Showing posts with label movie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movie. Show all posts
Dasavatharam; Kamal Hassan's latest flick that doesn't need an introduction anymore. I was particularly attracted to the fabulous first 10 minutes of the movie that brought us back in time to the 12th century.
Kamal Hassan as Rangaraja Nambi in the scene was forcibly tortured and dispatched into water to death by King Kulothungan Cholan for his refusal to disclose the whereabouts of his guru, Ramanuja Dasan and for his denial in giving up his faith to become a Shaivite. The King warns Nambi's referring to the fate of Kurattalvan who was blinded with a hot iron rod because did not reveal such information related to Ramanuja.
I have heard a little about Ramanuja Dasan before and while digging up a little deeper for the details of Ramanuja Dasan which left unanswered in the movie, I found some interesting facts attached to him. Ramanuja Dasan is a great religious philosopher of all time.
Once he was so eager to discover the meaning for a secret mantra which would lead to heaven after his death. So he approached his guru, Nambi, living in Thirukottiyur. The very moment he reached the doorsteps, he knocked on the door and cried, "Nan Ramanuja Dasan" (read = "I'm Ramanuja Dasan here"). But, Nambi refused to grant his request and replied back to him, "Nan setta piragu vaa" (read = "Come back after I die"). Ramanuja Dasan was confused with Nambi's response but wasn't in the mood to give up. So, he tried visiting him back the very next morning and he got back the same answer from Nambi saying, "Go back now and come back after I die."
This continued for not one or two but about 17 times. Ramanuja Dasan got fed up and started to think what was wrong with him for Nambi not to teach him the powerful manthra. Then he realised the meaning behind his guru's words. The word I" uttered by Nambi simply points to Ramanuja's ego and pride instead of guru himself. So, finally on his 18th attempt, Ramanuja was standing outside the same doorsteps and cried, "Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan" (Read = "Yours humbly, its me Ramanuja Dasan") - getting rid of the "I" (read=ego) in himself. Nambi obliged Ramanuja's request and started teaching him the meaning of the mantra.
Thank God that technology has evolved so advance that you don't have run up and down for 18 times. Nowadays, a single click would bring you up to heaven.
At the end of the teachings, Nambi extracted a promise from Ramanuja that he would not reveal the mantras to those unqualified to receive them. However, the following day, Ramanuja went to the nearby temple hall announced the sacred mantra to all those assembled there. When Nambi heard this, he demanded an explanation from Ramanuja for his direct disobedience. To this, Ramanuja, replied that if the act of his results in thousand souls reaching Vaikundam (read=heaven), he would be glad to be burned in hell which is the punishment for those who disobey their guru's commands. On hearing the explanation, Nambi was speechless and embraced him.
Two things to be learned here:
When we let go our ego and pride, we do see situations in a whole new light. We can open ourselves up to realms of possibility that we never before could have imagined. We can find knowledge, new powers, new creativity, new opportunities for growth, for love, for harmony, peace and joy in our lives that before our ego death we could not begin to conceive. I would love to quote Hugh Prather's words in The Little Book of Letting Go: "A mind (ego) that learns to let go gradually returns to its inherent wholeness, happiness, and simplicity."
Next, some people object to knowledge sharing as they feel that others will steal their ideas and reap the rewards rightly theirs. But, giving is always better than receiving. Share your knowledge with others genuinely. Sharing with others will result in powerful opportunities coming into your life that you never would’ve thought possible. Even money can buy you happiness only if you're spending it on someone else. You can call this whatever you want – helping others, going the extra mile, caring, but what it all boils down to is really serving others because you genuinely want to without expecting anything in return.
Cheers!
I have heard a little about Ramanuja Dasan before and while digging up a little deeper for the details of Ramanuja Dasan which left unanswered in the movie, I found some interesting facts attached to him. Ramanuja Dasan is a great religious philosopher of all time.
Once he was so eager to discover the meaning for a secret mantra which would lead to heaven after his death. So he approached his guru, Nambi, living in Thirukottiyur. The very moment he reached the doorsteps, he knocked on the door and cried, "Nan Ramanuja Dasan" (read = "I'm Ramanuja Dasan here"). But, Nambi refused to grant his request and replied back to him, "Nan setta piragu vaa" (read = "Come back after I die"). Ramanuja Dasan was confused with Nambi's response but wasn't in the mood to give up. So, he tried visiting him back the very next morning and he got back the same answer from Nambi saying, "Go back now and come back after I die."
This continued for not one or two but about 17 times. Ramanuja Dasan got fed up and started to think what was wrong with him for Nambi not to teach him the powerful manthra. Then he realised the meaning behind his guru's words. The word I" uttered by Nambi simply points to Ramanuja's ego and pride instead of guru himself. So, finally on his 18th attempt, Ramanuja was standing outside the same doorsteps and cried, "Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan" (Read = "Yours humbly, its me Ramanuja Dasan") - getting rid of the "I" (read=ego) in himself. Nambi obliged Ramanuja's request and started teaching him the meaning of the mantra.
Thank God that technology has evolved so advance that you don't have run up and down for 18 times. Nowadays, a single click would bring you up to heaven.
At the end of the teachings, Nambi extracted a promise from Ramanuja that he would not reveal the mantras to those unqualified to receive them. However, the following day, Ramanuja went to the nearby temple hall announced the sacred mantra to all those assembled there. When Nambi heard this, he demanded an explanation from Ramanuja for his direct disobedience. To this, Ramanuja, replied that if the act of his results in thousand souls reaching Vaikundam (read=heaven), he would be glad to be burned in hell which is the punishment for those who disobey their guru's commands. On hearing the explanation, Nambi was speechless and embraced him.
Two things to be learned here:
When we let go our ego and pride, we do see situations in a whole new light. We can open ourselves up to realms of possibility that we never before could have imagined. We can find knowledge, new powers, new creativity, new opportunities for growth, for love, for harmony, peace and joy in our lives that before our ego death we could not begin to conceive. I would love to quote Hugh Prather's words in The Little Book of Letting Go: "A mind (ego) that learns to let go gradually returns to its inherent wholeness, happiness, and simplicity."
Next, some people object to knowledge sharing as they feel that others will steal their ideas and reap the rewards rightly theirs. But, giving is always better than receiving. Share your knowledge with others genuinely. Sharing with others will result in powerful opportunities coming into your life that you never would’ve thought possible. Even money can buy you happiness only if you're spending it on someone else. You can call this whatever you want – helping others, going the extra mile, caring, but what it all boils down to is really serving others because you genuinely want to without expecting anything in return.
Cheers!
The long awaited local Tamil movie, Nana Neeya is on screens now. The songs were released last year and I still remember writing a soundtrack review on The Blank Page. I haven't got the chance to catch the movie on a big screen, leaving me no credibility to write a review about the screenplay and the movie in a whole. But, you can check out how Mindsblog has rated the movie.
The local Tamil film industry is highly competitive. Only a handful ends up making successful movies and that did not stop Nana Neeya's director Dharmavathi from pushing her luck in delivering a quality movie with plenty of laughs. In her recent message, she highlights the ugly mindset of the people that lies behind the downfall of the Tamil movie industry in Malaysia :
When is the Malaysian Indian public going to change its mindset that Malaysian made movies are no good compared to the ones from India. How many NS Krishnas, GANAs and Shans are going to become victims to this industry just because they are passionate about wanting to see growth in our industry. There are 1.8 million Indians in this country and we do not even have 10K viewers for our movies but movies like Shivaji the Boss can collect the same amount like Lord of the Rings.Nana Neeya -The full length comedy movie is on cinemas now for three weeks with five showings a week. Make sure you grab your tickets and drop your support.
Set in Brickfields, a township in the capital of Malaysia, Chalanggai (Dancing Bells) is about Uma an eleven-year-old schoolgirl who aspires to be a dancer. Uma lives with her mom and brother in a soon to be demolished neighborhood secluded in the backyards of the rapidly developing township.
The occupants of the town are strictly addicted to a daily routine. Another common routine addict, Uma's mother, Muniammah owns a small make shift stall selling jasmine flower garlands to support her family needs. Raja, Uma's father neglected the family after severe disagreements with Muniammah. Since his absence, Muniammah has been single handedly caring for her children's needs. Every now and then, she accepts small contributions from her son, Siva. Siva, a seventeen-year-old school drop out works as a car wash attendant. Muniammah fears Siva would end up like his father, Raja. The demanding city life and the lost of a father figure affect the family deeply. This gives constant pressure to Siva as he turns to secretly hate his father even more.
The estranged Raja regrets his past and attempts to return home. The family is torn between emotions, as they feel even more vulnerable. A string of mishaps fall upon the family and they are forced to confront the many realities that lay ahead of them. Muniammah turns to her flower knitting routines to hide her feelings. Siva shoulders his burden in silence to deal with his lost. As for Uma, she dreams of pursuing her interest in dance.
Somehow, manage to catch the show last weekend, within the first 48 hours after the release of Sivaji:The Boss. I was in Midvalley on Saturday noon, buying some stuff for myself and wanted to try my luck grabbing a ticket for Sivaji. I was lucky enough to get one of the last three remaining tickets for the 4pm show at GSC Midvalley.I entered the cinema 15 minutes earlier just to catch some latest trailers before the show of most awaited Tamil movie of the year. When the movie started, instead of the words "Sivaji The Boss" I noticed something else on the screen.. It was "Sultan The Warrior". Shocked for a moment, I rechecked my ticket to make sure that I am at the right cinema. Then, I realized that it was the first look of the full-length animation movie called “Sultan The Warrior” which feature Rajni as Sultan. The Oscar Studio owned by Soundarya Rajinikanth along with Pooja Shetty, AD Labs is about to release the animation very soon. The intro for it was terrific and some of the crowd went crazy by looking at it! It was a big surprise for all of them there! ARR does the music for this 3D Animation movie and the music should hit the store very soon.
All right, back to Sivaji The Mottai Boss! Personally I feel the movie was superb. Shankar did a good job on video clips. The scenes and location and as usual the graphics was great enough. It was a very normal introduction scene for Rajni in the movie instead of the usual hu-hah intro with songs where they always show his legs and hands first before the face. ;p The song Ballelakka sung by SPB, Reihanna and benny wasthe first song with Nayanthara, making a guest appearance. It also features guest appearances from members of the technical crew including the director, Shankar and the cinematographer, Anand. The other songs and video clips were superbly done as well. The settings for the songs were carefully chosen to amaze people and ARR did a fantastic job when it comes to music. The graphics work in the Athiradi song was equally good to any other Hollywood movies out there. I was bit impressed with the first fighting scene where the fight will takes place in a shop that sells musical instruments and Rajini will be using the instruments around him to fight the enemies. It was more like a musical fight and ARR did an amazing job for that scene.
Ok..now to the story, Rajni is an America return NRI who wants to spend all his money on charity in India by building hospitals and universities to give free medical treatment and education to the poor. But he faces problem from the villain, Suman as Adhi where Adhi tries to stop him. At last Rajni lost everything and has nothing left in life. He starts back his mission with 1 rupee and finally made all his dreams come true. Rajini as Sivaji in the movie has portrayed his acting talents very well. There were also dialogues from his previous movies being used from time to time in between the scenes. Vivek as Rajni’s uncle, Arivu is in great form. His smart jokes, idioms, will make anyone break into a chuckle spontaneously. The whole movie was full of fun and comedy. The part where Rajni and Vivek crack jokes whenever they suppose to behave serious deserves a big round of applause. Well, putting it briefly and to the point, Shriya is simply stunning and gorgeous in Sivaji! Her acting was very well with good facial expression even though the way she talks looks a bit fake in some of the scenes. In overall, Sivaji is a movie with good mixture of comedy, action and fun that is worth watching twice.
Sivaji The Boss is the first tamil movie ever to be featured in UK top 10 box office. The film also re-wrote several Indian box-office records prior to release. It is the costliest production to date; costing about 80 crore rupees (US$ 15 million / RM 51 million) excluding Rajni's salary of 16 crores. The record for the costliest Indian production was previously held by the 2002 Bollywood film, Devdas which cost 52 crore rupees. Rajinikanth became the highest paid actor in India, receiving 16 crore rupees for his role in the movie
P/S : jom second show..this weekend!
Rajnikanth's latest film Sivaji is touted to be the most expensive Indian film till date. The film which is one of the most widely anticipated Tamil films in recent times releases on June 15. Here's an exclusive first look.
Enakkum Tamil kalaacharathoda oru ponnu venum.. lol ;p
'Sivaji' producer M.S. Guhan from AVM Studios said the release of the highly anticipated Rajinikanth film is being postponed due to some "technical difficulties and other small issues." He said to ease the pressure on them, AVM Studios decided to push the release date yet again.The movie also got censored recently and was given a clean U certificate. The fans have already started their countdown for the d-day but disappointment is in store for the fans as the movie will be gracing the theatres only by mid June.
The new date seems to be final, as Mr. Guhan said AVM Studios has also released advertisements in newspapers. It better be a show that is worth waiting for!
Source : TheHindu, behindwoods
