As usual an another conversation with my sister resulted in this new blog. Since we live in different parts of the worl, we don't catch up for long chats over the phone often. But when we both are in a mood to speak, the conversation lasts no less than 30 minutes, which is longer by my standards. When we were speaking last, we were talking about her school friends who discovered her after so many years in the Facebook. The conversation veered to the topic of staying in hometown for good.

Aren't we open to see bold films that deal into the gray areas of the relationships? Aren't we believing that Indian movies had come out of the stereotype comfort zones by discussing the infidelity and its aftermath in detail? By the time we thought that Bollywood movies are progressive, "Rustom" pushes the calendar back to few decades.

I came across this video on YouTube from the channel "Kommune India" and this channel is about the people narrating a story from their lives. This story from Tisca Chopra (Priya Aurora of 'I Love India' fame) about the casting couch. Tisca Chopra is a great grand niece of acclaimed writer Kushwant Singh and she is a good blogger, theatre artiste and works with various NGO. The credibility of the story can be questioned and there are various conjectures for the RP in question whether it is Rakesh Roshan and his director assistant son Hrithik Roshan or someone else.... Leaving those things aside, the way she narrates the story for 10 minutes is interesting and holds the listener's attention. The funniest line is "This is what Murphy didn't speak about... When you don't want to hear something, everyone will tell you about it... in great detail... in enormous details" and another friend's experience with a Tamil director "I want the script to penetrate every inch of your body" and director in "Satin maroon lungi"... She speaks about the Outdoor experiences in a lighter vein without darkening them and ends the story with another version of casting couch - gay directors.. So sharing this video for you...

Today a conversation with my sister opened up to an interesting topic on making decisions. I always feel that I hadn't been living my life ever instead I am letting my life strings being pulled by my parents' whims and now the future of my kid is influencing my lifestyle. My parents had been able to live their life on their own terms whether the decisions were right or wrong but lived "their life". But I always felt that I am living others' life, not mine. This is the background of this conversation today.

This is a blog inspired by a question I came across in Quora a couple of days ago. The answers are my sincere ideas and it can bear resemblence with others' answers but I didn't copy from any of them.

Being a hardcore introvert, I understand the importance of having right friends because they can change the life course of an individual. Even though the world looks down the introverts and advocates extroverts, being an introvert has some real advantages. One of them is that the people who reach to you is serious about you and the relationship cannot be frivolous. I had a just handful of friends throughout my life and everyone is a friend to remember for valid reasons and I acknowledge their valuable presence in my life on this Friendship day.

One thing leads to another... I was going through some promotional articles of the upcoming Bollywood movie - Rustom and learnt that it is based on a real incident that changed the judicial system in India - KM Nanavati Vs State of Maharashtra Case. When I searched for the Nanavati case in Wikipedia, I read many blogs which made the case interesting and intriguing. At the end I was convinced that this is a perfect recipe for a Bollywood blockbuster. Further search showed that there were already 2 movies made on this story - Yeh Raaste Hai Pyaar Ke (1963) and Achanak (1973) with the latter helmed by my favourite filmmaker Gulzaar. So I watched Achanak on YouTube.

சன் டி.வியின் ஆரம்ப காலத்தில் அதன் வெற்றிக்கு முக்கிய காரணங்களில் ஒன்று - கே.பாலசந்தரின் தொடர்கள். மாறி வந்த சினிமா ட்ரெண்டுகளுக்கு ஈடு கொடுக்கமுடியாமல் தன் அடையாளத்தை விட்டுக்கொடுக்காமல் கே.பாலசந்தர் சின்னத்திரையில் முழுவீச்சில் தொடர்கள் தயாரிப்பில் இறங்கியிருந்தார். அவரது மின்பிம்பங்கள் நிறுவனம் தயாரிப்பு என்றாலே புதுமையான களங்கள், நல்ல தொழில்நுட்பங்கள் என்று தைரியமாக பார்க்கலாம். நிறைய content தேவை என்பதால் தான் இயக்கியது மட்டும் போதாது என்று பல புதியவர்களுக்கும் வாய்ப்பு கொடுத்திருந்தார். அப்படி உருவான வைரங்கள் என்று சொன்னால் - மர்மதேசம் தொடர்கள், ரமணி vs ரமணி 1 & 2, மற்றும் ஜன்னல் வரிசை ஆகியவை.

Sydney has a lot of coastwalk in and around the city. For the nature lovers there is enough to keep engaged on the weekends. You have coastwalks of various difficulty levels right from light to medium to heavy. Prominent coastwalks in the Sydney city are Bondi beach - Cogee beach walk, Manly beach - Spit Bridge coastwalk, walk along the Watson bay. There are a few club for bush walkers who meet and do the trekking. Infact across the state of New South Wales, there are many coastwalks like Minnamurra - Kiama - Werry beach coastwalk which is the most picturesque one. I am sharing some photos of Manly Beach Coast walk which I enjoyed during my stay at Sydney.

I did watch Kabali on the first day (even though on online) but it was not for a craze on "Thalaivar", but to support the online piracy and rebel againt the unwanted hype by my cousins who behaved as if watching this movie on FDFS is their sole purpose of their existence. But what I saw was refreshing.. The best part of the movie is to watch Rajni playing his age rather than romancing girls of 1/3rd of his age or making funny faces in the name of comedy. It is the high time he should switch to playing such roles like Amitabh Bachchan who reinvented himself followed by the debacles of Mrityudaata, Lal Badshah etc and switched tracks with "Mohabbatein". At that time all the top directors were waiting for this and swarmed him with roles specially written for him like Khakee, Aks, Baghban, Sarkar, Kaante which can't be carried out by anyone else than the AB himself. Watching Rajni emoting in the sequences of searching his wife and the peace in his face when he had got his family back is like return of classic Rajni who shined under the baton of K Balachander or the sensitive Mahendran. Let us leave the actor Rajni to follow his wish of playing suitable roles rather than playing to the gallery of dumb fans... Director PA Ranjit should be applauded for daring to bring out the actor buried inside the Superstar tag. Irrespective of this movie is a flop or hit, the real fans of the actor has something to rejoice at. தலைவருக்குள்ளே இருக்குற நடிகன் வந்துடுடான்னு சொல்லு..