rahman and Co. Needless to mention, the show, according to him, was spectacular, out of the world, dream come true. The whole crowd it seems were singing along throughout the show...

Kaash....

Innovative Promotion for Ada's music

Today I came across a news in Businessofcinema website that AR Rahman, Big Music and Nokia team have joined hands to give young Indians a chance to remix two leading tracks from Rahman's latest offering "ADA...a way of life". This is the first time ever that the beacon of Indian music is allowing listeners to remix his compositions.

More on this news - Click here

I think this is a brilliant way to promote the movie which other than AR Rahman, who's the only big name associated, has a list of unknowns/debutants to its credits. And guess what the Winner gets rewarded with......A chance to spend one day with the Maestro himself in his studio, to compose the remixed songs in Ada Soundtrack. Oh man !! somebody's dream is gonna turn into reality soon.

This is what Rahman had to say "India is full of talented young people and this contest is my way of unleashing their creativity. Nokia and Big Music have come up with a very interesting concept and I am looking forward to see how the listeners interpret my music and give it a new form."

I was sad when some of the memorable gems like Bose, Meenaxi, Tehzeeb and Kisna went kinda unnoticed due to either lack of publicity or lack of star value. But the story is different now with makers of several movies coming up with a wide variety of innovative strategies in promoting their movies. Good luck Rahman for both Ada and JTYJN, I'm sure your hardwork will get noticed and win you lot of accolades and more and more fans.

Here's Ada tracklist I found in the official website http://www.arrahman.com/. It's gonna be a musical treat with 10 songs !!!!!

ADA - A Musical Journey By A. R. Rahman

1. Ishq Ada (Male Version) - Rashid Ali, Raquib Alam(lyrics)

2. Ishq Ada - Parul Mishra, Raquib Alam(L)

3. Gumsum - Alka Yagnik, Sonu Nigam, Nusrat Badr(L)

4. Hawa Sun Hawa - Alka Yagnik, Sonu Nigam, Nusrat Badr(L)

5. Gulfisha - Sunidhi Chauhan, Sonu Nigam, Viviane Chaix, Nusrat Badr(L)

6. Hai Dard - Udit Narayan, Nusrat Badr(L)

7. Milo Wahan Wahan- Alka Yagnik, Jayachandran, Chorus, Nusrat Badr(L)

8. Tu Mera Hain - Chithra, Sukhwinder Singh, Naresh Iyer, Nusrat Badr(L)

9. Maherbaan - A. R. Rahman, Raquib Alam(L)

10. Maherbaan - (Instrumental Solo Guitar - Sanjeev Thomas)

Can this year get anymore better, our Boss wins both Best Music Director and Best Background Music award for Guru in Zee Cine Awards 2008...wooooohooooo

Rahman's Jaane Tu ya Jaane Na and Ada

Rahmaniacs have a reason to celebrate now. Two albums are gonna release soon, may be in the month of May for which trailers are already out. Sakkarakatti is another awaited ARR album in Tamil. I guess Ada might be the first one to be out followed by Jaane Tu ya jaane Na. From the trailer it looks like JTYJN is gonna be a fun, rocking, peppy and youth album, may be in the lines of Rang De Basanti, which would be fantastic from Rahman. Ada seems to be more innocent, deep and delicate love story, so we can expect some mindblowing tunes from Rahman saab :). Here are the just released trailers -

Jaane Tu... ya Jaane Na





ADA - A Musical Journey By A. R. Rahman

Shauk Hai - Ethereal song from Guru

Some songs are melodious, some are beautiful, and then there are some which go on to touch hearts. Shauk Hai is one of those songs. It was quite unfortunate that this song didn't find place in the original Guru Cd. But it later got released in "A.R.Rahman - Greatest Hits" CD under Sony-BMG label.



Whenever I'm longing for something, I'm a bit down or feel voidness I take shelter in this song. It kinda injects confidence in me, makes me understand that there's more to life than this. The lyrics stress the importance of simple things in life which are actually the most precious things that we fail to appreciate in our daily lives. And that we only will understand if we come to know that one day the candle of our heart will stop burning. Thats precisely the story of Meenu from the movie Guru, which AR Rahman beautifully captured in his song. A Masterpiece !!!

The Dark Knight new poster

Thanks to my buddy Shankar, I came across this new poster from the movie Dark Knight... Two words...Just Brilliant ...Five more words..Can't wait for this movie

http://www.whysoserious.com/itsallpartoftheplan/

Kobe Bryant jumps over Aston Martin..and so does Kenny Smith

Inside the NBA has got to be the best post game show there ever is. These three folks, Charles, Kenny and Ernie are absolutely hilarious. They always put on an awesome show and yesterday after the Lakers and Nuggets match, their show even got better when Kenny Smith challenged Kobe that he would also jump over Aston Martin like how Kobe did.

Charles asks him "Are you gonna jump over hot wheels" ..hahahaha..

But no !! Kenny Smith actually goes for the challenge and the end result is one of the most Friggin Hilarious videos I've ever watched...

Oh man..I was literally crying laughing..didnt see that coming at all. They showed it so many times the even Kobe couldn't control himself...check it out



Charles in the end "I'm guessing u r not gonna sell any of those shoes"
LOLOLOLOL....Classic !!

Kobe Bryant...who else can BE the MVP ??

Chennai defeats Mumbai in a nail biting finish

Wow..I was literally on my feet in my cubicle during my peak work hour when everyone's eyes were glued to their monitors looking at spreadsheets and other stuffs. What an exciting finish for a close match. My current favorites before the season started was Mumbai and Kolkata, but looks like our Chennai Superkings are one of the most strongest teams in this IPL tournament. They are also the highest runs scored team till now...Amazing !!! way to go Chennai !!

Check out the edge of the seat thrilling last over...the crowd went bonkers

Tashan - Da Moochik Revue

Last year the trailers of Tashan showed up in theaters and it seemed to be in the lines of Western gangster movies genre. The starcast and their getups were interesting. The roaring chorus chant in the background was full of energy and attitude. Naturally expectations were sky high for this album, adding to the fact that this was also from Yash Raj Films banner. Also VS have been giving decent hits in recent years. They also keep getting offers from big banners, which is good for them as they get to showcase their talent to a broader audience. Now having said all that, do they deliver in this album ? Does it have the expected ishtyle ? Lets see...

Dil Haara - I have to applaud VS for this amazing composition. From the promos the incredibly catchy chorus chant after a rocking guitar intro which goes like "Ooooooo Wo-Ho" marks the entry to this song. Looking at the setting of the song and the costumes, I thought this would be a total hardcore Rock song. But to my pleasant surprise this turned out to be a song with heart and a lot of depth taken to a different dimension by brilliant rendition by Sukhwinder Singh. Both the antaras and pallavis are top notch in this song and the supporting background music is very fresh and of high quality. The way the song ends in that high tempo crazy crescendo, one can't help but to jump out from the chair or increase the volume in the car and get into a state of complete madness. In the end I'm sure people will keep singing in their head "Dil haara re...dil haara haara dil haara haara...oh yaara re..."

Chaliya - This song takes off in a Hip hopishtyle mixed with Bhojpuri lyrics which go like "Naseela Naseela". It actually sounded pretty cool for me and reminded me of Abhishek Bachchan singing that type in some movie. The overall pattern of the song is on the lines of one of the songs from Cash, forgot which one. This song is tailor made for Sunidhi Chauhan as she is one of the few singers who can vary her voice to match the situations, like here she easily changes from a sensual start to a fun and frolic song. Overall a moderately enjoyable song which will have immense appeal on screen with smokin hot Kareena flaunting her Sex-pack Abs.

Dil Dance Maare - You want to know why this album is unique, listen to this song. An out and out fun song which I havn't heard in a while in Bollywood. A Bhojpuri folk song with exteremely funny English lyrics sung spiritedly by Sukhwinder, Udit and Sunidhi. The orchestration provided for this song by VS is fulltoo pumped up which can set the dance floor on fire. Regardless of how the visuals are going to be for this song, its a total entertainer. How did Vishal come up with such a lyrics? Must have been in a state of euphoria or something..I mean check this out "Hai cast of my feet Jo lamwa kare hai zalim beat" Lolzz...and then "Kadakti heat mein ban ja deet Nainan se nain mila re". I'm telling you...its insanely lovable lyrics...Fantastic composition !!! Mein very happy in my heart as my dil dance maare re...

Falak Tak - After some unusual songs we come to hear something which we all instantly love..a simple innocent melody. Udit Narayan is back after a long hiatus as this song totally belongs to him. If its a Yash Raj Banner we got to have a romantic song, and so do we with Falak Tak. Apart from the vocals by Udit and Mahalaxmi iyer, the accompanying guitar and basslines are magnificent. I'm sure this will be the favorite song for many because of it uncomplicated and easy-on-ears tune. However it doesn't stand up to the other melody from a flop movie by YRF last year, Bol na halke halke. Somehow I think when it comes to melodies its just two people who stand out - AR Rahman and Shankar Ehsaan Loy. And the rest, including VS, try to get there, but just can't...atleast till now.

Tashan Mein - The last and phinal song of the album. Once again VS tried to bring out a song with different flavor, but I guess this time they went just a little overboard. The starting portion is cool as it sounds a bit Cowboyish. But then as the song proceeds, the excitement subsides and gets to a point where the line Tashan Mein seems too repetetive. There seems to be no continuity in the tune. If thats what was in their mind, then they achieved it. I wondered what Rahet was doing in this rock based song, but it made sense when I heard some alaps and Classical singing. But overall I'm not too impressed with this song. My least favorite from the album.

We also get to hear brief intros from each of the characters talking about tashans. I just heard it once and thought Bhaiyyaji's and Bachchan Pande's Tashan were the most interesting ones.

There were times when YRF banner came up with beautiful soundtracks with lot of songs, and mainly superhit songs. Its been missing for quite a while. And even in this album, barring two super cool songs Dil Haara and Dil Dance Maare, the rest are OK. Falak Tak might be included in good songs list, but the other two are mediocre. Vishal Sekhar are undoubtedly good composers but they have their strengths and weaknesses. Their songs are cool, trendy, with nice orchestration, but not consistent enough. And we don't expect that for Yash Raj movies.

My last aur Phinal word- moochik acha tha, par thoda more acha ho saktha tha. Nevertheless a honest attempt at creating a hatke album, VS almost had a winner, almost....

Rating -

Ramu's last hope - Sarkar Raj

Well not last really, as his so called "Factory" dishes out 10 - 20 flop movies every year. But if he doesn't give one hit, he sure is in a big trouble.

After a series of bad movies and super duper flops, Ram Gopal Varma is back with the sequel to his 2005 career saving movie, Sarkar Raj. Personally I lost interest in his movies after his 2 brilliant movies Satya and Company. I never even cared to watch his Darna Mana hai or Zaroori hai movies...He should have named it Dekhna Mana hai. But Sarkar was kinda his style of movies. There was also good acting and great background music.

Lets see if he strikes gold with Sarkar Raj. Also we have aishu in this :)

Mike Myer's back babyyyyy

The promo of "The Love Guru" releasing this June 20th...seems like a load of fun. Must be having all the elements of Austin Powers.



Watch out for the ending where he holds minime and says..."I'd like to thank the academy..wow these things r heavy" hahaha

Welcome to Bollywood Autin Powers :)

VahRehVah - one of the best Indian Cooking Channels on youtube

Today I remembered the delicious Chettinad Chicken, which I used to have quite often at Karaikudi restaurant in Chennai. Just the thought of it was mouthwatering. So I decided to make it no matter what. I tried searching on the web to get recipes and tips as to how to make it. Then for some reason I was bored. I wanted someone to show me so that I can make exact replica of that. Also that way I know my progress and can achieve the end result as shown. Thats when I thought of the greatest site Youtube.

And thats how I came across the awesome Culinary Show by Sanjay, the host / VahChef of http://www.vahrehvah.com/

There are about 214 various Indian Dishes presented in his youtube channel. The best thing about this is he not only showcases the famous dishes like Chicken Tikka or Tandoori Chicken, but also several regional and quite unknown yummy ones such as coriander chicken, methi chicken, Grandma's curry chicken and last but not least my favorite Chettinad chicken. For all veggies there are many dishes too.

Here's the recipe that I followed -

And here's his youtube channel - http://youtube.com/profile?user=vahchef

I've introduced his videos to my wife and she loves it. Infact I got new energy to cook newer recipes. His presentation is also pretty cool. He takes his time and explains each and every detail as to why we do this, what happens when we put this, and so on. So for beginners and newbies to Indian cooking, this is a great channel, and for already experienced ones, you should certainly visit this site if you are bored with your cooking or wanna try something new. On the whole a very informative and entertaining culinary site which can bring lotsa fun to your everyday cooking.

Vah reh vah yemi tastu...chaala super ga undhi bossu

AR Rahman Live in Chennai Concert : April 20th, 2008

" Music is Change....and Change is Me " - AR Rahman

The concert, co-sponsored by Times of India, starts at 6.30 pm and is happening at the St. George school grounds opposite Pachaiyappa's College.

Go grab your tickets, if you still havn't !!!

Btw, I thought this was an awesome promo which brilliantly showcased the beauty of Chennai. The music was engaging, having all the elements of Carnatic, folk, and electronic...nice fusion as always from Rahman. Was that flute or nadaswaram used in the music ?? AR Rahman looks cool as usual. The Marina beach, Autos, Nadaswaram, Thavil, Temple, Pujari, streets, Dosai, Paati ( granny ), Metro, Coconut water, kids, Bharatnatyam, people waiting for Water....this IS the Chennai I grew in...this is where I belong. Now I miss my city :(

What's Rakesh Roshan Smokin ???

Planet Bollywood's news article reads "Rakesh Roshan Exposes The Opportunistic One Film Wonder, Ram Sampat".

What do they mean by Rakesh Roshan exposing ? Wasn't it Ram Sampat who exposed the shit out of The Roshans ? Their shameless copying of Ram Sampath's Sony Ericcson Thump music in their Krazzy4 song is out in the open now. And what do they do now ? Well obviously they can't say that Ram's allegations are wrong and that they are ignorant of thump's music. Instead they take another route by saying they knew this music and infact liked it and even contacted Sony, which means poor Ram Sampath is now the culprit of accusing someone of copying his own song. What a joke !!!

Instead the best possible solution to this would have been to oust his own copycat brother Rajesh Roshan, who's been everything but original when it came to delivering music. We all know he gives horrible music to everyone other than his brother, and thus his non-popularity. But even the so-called hit music he gives to his bro is all complete plagiarized stuffs. His Haseena Gori Gori ( Its Summertime by Shaggy), Koyla music (Conquest of Paradise by Vangelis), or Dil na diya ( Inka Wayra ) are few of his popular direct lifts. And who cannot forget Mr. Rakesh's outright copy of Hollywood Classic E.T, Koi Mil Gaya. The only best thing Rakesh brought to Bollywood was/is his own son, the extremely talented Hrithik Roshan.

And thats where I was initially surprised as Hrithik is the brand ambassador of Sony Ericcson. Why couldn't he just tell his copycat uncle that the tune is a blatant copy and just ask him to make a new tune ?

Anyways I think its a very good lesson learnt by The Roshan's. They better be careful next time and not think that whatever they come across is theirs. There is something called Credit. And what does Rakesh mean by this line "This was a well planned scheme of making money. Having all the proof in my hand to defend, I was helpless for want of time."

What is well planned scheme of making money ? Isn't blatantly copying a 1989 Hollywood movie " The Dream Team" and releasing it as Krazzy4 a well planned scheme ? Isn't shameless copying a tune from a fellow Indian musician and not even crediting him and on top of that having superstars dancing to it a well planned scheme ???

Kudos to Ram Sampat who strangulated a biggie like Rakesh Roshan and made him pay the price. I'm sure the media will play a different tune sympathizing towards the Roshans and blaming Ram Sampath, but who cares. To me, Justice has been served.

Vijaykanth English Speaking Comedy / Kodumai

Thanks to my buddy Sridhar, I got to see this mindblowing English dialogues/lecture/course/godknowswat by our very own Vijayakanth a.k.a. Captain....
Check it out and have fun...I've also posted the literal translation of the dialogues to help you better understand the proceedings (thanx to youtube member raghav29) ..



Good Morning Sir, I got complete information about accessory[some crap]

***Our captain doesn't even care to listen to wat she's saying and snubs her abruptly by saying ***

eny ather informasons pazz it to me
yes sir
all southzone dsp to contact...sendhil chandigar dc panchakola dc
sir
rendu perathiyum udanne vara sollunga asok
ok sir...

[rustles all the papers he has in his hands]
sir... [takes the sheet from her]
mr asok,
sir...
evrythinnnnn shud b in our control...
aaam sir
block all the entry points,spesaly from delhi route which is very important...avan namba kitendhu thappikave koodadhu
sir...andha kulumanaali hills route irrukula sir andha route nammmaaa

***and our Captain again abruptly snubs mr. asok :)***

eyyyyyyyyy do wat i say...ashok..inga vaaaa...ivannoda ella photographs um ellarkittiyum irrukonam...nischiyam inniku sandigar varruvan...
sir...
namma chandigar la moonu edathulla gavanamma irrukanum...
yes sir...
mohali kirikket stadium..chandigar railway station..chetareha thangapora Sevalibi Otel,
Be-alut....

Hahahahahahaha...ROFLMAO !!!!!
Btw, I know this scene wasn't supposed to be funny in the movie, but it seriously cracked me up big time...I think our Captain should have just stuck to Pure Tamil instead of Peter English. Those guyz behind look clueless of what's going on and seem to be just following our captain...hehehe...I still don't understand why he says Sandigar sometimes and Chandigarh other times...hmmmm

NPTEL - a Brilliant Initiative by IIT, IISc and Govt. of India

For everyone like me who's lost touch with some useful and important subjects in school and college AND who wants to go back and refresh those subjects here's a supernews. I was randomly searching for an online free course/tutorial on FETs ( Field effect transistors ). I found one in How stuff works site, one of my favorite site. But I wanted to get a video and not read through. Somehow I find listening and understanding more easier compared to reading.

Then I thought...how about Youtube ??? So immediately I went to youtube and typed in the needed..EUREKA !!! I was shocked..I found some excellent lectures by some eminent professors belonging to various IIT institutions in India on the related topic. My first thoughts were that these are leaked videos by the IITians. Digging further I came to know that its a joint initiative IIT and IISc, funded by Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India, called "National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning".

http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/home.php

Here's the youtube channel for the same videos ( much easier for searching topics )

http://youtube.com/user/nptelhrd

My wholehearted appreciation to MHRD, IIT and IISc for this great venture on promoting higher education in India. Every year millions of people try to get into IIT schools, and only few thousands make it. With this youtube channel, now everyone can get IIT education from some of the best professors in the world.

Hats off to everyone for making this possible !!!

Love Story 2050 "inspiring" promo

Came across a pretty interesting promo of Harry Baweja's "Love Story 2050". Something different ? For Bollywood yes for sure !!!! And different ? we love, Original ? we are surprised, Inspired ? disappointed, but who cares, if its got good ingredients then chalta hai. Love Story 2050 promo has the first and the last qualities.



I think this is a very grand debut for Harman Baweja, and if he's talented, then he has the looks to pull it off big time. But in the few minutes of the trailer I was able to relate this movie to a bunch of Hollywood movies. Time machine concept has been explored to the core in Hollywood, but still is interesting for us as its not been used in Bollywood so much. So "Back to the future" series, "The Time machine" and many more might come to mind watching the starting portions of the promo. But then it gets more exciting when they show Oct 2050 Gateway of India. Will Mumbai seriously look like that in 42 yrs ?? Thats tremendous improvement to me.

Then we get to see a group of robots bearing uncanny resemblance to "iRobot" movie. The cinematography and effects seemed brilliant and for most part I felt I was watching a Hollywood flick. Then when they showed the cars flying in between buildings I couldn't stop myself from thinking of the movie "Fifth Element". But the best part comes in the end. The ending music of the trailer which is strikingly similar to Robbie Williams' Millennium song and background music in the movie "Mars Attacks". All this in just one trailer. Hopefully the similarities end there...

On a lighter note, I thought even the Hero's looks seemed to be greatly inspired by Hrithink Roshan's :).