Tag Archives: AR Rahman

Happy Mani Ratnam Day! Starting With Kaatru Veliyidai, His Most Recent Film

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Happy Mani Ratnam Day!  I’ve reviewed almost all his films here (really, I’m just missing Raavan, Thiruda Thiruda, and the Terrorism Trilogy) and I will be reposing the reviews through out the day today in the run up to Chekka Chivantha Vaanam.  Mostly because I have to work a funny day at work to be able to see CCV in theaters so I’ll have no time to write anything new.  If you don’t want to be spoiled, here is my no-spoilers review for this film.

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Hindi Film 101 (Reprint): Rahman-Ratnam and the Importance of the Composer-Director Relationship in Honor of Chekka Chivantha Vaanam

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This is a post I wrote a year and a half ago for the last Rahman/Ratnam movie, but I thought I should repost it today in honor of Chekka Chivantha Vaanam.  It’s important to know why it is so especially exciting when a new Ratnam-Rahman movie comes out, and why that director-composer relationship is so special. (also, usually in this posts I try to use images instead of songs, but because of the topic, this will be an all songs post.  I encourage you to actually watch all the videos too)

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Songs to Reward Me During a Tedious Task

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My company is switching payment systems blah blah blah, the end result is that I have to reenter and check data for 400 separate accounts.  It’s very dull, but at the same time I have to stay focused and make sure I am accurate.  So I am pulling out the super super good extra best songs play list that will keep me happy and energized.  The songs I save as a special treat for when I really need a mood lifter.

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Tuesday Tamil: Minsara Kanavu, Justifiably Beloved

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I finally watched it!  After feeling vaguely like I had watched it for years, and then realizing I had only seen the songs a bunch of times and read the plot summary.  And it was just as delightful and lovable and wonderful as I had heard, and the songs were even better in context.

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Happy 1 Day to Shahrukh’s Birthday! The 1 Way He Makes Me Feel

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Yaaaaaay!  For the 1 day, the final day, here is the 1 way that Shahrukh makes me feel.  And, okay, I’m going to go a bit over the top here, but I figure, if you’ve come with me this far, you feel the same way.  Plus, I’m all caught up in the holiday spirit!  And this is almost the same post I put up last year, but that’s just because my feelings haven’t changed since then.  There’s just a few more songs available to express them.

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Mom Review (No Spoilers): Sridevi Does Sunny Deol

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I did it!  I saw Mom!  Even though it meant screeching out of work the second it hit 5pm and fighting rush hour traffic to make the 5:30 show.  Because I had to rush home tonight so I would have time to work on my mother’s birthday present.  Which is thematic, I guess!  Anyway, it’s a good movie, but don’t be fooled by the artsy film stock and stuff, this is a straight up potboiler action film as over the top and satisfying as anything from Sunny Deol.

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Hindi Film 101 One-Off: The Importance of Ratnam-Rahman and the Director-Composer Relationship

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Happy Tuesday!  I did a quick two-parter on Nepotism (really more the history of Hindi film as a family business) last week, now I want to do another quick one inspired by Kaatru Veliyidai on why it is so especially exciting when a new Ratnam-Rahman movie comes out, and why that director-composer relationship is so special. (also, usually in this posts I try to use images instead of songs, but because of the topic, this will be an all songs post.  I encourage you to actually watch all the videos too)

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Kaatru Veliyidai SPOILERS Review: Jail Isn’t the Only Prison You Need to Break Out Of

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Good morning!  I posted my no-spoilers review late last night after I got home, but now I have had a good night’s sleep and  is time for my SPOILERS review.  Which gives the full plot and really really digs into all the meanings of it.  And there is a lot to dig into in this film!

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Kaatru Veliyidai: A Deconstruction of the Military/Romantic Hero and the Idealized Heroine

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Well, that was a Ratnam movie all right!  In that, while watching it, I thought “this is kind of okay, sort of interesting, very pretty”.  And then I’ve spent two hours thinking about it and I haven’t even gotten close to unpacking all the themes and metaphors and so on and it just gets deeper and deeper the further I go.

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Happy Birthday Prabhudeva! 44 Reasons I Love You

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Woo-hoo!  Prabhudeva’s birthday!  44 reasons to love him, and an excuse to post A LOT of Prabhudeva songs!  And maybe a few facts scattered in.  But not many. (I know you may not have time to watch all the videos I put in this posts, but some of these are truly not to be missed, so the ones in bold you MUST WATCH!!!)

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For Akshaye’s Birthday Week, Taal! Not a Very Progressive Film

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I think this might be the film where I first heard the “An Indian woman loves only once” truism.  Which has now been unpacked and questioned and turned upside down and all sorts of interesting things done to in other films.  Heck, interesting things were already done to it by the time this film came out!  But not in this movie.  Nope, in this movie, your lifetime singular devotion goes along with your virginity and whatever man gets one, gets the other.

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Happy Songs Post, Inspired By Azhagiye and AR Rahman

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Thank you thank you to T.J Stevens for posting the “Azhagiye” song in a comment!  This is about the happiest thing I have ever seen/heard.  And then I remembered that it wasn’t, because there are other AR Rahman songs which made me the same amount of happy!  And then I thought, “Why not a theme post?”

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Indian: Subhas Chandra Bose Has a Different Meaning for Americans

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Not the easiest thing to see as “heroic” a figure who fought along side Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany!  Yes, I understand the “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” ideology, and that in many ways the evils of colonialism could be considered equal to the sins of Japan and the Nazis, or at least related.  But supporting Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany still doesn’t seem like something to necessarily be proud of?

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Singer Amjad Sabri Killed in Pakistan

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I was doing my usual morning browse through the news sites for something worth talking about, and I ran across a bigger story than I expected.  In the middle of photos from Priyanka’s Paris trip, and a follow-up story about the Udta Punjab piracy case, there was news that a Pakistani Qawwali singer who had worked in the Hindi film industry had been shot and killed while riding in a car in Karachi.

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Iruvar: Okay, Is It My Fault That I Didn’t Understand This Movie? Or Is It Because I Needed To Know 60 Years of DMK History?

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I was watching this movie so closely!  So closely!  I know the drill with Ratnam films, he just drops in these little bits and then moves on so you can’t look away for a second.  And yet, I was still completely lost.  But I don’t think it’s my fault!  Or at least, not my fault because I wasn’t watching closely enough, but because I didn’t have the expected background.

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