Name it as you please...

Another town bites the dust...this time its 'Pondichery'...it will soon be renamed as 'Pudhucheri'...After having made great 'achievements' with 'Mumbai', 'Chennai', 'Bangaluru' and 'Trivandrum', the naming gods (read as, vote-bank-seeking-dirty-a**-politicians) have now turned to rename the 'Beer capital of India'... 'The cities shud reflect the regional language', is what they proclaim...

I just spun the cranky side of my head and started imagining what 'Tamilian' naming-gurus, particularly 'Madrasis' wud name the US cities, if given a chance...lets see...

1) New York would be Pudhu Muttai-Manjal
2) Detroit would be 'D-ettu-rite' (the city wud be dedicated to Rajini's 'ettu-kulle vaazhkai' song)
3) Washington would be Kazhuvu-nooru (Wash + ton)
4) California would be Aatha-tholaipesi (Kaali + phone)
5) Chicago would be Kozhi-kunju-po
6) Colorado would be Kolaaru-doi

Indian politicians have been turning to many ideas to keep their vote banks safe by playing on people's sentiments...Naming cities in regional languages is in fashion of late...

It would do a world of good if they can think about the expense it costs the Government to change the name in every damn place...To think that its the people's hard-earned tax money is like rubbing salt on an already deep and bleeding wound...

Sillunu Oru Kaadhal - 'Cooling Kammi !!!!'

Can Promos and fantastic still-photography give a movie a lift? The answer, my dear friends, is a big YES. You would know why, once you see JOK (Jillunu Oru Kaadhal). Aptly titled JOK(e) is in fact a real JOKE...

This is how the director would have gone about making this movie:-
1) Suriya and Jyothika are a hot pair, use your mentor's (Murugadoss)contacts and get their dates.
2) Go to your nearest video shop and pick out medium hindi or tamil movies off the rack with your eyes closed. If the movies happen to be 'Andha 7 Naatkal' or 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam' or one of those hazaar remakes/inspirations of the above, then you got your story.
3) OMG, you need one more female lead. Pick one thats not very busy, one thats shorter than Jothika, one that will do the movie for peanuts....wolah, there's Bhoomika!!!
4) Okay, get on the sets, cull out a child star thats doing rounds today on ads...let Jo and Suriya know that, they can just imagine that they are rehearsing for their married life in a small flat in Mumbai...they can manage that.

AR Rahman is back after a while. The music doesnt linger long in your minds. And as usual, the BGM is so very predictable. This has been the case with almost all ARR musicals. The background score in the scenes before a particular song appears in the movie, will be that of the song played with different instruments. Thats re-recording for you, ARR style. Would do him a world of good to learn from Raaja, who has taken re-recording to a whole new level.

The producer has done well to not just rely on the director's skills(if any). He has thought well, to rope-in an awesome photograper G Venkat Ram to do the promos. The film is sustaining interest among people, thanks to the great promos.

The only thing that would be unforgettable about the whole experience will be the 1 hr drive in a nasty weekend traffic to watch this trash...other than that 'Jillu'...oops..'Sillu...' is a forgettable movie...

Sabhi Alvida Kehna....

My biggest doubt about all Karan Johar's movies is, 'Does this dude watch his movies with family and friends after completing it?'. Atleast one member of the myriad of people who would have seen this movie, should walk up to him and give him a heavy shake, and say, 'Buddy, if you got so much money, would you consider charity, rather than making movies like these?'.

What pleasure does this guy get, by borrowing heavily from the story of 'Silsila' and setting it in New York? Intellectually challenged people, who badly want to see skimpily clad foreigners roam around freely with 'desis', are the exact audience the whole movie is targeted on. Although I hate getting into details of 'art for trash's sake', I would still do it now...

There is not a single Indian in any of the major sport in the US, particularly MLS(Major League Soccer). And BTW, Mr. Johar, its soccer to the public in US and not football. Football (the American form) is a brutal contact sport that a person like Shah Rukh can play only for a day(he might not live to play the next day).

Preity Zinta, attends an interview in the opening sequence, and is shown explaining to her to-be-boss, Arjun Rampal, why they should take her. It appears as a small position in the fashion mag. But when the story flash-forwards to '4 years later', she already is the number one executive in the fash mag, and even voices orders to her so-called-boss Arjun Rampal....wishful thinking, I guess.

How many more days are we going to be tortured by tunes from previous Karan Johar movies (KKHH and KKKG in particular) appearing in every possible opportunity. I guess, this is one way of keeping these songs immortal !!!!

In short, all Karan Johars and Aditya Chopras are taking Bollywood-land to an abyss from where, no matter how hard they try, the Ram Gopal Vermas and the Rajkumar Hiranis, will find it very hard to bring it back to a face-saving state.