Master's Weave the Magic Again - GURU

Nothing excites me more than the sheer fact that an album from the genius is gonna be released. That too the expectations are even higher when the undisputed evergreen combo Mani Ratnam join hands with Rahman and Gulzar.

The last time they united were some 10 years ago for 'Dil Se'. The album was a run-away hit with numbers like 'Chayya Chayya' and 'Dil Se re' rocking every corner of the world including Hollywood. They have come together again for the latest flick titled 'GURU' - 'GuruKanth Desai' in short, starring Abhishek, Aishwarya Rai,Madhavan and Vidya Balan.Cinematography by Rajiv Menon and Editing by Sreekar Prasad, adds more flavor to the film.

A month back some teasers were available of the songs and upon hearing was bowled over completely. Finally the album hit the market around three weeks back.! Guessing why do I write my opinion about an album three weeks after it releases. I could see reviews pouring from every corner of the world about the album, mostly appreciating it and a few criticizing. With Rahman,we can never or shouldn't come to conclusions in a few hearings. Now each cell responds for 'Tera Bina' and 'Mayya Mayya'. As Rahman quoted in the interview 'Never jump into tunes' just do 'scratches' and 'templates'. As an ardent fan of him I followed his gesture, not jumping at any conclusions. So I restrained and gave myself enough time to grow on me. So here we go, I present my liking(s) about the album and feel that I don't have enough knowledge on music to critisize the master except for a good pair of ears for listening and appreciating music.

Barso Re - Picturised on Rai, this is a rain number sung by Shreya Goshal and Uday Mazumdar. Shreya voice throws a surprise and she lifts the songs to greater heights. Naveen joins with flute and makes a perfect blend. The last time Naveen played a significant part was in 'Mudhalvan' and was mesmerizing. Uday gives his share with the vocals and takes it to a different plane altogether. Listen to the portion from 1:57 - 2:30 and it leaves a everlasting impression. No stopping the 'Nan Nare Nan Nare Na Na Na'.This number is Aishwarya Rai favorite in the album

Tera Bina - One of the best numbers of GURU, 'Dham dhara Dham dhara Mast Mast - Oh Hum Dum' haunts you for ever. This is sheer magic from the master. Rahman did mention that this song was originally for 26 minutes and was not sung by him. But then Mani 'black mailed' Rahman to render the number. Rahman has tried his best to fit in the best portions into 5:10 minutes and he wins! Sung by the master with Chinmaye this is a true classic. The beats, dolak, tabla complements the number. Listen to the portion from 3:00-4:00 for Chinmayi's soothing voice. The master shows variation all over with alap, high pitches and completely soaks you in soul-stirring composition.This number is Gulzar Saab favorite and he his rite on the money.

Mayya Mayya - This number took time to grow on me. But now I cannot go past this number. What's Mayya Mayya - Rahman explains it means 'Water' in arabic. Sung by Maryem Taylor, she does full justice and delivers her best. This is picturised on 'Mallika Sherawat' and the clippings are mind-blowing. Rajiv Menon needs special mention here. Great work and hopefully the whole of bollywood goes 'Mayya Mayya'. This is a arabian and gujarathi number blended beautifully.Listen to the portion 3:55-5:25. Stunner!Mani talks a lot about this number along with Jaage Hain and reckon this is one of his favourite number. The first number to be recorded for the album.

Ay Hairathe - Brilliance when Hariharan join hands with Rahman. This is more of Ghazal type and the tabla with accordion mixed. Rahman did buy the accordion specially for GURU and is truly vintage. As the icing on the cake is the 'Hum Dum' in a different note/variation/pitch by the master himself. Am sure in concerts people will go wild with this number.Listen to the portion from 1:30-2:15,classic. Picturised near a river, its beautiful. Wonder how does mani manages to find such naturisque location when every movie churned out goes for foreign locations.As Rahman stated - simple 'Yemen melody' but leaves a strong impression on the listener.

Ek Lo Ek Muft - This is a 'Baang Number' with lots of dholak/drums/beats but in the right proportion. Sung by Bappi he does a great job. The song starts of lightly and then as more beats and variations come into picture stuns you. Rahman's core ability comes in the form of using a variety of instruments but in the right mix and creates a right effect on the song. The humming 'Yammo Yammo Yammo Le' is catchy and makes your progress bar pull-over it again and again. Listen to it from 2:53-3:30. Classic number and am sure people will go gaga over 'Yammo Yammo Le'.This number is Abhishek's favorite.

Jaage Hain - This song/lullaby conveys the theme or soul of the film. Backed by Madras Chorale Group, its soothing. Not much of lyrics and the variations shown at various stages of this number is brilliant. The best skill of Rahman as I see, is throwing surprises at you at various stages in the song starting from 'Chinna Chinna Aasai - yelelo' to the notes variation in this number. Excellent arrangements and we can sense the Masters hard-work every where.This number is again Mani's favorite.

Baazi Laaga - This is more of a 1960's type song and am sure the movie will completely justify the inclusion of this number. I think we have to wait to watch it before making an opinion.

Truly a brilliant album from the team. Am enjoying every bit of it and hopefully everyone reading this also enjoys the album.

As Mani stated 'Rahman never stops - He keeps on adding portions to the song even after the movie is released'. As a Rahman fan - 'I never stop listening to the Na Na Re/Dham Dham/Yammo/Mayya'.

Waiting for 12th January 2007 for the visual treat!

Check the teasers from the songs here

Video Here

Cudn't ask for more !

One of the recent trend is many of my friends started writing their own blogs, expressing an interesting moment / holidays / information.

I was also interested in writing blogs (not often though). Usually, I write when something interesting happens and i think its high-time I write this one.

I do regularly keep in touch with the news in India thru many sites and one of them is www.rediff.com

They have started an topic, where readers can share pics and moments when they meet famous personalities including cricket/cine stars etc.

I did meet Narain Karthikeyan, when he was here for the Formula One Grand Prix and thought of sharing this to the people around the globe thru rediff.

So, I did send my pic along with narain and a short message of how I felt the moment.

On 13 November when I was surfing through rediff, one of the headline stories in the sports column is "sundar meets narain", was wondering who the hell sundar is and just clicked on the link.

To my surprise I found myself and narain (picture) and also the message i quoted.

My friends messaged me that they were happy to see me thru rediff'

"I was really jumping"...

The below pics are self-explanatory !

Visit this:

The article.

Indians Abroad !

I did come across this in one of the forum -

Top 21 things a person do after returning from abroad
!!!

21.Tries to use credit card in road side hotel.
20.Drinks and carries mineral water and always speaks of health conscious.
19.Sprays duo such so that he doesn't need to take bath.
18.Sneezes and says 'Excuse me'.
17.Says "Hey" instead of "Hi".
says "Yogurt" instead says "Curds".
Says "Cab" instead of "Taxi".
Says "Candy" instead of "Chocolate".
Says "Cookie" instead of "Biscuit".
Says "Free Way" instead of "Highway".
Says "got to go" instead of "Have to go".
Says "Oh" instead of "Zero", (for 704, says Seven Oh Four Instead of Seven Zero Four)
16.Doesn't forget to crib about air pollution. Keeps cribbing every
time he steps out.
15.Says all the distances in Miles (Not in Kilo Meters), and counts
in Millions. (Not in Lakhs)
14.Tries to figure all the prices in Dollars as far as possible
(but deep down the heart multiplies by 43 times).
13.Tries to see the % of fat on the cover of a milk pocket.
12.When need to say Z (zed), never says Z (Zed), repeats "Zee"
several times, if the other person unable to get, then says X, Y
Zee(but never says Zed)
11.Writes date as MM/DD/YYYY, on watching traditional DD/MM/YYYY,
says "Oh! British Style!!!!"
10.Makes fun of Indian Standard Time and Indian Road Conditions.
9. Even after 2 months, complaints about "Jet Lag".
8. Avoids eating more chili (hot) stuff.
7. Tries to drink "Diet Coke", instead of Normal Coke.
6. Tries to complain about any thing in India as if he is
experiencing it for the first time.
5. Pronounces "schedule" as "skejule", and "module" as "mojule".
4. Looks speciously towards Hotel/Dhaba food.
3. From the luggage bag, does not remove the stickers of Airways by
which he traveled back to India, even after 4 months of arrival.
2.Takes the cabin luggage bag to short visits in India, tries to
roll the bag on Indian Roads.
1.Tries to begin conversation with "In US/AUS..." or"When I was in US/AUS..."

Top 21 things a person does after going abroad

1. Fails to eat properly - As everything seems expensive.
2. Thinks a lot to buy clothes - Coz he knows how much he can get it for back home
3. Multiplies the currency by exchange rate - and feels bad for buying anything.
4. Uses a bucket and mug in bathtub
5. Feels hard to get rid of using talcum powder.
6. Never tries to remember anyone's cell phone number - Loses memory
7. Cooks at home and eats at home most of the time
8. Realises Indian values
9. Reads more about their culture / religion / motherland
10. Learns more about history and politics of other countries
11. Never fails to know what is happening in India
12. Longs to go to temple and meet with few Indian people.
13. Watches a lot of movies of their native language or languages they can understand.
14. Starts talking slowly
15. Constantly sends money to India
16. Never fails to call parents and relatives
17. Gets used to things happening quickly (not always - eg: immigration)
18. Wants to come back home / at least thought once about starting a business back home in the long run
19. Puts on weight
20. Tries to eat with fingers during every available opportunity
21. Realise that they are Indian


I have come across a no.of these from both the lists !

Am sure every INDIAN living abroad wud have felt it.


Bottomline: U can take Indians out of India, but not India out of Indians..Jai Hindh!

Comment your experience !

Courtesy: Actual User Posted in the Forum.

Catch me if you can !

Does this sound familiar ! yes, its an hollywood flick directed by the famous Steven spielberg (jurrasic park, war of worlds,A.I...lot more...) with Leonardo di caprio (titanic..). where he plays a con.! The movie shows him as a teenager 17 years age, where he commits bank fraud in 26 countries, and by 21 becomes a millionarie! He takes up different roles such as a pilot, pediatrician, attorney, doctor, teacher and more !. The rest of the plot is how FBI agent (Tom Hanks) nails down the culprit.! The movie is racy and keeps you engaged till the end. I do not wanna talk too much about the movie, as you would already seen the movie and loved it.

The character played by Di caprio is based on the auto-biography of Frank William Abagnale ! read this to know more about him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Abagnale
Also I did a read an article recently about a houston police official quoting "if you get a chance to hear him (abagnale) speak..he will steal your heart". This is what exactly happened as i got a chance to hear him speak yesterday (28/sep/06).


Frank in his speech articulated the circumstances that forced him into fraudulent activities in his early stages of life. He quoted the divorce of his parents as the main reason. Then, he did explain on the various thefts, activities he carried out in airlines, banks (fraud cheques), hospital etc... He was extremely humourous and explained things in a lighter vain. Eventually after a series of frauds the FBI agents imposed a 8 year imprisonment for him. After 4 years of tenure in jail, the goverment did offer an early release based on one condition: to fight white collar crime.


There is no looking back as he did serve as an adviser to FBI and thousands of international corporations and businesses. Among the different government organizations he worked, australia was one among them. He did design/frame/template of the australian passport, birth certificate, drivers license etc. (cant remember exactly... too many to note down quickly).

He then moved to his personal life (wife and kids). He does have 3 sons and all of them are in gr8 positions in their professions. He did narrate various incidents with his kids and wife and one of them was every night before he goes to sleep, he will walk to his kids room, bend on knees and whisper "i luv u" in their ears. What a gr8 act. He made sure his kids and wife got the necessary love, affection, attention from him, which he missed in his early stages of life.

Finally he concluded that, the quality of one's life is not decided on the money they make, positions they hold, comfort in their living, property they own but based solely from the amount of love and affection they shower on their wife, parents and kids. He further quoted "There are many father's in this world but only very few Dad's". I strongly believe his words (in bold).

His 45 minute speech still lingers fresh in my memory and will cherish for my life time. His speech was really inspiring, motivating, energetic, humourous and enjoyable.

Once he finished, there was a big applause from the gathering. Everybody rushed to him to get autographs and photographs and am no different. I managed to take a snap with this gr8 man and feel proud. Have a look at the snap.

Lost in direction...

Am writing this after a couple of days, after it actually happened. Did not find time, as I was really busy with work (Oh really!!!).

I did fly to New Zealand (for work purpose) last weekend. Well the timing of the flight was a bit odd and I reached here at 2 in the morning' ( NZ local time ). It was really tiring and I had to be early to work the next day. !!

Five hours went very quickly and I was up half-asleep, (did not have an option). Then had a quick shower, had some cereals and did drop the files required into my carry case. It was 8:30 morning and do remember that when I requested for accomodation mentioned that am looking for an accomodation near by my workplace. So when I came down the elavator i did ask the helpdesk person

Myself: "G'day, how do I go to Wellesley street -west "
Helpdesk: "Oh well, here is the map and she highlighted the place am currently and marked it all the way along to Wellesley street".
Myself: "thanks for that, how long do u reckon it will take me to walk"
Helpdesk: "10 minutes".
Myself:"thanks!".

I thought let me walk as it's not too far.

I started walking going by the directions and then I went to the junction where Queen street meets Wellesley street. Wow ! I did see the sign where it said Wellesly 1-60,and based on it, i took a right turn frm the current place.

As I started walking into wellesley, it started pouring in.. I did not have an umbrella, and was getting drenched. Now, i was looking for the door number which am after. I was walking for more than 10 minutes and cudn't find. I stopped in front of a college (guess so!) and was wondering, will I wait until it stops raining or will take somebody's help in finding this place or call a cab.

Since it was wee hours the cabs were full and i didn't have a mobile to call a cab (i did not know the number too).

After 5 minutes, i started walking back the same way I came and went running back to my hotel (destination unreachable or its not the shortest path !@#$%^^&*). I thought i will ask them to call a cab. Finally, i reached the hotel back, fully wet.

Again i went to the helpdesk and said:
Myself : "Can i get a cab"
Helpdesk: "where ru after?"
Myself : "Wellesley west".
Helpdesk : "(she dialed a cab straight-away) will be here in 5 minutes".
Myself : "thanks for that".

The cab finally came and I did tell the driver that the destination is wellesley west ! He did drive thru the way i walked , but then when he came to the intersection, he turned LEFT. I was puzzled "it say 1-60 and i wanna go to 115 r something".

He took a left, drove for 2 minutes and told me "here is your destination sir". I paid the bill and went running into the office for the meeting.

The meeting was about to begin and I wasn't too late.

Was wondering, how easy it is to get lost in a new place, that too if the weather is bad and u dont have a mobile too.

The evening after work, i walked back without much difficulty, Oops.... what a gr8 start in a new place....!!!!!

T-Shirt Excitement

Rite from our childhood one thing we all get excited abt are the festivals we celebrate ! U name it either its diwali or pongal or any big occasion ! There is one common thread among these ! Its the brand new pair of shirts/trousers we buy for them.

Over all these years, i have been very excited about them to certain extent. I have had innumerable number of T-shirts in various design, brands, colors, size and fit.

But,now i reckon am buying the T-shirt of my life time. Its something special and close to my heart. Its the brand "A R RAHMAN" logo T-shirt. This T-Shirt was exclusively designed by the dedicated rahman yahoo groups people. As the description of the group goes "The group currently has over 6000 members including some very close associates of A.R.Rahman."

They worked out the various designs' prints' captions and model of the T-Shirt, and have come up with a mind-blowing design just as our own BOSS music !!!

So, its now time to order the T-Shirts and they are planned to be released on Aug 15th. What more can I ask for on the Independance Day of India. On this day in the year 1997' (50th year of independance) we had the gift of "Vande Mataram" album, which was a run away hit. I have ordered it on the net, and will ping my DAD to pick it up from the team. I will have the T-Shirt routed thru my friend who's on a trip to India.

Once he comes back i will be on the T-Shirt and a matching jean and rock around Melbourne. I will not surprised if people recognize the T-Shirt as the Rahman 3D concert was a gr8 hit in Aus.

Now to the design,its just here ! Have a gud look at it. Exciting ! What r u waiting for. Grab one for urself.

Cheers

Excited Fan.

Thala's Alwaar Kicks Off

Double bonus this week.

On one side A R rahman's SOK

Other side thala's Aalwar kicks off. The still says it all.

All the best.

He gets back to mugavari days.. by gaining a few kilos. and looks dashing..

Here are stills from the movie !

Looking Forward for Aalwar.!

SOK Review...

My SOK Review...

Now, the latest album frm rahman ji is Jillunu Oru Kadhal.

The teasers were released some 4-5 days b4 the actual release of the album. this increased my curiosity further and cudn't wait for it.

Finally i grabbed the songs and as usual cudn't stop the looping.

The songs which are class are:

New York - sung by Rahman himself
Munbe Vaa - Gr8 orchestration and voice
Machakari - My favorite Shankar Mahadevan and Vasundara Das.

The songs that are gr8.

Kummi Adi - By a whole bunch of people
title Track - Jazz Feel

Average

Mazza - Similar feel to Ah Aah..
Maricham - Experimentation number but falter's.

In New York - the start hum by our boss is gr8, then the guitar which is vey evident. excellent. This sets the tempo.. Listen to the song from 0:40 - 0:50 gr8 work. The notes are excellent and will linger for a very long time.

In Munbe Vaa - The place where shreya starts with 'charam' or first stanza. is outstanding. Also, when naresh is introduced it gives a gr8 feel.

Machakari - WoW !!! shankar Mahadevan his rendition is flawless... foot tapping.

As my favorite director said Rahman songs are layers and each layer is noticable after repeated hearings.

I will post one, comparing his song with the OSI model in networking. (Network geek).

On the whole, gr8 quality, composition, experimentation and finally wud give it a
4.5/7.

Enjoy the album and hope it makes big like RDB.