Music musings!

It was just another evening, I had opened Saavn app on my phone to listen to some songs, a suggestion on the app shows up, and it was the song "Mellaga Karagani" from Varsham movie.  It had been quite some time that I had listened to this song. I just tapped my finger on the play button, well, there it was, the magic unfurled through the words penned by one of the the great lyricists Telugu film industry had produced, Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry. DSP did add more magic to the song through some wonderful music.

The line "chali pidugula sadi vini jadisina bidiyamu, tadabade ninu vidaga.." 
and then this "ee chiru chinukuaina.. nee sirulanu nee chupena, aa varununi ke runa padi pona e paina", oh dear! how could someone put it to so subtly and poetically a situation where the romance between two lovers and the playfulness that the rain brings in share the center stage. It is so well crafted that, you feel the rain, you feel the chill, you feel the romance interwined in every line of the song.

Though this song might not feature in the top ten or even the top twenty all-time great songs of Sirivennela, but it struck a chord to me, not just now, but every time I had listened to this, only now did I feel the itch to talk about it.

Sadly, my mind can't recall any such songs that have made an 'impact' of this sort in the last few years or so. With the movies going more commercial way, I feel that it is crippling the creativity and freedom of the lyricists. Maybe, some songs of Manam and the song chali chali ga allindi, could make one sit up and appreciate good music with an equally complementing lyrics or vice-versa. I did think over a while to list any other songs, but no, nothing comes off the top of my head right now.

Well, how often do we come across these days, some beautifully penned lines like "Sarada mallela poola jalle vennela navvulalo.. Sravana sandhaylu rangarista kannulatho.." or "Udyogam ippinchava.. sooku udyana vanamali ga". All I could hear is, a song whose pallavi begins in Hindi, and then goes on with some Telugu lines, and then adulterate the charanam with some English gibberish. As they say give a man  a fish, he will eat it for the day, teach him how to fish, he will eat it for life, give the lyricists the space and the extra large wings for their imagination so that the songs that we get to listen to can be classified more often under 'Music' than 'Sounds'.

This post might come across as a contradiction to what I had talked about "why this kolaveri di" in the past, I was all praise for that back then, but yes, that was first of its kind and it had to be accoladed. All am saying is peppy numbers can't please the ear, there has to be some kind of music at least once in a while that still upholds the lyrical values and reach the class "Timeless".

Feel like listening to the song? Here it is -

Super Mario comes on the Vespa!

Hello there! Am back here, yet again. Well, I certainly miss this space, don't know how it took over six long months to be back here. Just another phase of 'writer's block' I could say. Ah! I don't like to associate that term every now and then I stop writing, but still, I can't think of a better term than that. Or wait, maybe I could say, my blog was undergoing a phase of 'Development Hell'. 

As Wikipedia says, it's a state during which a film or project remains in development without progressing to production. I can associate this term to many of my blog posts, which are struck mid-way and waiting to be complete and be pushed to production! So, in the mid of this hell thing, the Vespa, yeah, the lime-yellow one had woken me up from my long slumber. To be accurate with my thoughts, it was a colleague's whatsapp profile picture, posing on the Vespa, was the actual trigger.

Ok, so why should the Vespa bring me back to writing? Well, the picture reminded me of the crush I had on it some two years ago and I felt like reading the post I had written about it back then. It felt really nice reading it and there was a sudden urge to write something, thought that something could be anything that would come off the top of my head and hence this piece! Ok, here's some trivia for you, 'Vespa' is the Italian word for Wasp.

Italy has always been a country of special interest to me, be it the God Father series or the Margherita Pizza or the Angels and Demons (Vacitan I know, but still!). As I talk about God Father - I remember this - 'Leave the gun, take the cannoli'. And God Father again reminds me of 'You've got mail'. I am quite a fan of the movies with references to some famous movies. Some movies, some dialogues will never cease to amaze us. Ok let me not digress to movies. It's about Italy. Period.

And yeah the names - the Materazzis, the Sollozzos, the Michelangelos, the Da Vincis, et cetera., are all fascinating, aren't they? Well, our own Super Mario is also an Italian!

As I think more of Italian, I remember this, the Telugu language is described as the 'Italian of the East', lazy to google it up, do any Quora enthusiasts reading this care to respond?

PS: It's nice to leave some comments you see. Thanks.

Hang on, it's Sunday the 13th, good day to publish?? :D

Image Courtesy : Google Images

Translation Courtesy : Google Translate

Rest all Karta Karma Kriya : Cartic!

1 Movie - Whose fault is it?

I finally watched the most talked about movie of this month '1 Nenokkadine'. In one word the movie is 'brilliant'. I wish I had finished writing this post the very next day I watched the movie, anyways, I am glad that I did it at least this week.

This is the only third time am writing about a movie on my blog over the last four years. So there has to be some significance to it. This post is more of a logical defence and justification to some illogical comments and reviews that I have come across, than an out and out review of the movie.

An English newspaper says the second half of the movie has an uninteresting narration. I was wondering what kind of movie buffs make that statement. It is the second half of the movie that unfolds the twists and makes sure that your curiosity levels are never waned at any point. And all these days I thought there were paid reviews only to talk good about a movie!

Some say, the movie lacked a comic track. Come on, you are not watching Dookudu's sequel here. A person is battling to find his identity, and you expect a bloody comic track there! Please go watch some Allari Naresh movies if you really want your funny bone to be tickled.

There is another set of people who say that the length of the movie is quite long and say that it is beyond their span of attention. So what do you guys want them to do. Let the climax scenes be chopped off and end the movie in a disarray?

I agree, the length of the movie is a little longer than the usual Telugu movies, but it is the same people who would watch the routine sick stories made on the old wine in new bottle formula for some 2.5 hours without cribbing about the time. You are watching a psychological thriller here, and you are expected to be a little focused on what’s going on the screen, and tell you it is not any Inception kind of movie wherein it takes quite an effort from the viewer to figure out what’s going on.

Also, there were some comments that the movie is based on an English flick. Do you think the Director Sukumar would just pull out an English movie from his DVD closet and remake the same in Telugu. Maybe there were a few scenes that would resemble some Hollywood movie scenes. But the movie as a whole is different and unique. Had the same movie been made in Hindi with quite a good marketing being done, the same people would queue at the theatres and would say, 'these kind of movies could never be made by Telugu film-makers'.

There are lot of film-makers in Telugu industry who can make a movie that is on par with Hollywood or world cinema. They have got enough potential but have several challenges in unleashing that. We have been watching the same old stories over and over and say the Telugu film industry lacks creativity and skill. But whenever a movie like this is made, it is welcomed by a bunch of negative reviews and brand it as a zero-entertainer.

A little risk has to be taken by the film-makers too, like what Sukumar and Mahesh Babu did. There has to be a proper spending strategy while this risk is taken, else the Producer would face the wrath. People might not accept these kind of movies right away, but if the people are void of the mass-masala entertainers, they would certainly appreciate movies like this going forward. This should be treated as a step towards more creative cinema in the industry than going for more pot-boilers by the producers. Let the good movies thrive!

PS: No offence meant to Allari Naresh movies, I do like his movies!
Image Courtesy: Google Images

The Phenomenon Called Sachin Tendulkar!

From the moment BCCI announced a test series against West Indies by trimming the more important series against SA in their own backyard, it was evident that Sachin would be retired, though not announced officially by him or the board. And when Sachin finally announced that his 200th test would be his last, I felt a little annoyed that these two tests were accommodated only to help Sachin sign off his illustrious long career here in India.

As they say, no one is greater than the game, a person who is known for his utmost humility could have retired even without playing a so called farewell series. Though that thought was on and off. I still wanted to see him play for one last time, but somewhere I used to get this feel, should he really play? Maybe he wanted the occasion of his retirement more ostentatious and more respectful than any other player who retired in the recent past or any sportsperson ever in India. But, why? he could have still retired, I thought.

The updates on my facebook wall, the two week long series of articles on almost all major newspapers about his 24 year career, the continuous tv shows, the debates on how higher a place he deserves in the cricketing world, the interviews, all this have been making me more turbulent. Somewhere I used to feel that he should have just announced his retirement right away and not after a series or so wherein a lot of hype would be created. I thought he could have followed the way his peers Dravid and Laxman retired, in a low-key affair.

But, I was completely wrong. He could have retired right away, but the thought of Sachin not playing anymore and that Sachin wouldn't be seen on the field one last time would have put the country, the billion people in a state of national mourning. Instead, he made sure that we get an opportunity to witness and savour his batsmanship one last time right here in our country and bid him a grand farewell which he rightly deserves. For many of us, Sachin's career is the timeline of our lives. His debut - our birth. His prime form of the 90s - our childhood and first friends of life. His 2003 world cup run - our teenage highs. His two centuries of the 2008 CB series - our career questions. His 200* of 2010 - our professional challenges. His retirement, 2013 - our lives at cross roads.

Maybe there are exceptions to what I have written above, maybe there are people who are greater than the game. And yes, Sachin is one among them. He can influence a nation. If inspiration can be personified, Sachin would be it's name, a nation like ours with such a huge diversity, the mighty respect and love towards him is the imaginary cord that connects us all. A person of this calibre truly deserves the farewell he got, maybe that was even lesser. If the rules would permit, and a 12th player would be added in a team, just as an honor of respect, Sachin would take that place permanently in the Indian team for ever. Having said that, I feel that the government has gone a little overboard in conferring Bharat Ratna to him, not that he doesn't deserve such an honor but that might open up a whole new can of worms, which I don't want him to undergo. Anyways, that's quite a debatable topic. I don't want to get much into it.

Finally, this post would be incomplete without thanking the master, the cult, the colossus. A big Thank You dear Sachin! You have just retired from the game, not from our hearts. Miss you. 

A Passing Cloud?

It's quite hard when your heart starts getting on your mind, and your central nervous system shifts to the centre of your body from the head.

I thought it must be infatuation but realized I am not someone who just turned an adolescent, hence this rationale fails. I can't give it the name 'love' because for me love means the highest form of emotion, and I believe there is a lot of ground to cover to call it that way.

All I could say is I am disturbed, unnerved, and confused.

You would say, is this something new with you? Yeah, you are right, but this time, the odds are brighter than they were before.

I hate to draw plots, form situations, create plans but as I said in the very first line, my heart is getting over my mind, and as a great soul once said 'People destined to meet will do so, apparently by chance, at precisely the right moment'.

Maybe it was the right moment, I was drawn to the place just for the meet to happen. But, am I reading more of what had happened? They say listen to thy heart! Yes, I am now, but it is completely screwed up at this moment!

If this sounds like a teenager's ramble, boy! am I still young at heart? :D

Well, my question here is, do I have a word for this in the English dictionary???

PS: This was lying in the drafts from over four months or so, just thought of publishing it today, as my blog has gone down on the popularity levels by few rungs! :D

The Kodachadri Trek

The first weekend of this month had been the most eventful, after the bland weekends of May and June. As the monsoon season arrived, and heavy rains lashed all over, my friends and I thought of exploring the Western ghats, and set our foot to trek the Kodachadri peak.

We started from Bangalore late on the Friday night and took the Tumkur-Tiptur-Arsikere-Shimoga-Hosanagara route to reach Sampekatte, a village which is some 15kms from Kodachadri. We had booked a reservation at a home-stay there, it did live up to what was shown in the pictures of the home-stay's website.

                                                 On way to Sampekatte

                                  Parvatha Home-stay, the home-stay where we stayed

After getting freshened up, we reached the base, the start point of the trek. There is this stationery-cum-bakery kind of a shop at the base, where we bought some biscuits, water and some plastic sheets which we customized to fit in as full body rain jackets. With those quick-and-dirty jackets on, each one of us looked like some alien beings, two of us in orange, other four in green. Quite a colorful picture that would make!

We hired a local guide, a sixty plus man named Gopal and we were all set to go. He directed us to the mud road which the local jeeps ply over to get to the peak. After walking a half kilometer on this road, we were asked to get into the woods, the trek was a walk in the park until now. After a few meters into the woods, we were greeted by a fast running stream, it was knee-deep and we crossed our first hurdle with great ardor.

There came our enemies for the day, the blood-sucking bloody leeches. Before we started the trek, the local people at the shop advised us to apply zandu balm on our legs, it would act as a leech-repellent they said. I thought I would google and know whether that would really work, but my phone was off network coverage, hence we went with the locals' opinion. However, the bottle of the cream didn't do any magic on us, maybe the cream got washed off our legs as we crossed the stream or it doesn't really work.

Our trek journey would come to a brief halt whenever any of us was attacked by a member or two from the leech community or when the smokers community in our group wanted a break. We progressed further fighting the rain, the leeches, occasional crabs, water pools and slippery rocks.

After an arduous four-hour trek into the woods, we reached the Hidlumane waterfalls. As they say perseverance pays, the spectacular sight of the falls just took the pain away. The force of the water was so high that if your foot gets slipped on the algae-accumulated surface of the rocks or the wooden barks there's every chance that you get washed away by the gushing stream that flows down the falls. However, moving into a spot, right below the falls would be a safe option to experience and enjoy the fresh water falling on you.

Our guide asked us to speed up as it was getting late and we still had a long way to go, to reach the peak of the hill. We started over again, the rocks and the tree barks were extremely slippery around the falls area, I slipped over twice, but was lucky enough to hold on to some rock or someone in the group.

The next few hours were even more grueling, and there was this point during the trek, wherein you have to walk on a narrow path, the width of the path was just enough to place a foot, and a look towards the left would cast a fiery spell of acrophobia on you, as you are at an altitude of over 1000 meters above sea-level.

Once that stretch was done, we were onto some steep grass lands, the grass wasn't fully grown yet. As we climbed further and farther, it seemed like we were up against a never ending ascent. The grass lands were quite vast, and were mist-covered as the rain was coming down uninterrupted. We still had some distance to reach the Shooting spot, where they say some Kannada movies were shot, it is also the spot where the motor-able road to the Sarvajna Peetha (Sarvajna : Knowledge, Wisdom ; Peetha : Throne, Seat) passes through. But with the stamina levels hitting almost zero, it took an eternity for us to reach the spot.

We were supposed to be picked up by a local jeep, however, we couldn't reach the driver on the phone, hence we were made to walk till the Sarvajna Peetha (The final point of the trek). The Peetha  is some 2km from the shooting spot, however, it took us over an hour or more to reach there as the last remains of energies in our bodies were burnt in reaching there. Also, the rain turned into a heavy downpour and it took us some productivity enhancing techniques like screaming, shouting and singing in accomplishing the last part of this exciting, yet tiring endeavour.

To sum it up, after an adventurous six-hour trek, there we were, at the Peetha.

We didn't explore the Peetha much as we were extremely tired and hungry. There is a small canteen up there, we hogged on every possible edible item available there, and were in the jeep back to the home-stay. We couldn't take many pictures as it was raining unprecedented and also it was mist-covered all the way. However, the wonderful times spent on this trip will be ever cherished! :)