Whims published... It's not an expert's opinion, It's not an online diary, It's not a web journal... It is just my whims published

Dir: Mahesh
Cast: Sudeep, Ramya
Music: V Sridhar

First of all, the reasons why I wanted to see this movie – The posters of the movie seemed interesting, The director was a debutant, Sudeep was donning an interesting look, Music was superb and last but not the least – my intuition said its gonna be an interesting movie. Hence I went to see Mussanje Maatu.

Pradeep played by Sudeep is an RJ, a happy go lucky person, meets depressed Tanu [Ramya] in a train from HubLi to Bangalore. Pradeep hesitantly inquires the reason for her depression, but does not get an answer from Tanu. And predictably by the time Pradeep alights in his destination, Tanu would have left. Pradeep keeps searching for the interesting girl he had met in train. Along side, the screen play gives an elaborate introduction of Pradeep’s job profile. He consoles, suggests solutions and fills hope in the lives of depressed callers in his show Mussanje maatu. Thus he is quite an integral part of many lives of radio listeners in the city. As the viewer was given a glimpse of Tanu’s depression, she also gets to dial in to the show hosted by Pradeep. Then they get to meet up, talk, shop together, roam together and what else… Pradeep falls in love with Tanu. If you are a regular watcher of commercial movies of South Indian languages and is used to the little predictable twists here and there and a happy ending, you can never go wrong in guessing the rest of the story.

Talking about the different technical departments of the movie, debutant director seems to have chosen a safe script and is heavily influenced by the usual masala in the movies. His talent needs to be assessed when he comes up with a more creative attempt. Sudeep is refreshing with his hip new look suiting his profession, looks ultra slim too. Sudeep impresses with his mannerisms and dialogue delivery, but his-both-hands-always-in-pocket-style looks repetitive. About Ramya, she has gone past the mark of chubby and looks plump; she has to think seriously about reducing. I did not find her acting special in the movie. Rest of the cast has nothing much to do. I seriously don’t understand why Anu Prabhakar accepted the role of Ramy’s friend, she has no special role to play in the story.

What disappointed me was so-so cinematography, less effective dialogues and below average art direction. Not to blame the cinematographer [Sundernath Suvarna] completely for his work, may be viewers' expectation has increased seeing other cinematographer's works post release of Mungaru Male, GaalipaTa etc. Though the scenic beauty had nothing to play special in the movie, but it is sad to say there was not a single scene in the movie which made me say the camera work was ‘waaaww’. Oh did I forget to mention there are lot of scenes in the movie shot in and around Sankey park..

Any love story keeps open the gates for plausibly effective dialogues, but this movie had no such dialogues. About the art direction, it disappointed me in the very first scene. Viewers needed no extra effort to notice the yellow cloth (!!) bearing the name HubLi, which was pasted poorly on the actual name board of which ever town they shot that very first train station scene in.

Now what impressed me most is the music of the movie. ‘ninna noDalentho’, sung by Sonu and Shreya is another gem of a romantic number, ‘kaddaLu mansanna’, sung by Kunal Ganjawala is simply superb and rest of the songs are also very pleasant. Thumbs up to new music dir, V Sridhar for his commendable debut.

All in all, an average movie..

PS: pic courtesy oneindia.in

It was another bakwaas blah blah blah site wide event organized by my company on a week day in Hotel Grand Ashok. The best part of it was Grand Ashok is quite close to my house and the event got over by 5:30 in the evening.

Office cab dropped me near house by 6:15!! It’s a rare cosmic event that I reach home so early when the Sun has not called it a day yet. No traffic ki kit-pit rather no pom-pom ha ha [terrible PJ]. Nice to be at home so early in the evening. But guess what, I wanted celebrate it alone. Which other better place to celebrate it than Sankey. This time to savor the evening drop by drop, I started walking towards Sankey. Watte nice thing… to walk in the evenings on calm roads..

Actually I never get to see this evening crowd of Malleswaram. Crowd as in Govt officials on scooters with leather bags, teen boys and gals heading towards tuition classes, Husband and wife playing badminton in front of their home on the road [indeed a lucky couple huh.. they get to play badminton on a week day? waaaaaaaw], a gal in the balcony talking to dat special some one in her cell phone in a low tone [she would have given the bahana of discussing some college assignment with her friend when inquired by her finicky parents], the pani puri wala was mashing the potato, setting ready for his important business hours in the evening.

I feel in the bhagam-daud of day to day life, beautiful evenings are one of the things we miss in life. Watte contrasting evening would we be spending in patience testing traffic, choking pollution, high decibel honks… If you ask me wouldn’t I get to savor my evenings on weekends? I kinda have no answer for that. On weekends I will be either lazy to go out on a walk or would go out wid frnds doing nothing but eating junk. I my self have to be blamed for dat.

It was twilight hour when I reached Sankey. Walked till the pond [where Ganesha visarjana happens every year], the reflection of electric lamps was swaying in the water. Waaaw it was picturesque.. I sat on the steps encircling the pond. I was just settling down, the wallet in the hind pocket of my jeans poked my butt… I took dat out and kept it away.. n smiled staring at the reflection in the water…

I have mentioned about my frequent visits to Sankey Lake in one of my previous posts. I prefer going there alone in the evenings. Walk through some distance to find a stone bench and stare at the still water contained by the stone walls of the lake.

Then some retrospection blah blah goes on in mind for some time. When I am tired of talking to myself, I look around for people walking swiftly; jogging with aching heals, drenched in sweat, some walking in weird ways, some clapping their hands [some clap therapy or some thing]. It amuses me to observe people in their candid emotions, in their true selves. The other day in Sankey, I did no different thing; started observing the people around...

Some females had chosen the path along the lake just for the sake of breathing some fresh air on their way back to home.

Two young professionals seemed like they were not content settling the score with their boss in a battle in office. Both looked relieved in giving gaalis to maa and behen of their boss.

Once I heard one of the gal say this to another, “I cut the call, he was talking al nonsense y’day..”. The other gal dint speak nything, but just smiled. Though the first gal said she disconnected the phone, but her face was lit up when she was saying it. May be she was expecting that poor guy’s call with a sweet apology embedded in it.

There was this old couple walking briskly. The old chap leading by two steps and his wife trying hard catching up with his speed. The couple seemed like attacking the enemies called blood pressure and cardiac problems with every step of their brisk walk.

A voluptuous lady walked past elegantly, wearing a pleasant colored chuDi gripping the curves of her body. I could hear the faint sound of her foot tap produced by her newly bought pair of Nikes.

A happy young couple was carefully following their toddler running ahead of them. Both were restraining the kid from running close to the short fence of the lake.

A BF-GF pair were walking, savoring every step of their walk. Girl had gripped around the elbow of the guy softly, with her head slightly bent towards his shoulders.

Two guys in early thirties had occupied a stone bench next to mine, playing music in their phones. The volume of the music was just right enough to be heard only by them. Sensible guys! Sensible for not playing the music loud and harming the ambience of the park.

The water in Sankey looked as calm as always, reflecting the images of the people passing by. The water seemed mysteriously deep hiding all the secrets within but remaining calm on the surface....

Woke up a bit early on SUN morning to get milk home from the nearby shop. Though had a good sleep last night, mind was cluttered with millions of thoughts.. happens some times. Freshened up. But dat dint help much. Walked out of the house carrying kettle in hand. Just a thought occurred to mind to sleep for few more hours after getting milk home. But decided not to waste a rarely earned Sunday morning. On the way back from milk shop, found quite a lot of people chanting in Sai Mandir. I just wondered what motivates these people to wake up so early on a Sun morning, freshen up and come to temple for prayer. Oh ya.. had forgotten, 'today is Vijayadashami'. Cos of the turbulence in house, any festival has lost the significance and the attention any festival deserves. It will be just another day.. and Vijayadashami was no different.

Got back home. Handed over the kettle of milk to amma and rode on my bicycle towards Sanky lake. Cycling is a good stress buster.. a long ride helps when mind is chaotic. Saw a happy couple wid their kid on its mom's lap in a car in one of the traffic signals. Felt nice to see that family.. must be a happy family on a drive enjoying the blabbering of their kid. Reached Sanky lake, parked bicycle and walked into the park. Walked amidst the brisk walking people, making a point dat I make way for people who wanted to overtake me.

From the opposite side an ex-neighbor of mine came jogging towards me. Just wanted to avoid him, but was forced to smile and say 'Hi' to him. After usual 'hows life', 'im fine', 'its been a long time since we met' talks, He said he joined his current company just 4 months back, after passing out fresh from the college. He uttered usual 'traffic is bad', 'distance is the only headache', other project humdrums etc etc. I expressed my solidarity with appropriately timed 'oh ya..', 'ya ur rite..'. Then greeted him 'bye' and walked ahead.

Sought for a stone bench facing the lake. Occupied the bench properly sprawling my limbs, did not wanted to share the bench with any stranger and indulge in unnecessary conversation with dem. I wanted to sit calmly. Then what came to my mind were train of thoughts..

Saw few gals walking, trying to shed those extra grams earned last week over the junk food. I wondered how these females get so much of time in life right from choosing those matching sweat shirts for track trousers to the hair band matching the color of their socks. Rather I admire their patience and the effort involved in dressing up. I admire any person who dresses up well, who has the sense to choose the right colored clothes for themselves. And wear them perfectly for the right occasions.

When I had newly joined as a fresher to my present company, was getting to see some of these senior team mates with loser-looks! With absolutely no dressing sense in those faded T-shirts and worn out jeans. Rarely smiling… with expressions as if the weight of the whole world is on their shoulders. But I feel petrified when I see a similar person as reflection, when I stand in front of the mirror now. Vairagya, what those guys had attained at the age of their early 30s, I seem to have attained it 5-6 yrs early in my life I feel.

Pst.. Pst.. I was getting succumbed to the chaos of mind. I tried to concentrate.. concentrate on what? I donno..

Started looking at the sweeper who was on rounds to clean the whole of park. I wondered what motivates him to get up early in the morning and come to work... to heap aside the litter.

An old couple passed off my bench walking with a pace dat could be called brisk for their age. I think the couple must have spent at least 30-35 yrs of togetherness. It must have been a good journey..

Taking off my eyes from the joggers around, I tried to concentrate.. concentrate on nothing. It was just an effort to bring the chaos in mind to rest and get back to the state of equilibrium.

Suddenly a thought about one of my team mates came to me. He always looks content bearing a pleasing smile all the time. He exudes this feeling all around which gives me complex every time I look into his eyes. I always feel his parents must be healthy. He must be having a loving beautiful wife [she must be good in bed]. But no one is spared with problems in life. May be he is just good in managing himself.. and his emotions well. Wat ever he is certainly better than me. He seems to have good control over the things around him.

Again I tried to concentrate.. concentrate on what.. I donno

Looked to my left. The empty stone bench to my left was now occupied by a 20 some thing guy.. He turned to me.. our eyes met. Oh holy shit! I could not meet his eyes even for a fraction of a second.. I saw a similar doomed expression in his eyes, the expression dat I see in my eyes when I stand in front of the mirror. Then I felt he must also be an unhappy soul.. unhappy for what? I donno..

Brushing all the thoughts aside, I again tried to concentrate... concentrate on nothing.

Few minutes later looked at the wristwatch. It was 10 minutes to 8. Felt its time to leave. Pulled my legs towards the gate. Started riding back home. Saw a guy holding the container of violin in an auto rickshaw. I just felt music indeed must be divine.. He must be feeling close to God when he plays violin. I just gave a thought whether I feel close to God when I sit and code in front of my comp... nyaaaa....no way..

Way back, had an apple juice in Adiga's. Reached home and started with the day's schedule.....