{mosimage}It is a beautiful movie that breathed a fresh whiff of confidence into the Tamil movies when it was suffocating with regressive "thaali" sentiments and woman as doormats. Balu Mahendra remade the Hindi classic "Arth" after 12 years of its theatrical release, this time he acknowledged the source also (Balu gets his "inspiration" from the Hollywood movies but never acknowledges it) in the opening credits.

{mosimage}Rayil Sneham - This is the general term used for expressing the out of sight, out of mind friendship, just like having a good time with the passengers while journey. But sometimes some people stay in your mind for longer. Whenever I hear this song, from the movie Dhadkan I feel as if written for me specifically. The song goes like this:-

Aksar is duniya mein anjaane milte hain
Anjaane raahon mein milke kho jaate hain
Lekin Hamesha woh yaad aate hain.

The translation is "Often in this world strangers meet and get lost in the way, but remain in memories forever"

{mosimage}Ninne Pelladtha - One of the highest grossers in the annals of telugu cinema and walked away with all the awards in 1996. This movie consolidated Nagarjuna as the romantic icon of Telugu cinema and catapulted its director Krishna Vamsi to the top league. I love this movie immensely and has so much of sweet memories associated with it. I was at my Engg first year's vacation while this movie was released. Since I was very friendly with the Andhra guys at that time, I had an affinity for Telugu movies. So whenever I think of them I think of Ninne Pelladtha and vice versa. Thats why I have to break my resolution of not writing about movies anymore.

{mosimage}2003 - Manasinde kilivadhil ariyathe thurannoru mazhavil chirakulla kavithe.. nee ende kasthurimaan kurumbu... (A rainbow that stealthily opened my heart... you are my small "Kasthuri" deer.) When Kunchacko Boban wooed Meera Jasmine under the aegis of Lohitadas, little did he realise that he is lipsynching to one of the immortal romantic saga on the celluloid. Around 2005, same Lohitadas, Meera Jasmine and "Five Star" Prasanna are trying to recreate the same magic this time on Tamil screen. How much they will succeed? That only time will say but this is a time to look at the original.

{mosimage}When malayalam movie directors make their films in Tamil, they have one musical force to rely on according to their melody music tastes - none other than "Maestro" Illayaraja. Still we are being haunted and entertained by Fazil - Illayaraja combination that brought us many eternal scores like "Poove Poochooda Vaa" , "Kadahalukku Mariyadhai" and latest by "Oru Naal Oru Kanavu" irrespective of their box-office status. When Priyadarshan debuted in Tamil movies with "Gopura Vaasalile..", Illayaraja greeted him with some evergreen melodies. Now it is Malayalam script writer Lohitadas's turn to present with some Tamil melodies. Coming to Tamil "Kasthurimaan", most of the song situations are faithful to its original situations, one new song has been added. This is Meera Jasmine second chance of lip syncing to Illayaraja's songs.

{mosimage}Parineeta is a timeless tale written by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, better known as the author of Devdas. This novel has been remade as movie already two times with legendary Meena Kumari and Moushmi Chatterjee reprising the lead roles in those versions. Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Pradeep Sarkar had adapted this novel for the third time, shifting the mileu to early sixties against the original in the beginning of last century. Parineeta happens to be one of the under-rated novels of Sarat Chandra and when it comes to the capable hands like of Pradeep Sarkar, it ends up becoming a classic. Debutante Vidya Balan who happens to be the Pradeep Sarkar's beloved protegee takes up the center stage in the latest version.

Before I get into this article let me confess that I was one of the active anti-Illayaraja Rahman fan, when the whizkid made waves with Roja & Gentleman. I used to call ARR as "Isaipuyal" AR Rahman, little did I realise that storm will subside after a point leaving everything in shambles, while the breeze even though slow will be soothing ever. The transition is like new neighbour's beautiful wife getting more attention, after sometime when you look at your wife you realise her worth and love her still more. Today I proudly say that Illayaraja is my demi-God in music and I had got a chance to live through his creations. Infact I love and value his songs even more than when he was at his prime. This article is purely my viewpoint on how I became his ardent fan and on what I am hearing now.

{mosimage}Logically speaking, this movie should be one of the earliest movie reviews I should have written, because it is a movie that was instrumental in turning me towards malayalam movies for a wholesome sensible entertainment. Niram has a sweet memory associated with it. It is the first movie I went with Preetha in Coimbatore. It is the movie that made me literally fall in love with Kunchacko Boban and Vidyasagar, skyrocketing them to my all-time favourites. It is the movie that introduced me a master movie maker - Kamal. Above all it is the first VCD of my personal VCD collection. A sad thing associated with this was a good bye movie of my favourite actress - Shalini.

{mosimage}It is a beautiful Hinduatani raaga, that is claimed to bring down rains when sung with faith and belief. Tansein is the name that comes to our mind along with this raaga. When there is so much of compassion and sweetness in this raaga, how much of sensitivity must be there in a movie associated with this name? Coming to movie, this is a non commercial venture aimed at making good cinema by Asianet TV & Mathrubhoomi, the leading publishing house of Kerala. With no commercial pressures but added responsibility of making a good movie with the parameters given, Kamal does it effortlessly at the time making it a tight rope walk over thousand nails. A small mistake would have made this cult movie a crass third rate semi porno stuff. "Meghamalhar" is a beautiful love story of two married individuals told with a lyrical quality.

{mosimage}Can cinematographers make good directors? After working with the top directors so closely and learning the craft, I think they get the itch to direct a movie someday. Going by the track record of cinematographers turned directors who had succesfully ventured into other domains, the answer seems to be YES. PC Sriram made slick action thriller "Kuruthipunal" and sensitive "Vaanam vasappadum". KV Anand continued with a gripping thriller "Kanaa Kandein" while Jeeva made an abstract "12B' and followed it up with "Ullam Ketkume..". Just now I watched "Ullam Ketkume..." and was cleanly bowled over by its narrative structure, not only stylish visuals but equally emotional vein too.

{mosimage}Mazha - A disturbing musical journey of an young girl into the womanhood was scripted and directed by noted film maker Lenin Rajendran had Samyukta varma in the lead role. It was a mile stone in Samyukta's acting career also. It is a part of my VCD library and I had a chance to see it again after a long time after coming to UAE. I felt it deserves a wide audience and thus writing to you all, recommending to see it. I had seen it once again in Surya TV when I was in India and I hope you all will catch up when it comes in Surya TV again.

{mosimage}I was in my 7th Std., when "Geetanjali" or Idhayathai Thirudathey (in Tamil) was released. The phrase "Odi polaamaa...?" was a craze then all over Tamil Nadu, so did "Laichi pothama...?" in Andhra after release of this movie. I watched it on video (Pirated VHS tapes were in vogue then) and didn't find anything interesting except watching that 3 minute long kiss scene secretly. I asked what a rubbish movie, except hero & heroine are shouting at each other. But as the years passed by the sensitiveness & discerning quality imbibed by aging, when happened to see "Geetanjali" on a Valentine's Day, telecast in ETV, found it eternally romantic. Nagarjuna became my romantic icon forever.