What’s keeping me from posting?

   Yeah, Yeah I have not been posting for a loong time (10 days is very long if some one is new to blogging – it really hurts the already minimal traffic my site boasts). I can’t just blame on ‘no good movies released in the past week’ or rather no good prints on internet of the movies I wanted to see. Some other things are also distracting me and keeping me from my writing.

         My husband got an IPhone and ever since the evil gadget entered our home, I’ve not been able to be away from it for all the time my husband is at home. Then he got a camcorder – another one of those electronic stuff for me to toy with. I got addicted to “Everybody Loves Raymond” show and am watching all episodes from Season 1 like mad.

         And finally, the most important of them all – at last the dates for our India trip is '”ALMOST” confirmed and am busy packing stuff and selling off items here. I am all excited about moving back to India and that excitement seems sufficient to stop me from watching movies :)

         But I have managed to watch “Jhoota hi Sahi'” today and I promise that there is going to be a review post tomorrow.

         BTW I cannot stop myself from bragging – this is my first doodle on IPhone :)

Chettinad Pepper Chicken

Generally my chicken dishes don’t turn out to taste very good but that has never kept me from trying new recipes. Yesterday I tried a different variation in chicken cooking and to my pleasant surprise came out very well. So I wanted to share the recipe. This time around, I was able to take a picture of my dish.

Ingredients:

Chicken: 1.5 lbs (get wings or drumsticks) Cleaned and cut into pieces

Whole garam masala (Cinnamon sticks: 5 inches, cloves: 4, Cardamom:2)

Mustard seeds: 1 tsp

Fennel seeds: 2 tsp

Onion (big): 1 finely chopped

Tomatoes: 2  finely chopped

Ginger Garlic paste: 3 tbsp (freshly ground paste gives the best taste)

Green chillies: 3 finely chopped

Ginger: 2 tsp (finely diced)

Curry leaves: 1 bunch

Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp

Chilli Powder: 2 tsp

Coriander Powder: 3 tsp

Cumin Powder: 1 tsp

Black Pepper corns: 3 tsp (coarsely crushed)

Salt to taste

Oil: 3 tbsp

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds. Add fennel seeds and let them splutter. Add finely chopped onions and sauté till they become golden brown. Make sure they turn golden brown only then they will become into a silky gravy upon cooking.

2. Add turmeric powder and Ginger Garlic paste and sauté till the raw smell goes off. Then add 1 tsp of diced ginger, curry leaves and chopped green chillies.

3. Add tomatoes and sauté on medium flame until they are thoroughly mashed and oil oozes out of the gravy. Cook for another minute or two, then add the chilli powder, coriander powder and cumin powder. Mix well and cook till the raw smell disappears.

4. Add chicken pieces. DO NOT add water. Chicken will ooze out water and the chicken has to cook in that. Cover and cook on medium flame for 10 minutes stirring occasionally so that the bottom doesn’t burn.

5. Check if chicken is cooked well, else add 1/4 cup of boiling water and cover and cook for another 5 minutes. Add enough boiling water to make the gravy to desired consistency and allow to boil for about 3 minutes.

6. Add the rest of diced ginger and crushed pepper corns and cook for about 1 minute. Switch the flame off and cover and let it sit for about 5 minutes.

This dish goes well with all Indian Rotis and Rice.

Do try the recipe and tell me how it came out!

Uthama Puthiran Music Review

Given the past tracks from Vijay Antony, there is nothing much to expect from this one too. All the songs have been tuned to catchy beats and just like any Dhanush movie songs, these will go for a round in FM and TV and will then be soon forgotten. In all there are 6 tracks in this album with 4 beats number and two melodies. “Usumu Laresay” is yet another of those meaningless words to join the list of ‘Omahazeeya’ and ‘Allegra’. This is the title song with forgettable lyrics and after few minutes, the ‘takkunu takkunu’ gets irritating. “Kan Irandil’ reminds at least a couple of hit numbers in terms of the rhythm. Naresh Iyer has a beautiful voice that is the only consolation. “Idicha Pacharisi” has the foolproof folk beats and there is nothing special about the lyrics here either. “En Nenjil” is a passable duet number but what hurts the most is the poverty of imagination that has stooped to a new low. “Thooral thedum” is the only track that will possibly make any impression. The lyric is good compared to the others in the track. The only track I’d recommend for a listen. Given that “Ulagam unaku” is penned by the same guy who wrote “En Nnjil”, one doesn’t expect anything with the lyric but in this the music was also not noteworthy

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Don’t go buying this album. Hear this one on Raaga if you want to.

Tracks in this album:

Ussumu Laresay
Sung By: Vijay Antony, Emcee Jazz, Janani
Lyrics: Priyan

Kan Irrandil
Sung By: Naresh Iyer
Lyrics: Eknath

Idicha Pacharisi
Sung By: Ranjith, Vinaya, Sangeetha
Lyrics: Annamalai

En Nenju
Sung By: Vijay Prakash, Saindhavi
Lyrics: Priyan

Thooral Podum
Sung By: Ajesh, Janani
Lyrics: Eknath

Ulagam Unnaku
Sung By: Vijay Prakash
Lyrics: Annamalai

I’d rate this album at 2 stars.

Anjaana Anjaani Movie Review

Genre: Romantic Comedy (Supposedly)

Director: Siddharth Anand

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Zayed Khan

Storyline: A stock market crash stricken young man and a ‘got cheated in a relationship’ lady meet on a bridge trying to commit suicide. When attempts fail, they decide on a date to kick the bucket and go about living their bucket list . They end up realizing they want to marry each other

Bottomline: The same no-brainer we get to see all the time. I was unfortunate enough to watch it and my sincere advice – Stay away from this

An absolute debacle. The poster by itself started as a controversy for copying frame to frame from a poster of famous Hollywood flick ‘A Walk in the Cloud’. It was later changed to what we see here. I had my doubts if was the film was going to be any better. How can directors still expect audience to go through a totally no-logic, no-story, dumb-comedy, silly-sentiment movies? The song sequences are just inserted to extend the length of this already intolerable nonsense. And even they are not impressive and remind us of the famous songs seen in the recent past movies.

Bright Spots: Guess what? I’ve been thinking for the past 15 minutes for one bright spot in this movie. But I’ve to accept defeat. Absolutely none!

Bloopers: The entire film to be honest. Worst logic ever – guys who don’t have money to buy tickets to Vegas have money enough for a luxury yacht for mid-pacific swimming spree. A girl who was cheated in a relationship goes off to another city, sets her entire life up again and then goes to commit suicide. Poor humor – if that Gay strip bar was the funny for the writer, for one thing it didn’t work at all.

Hit or Miss: An absolute waste of money. A definite flop. Don’t ever watch this crap if you had all the time in the world. Read this on twitter and find it the most fitting description of how this movie fared at box-office: “Apparently ‘Endhiran’ movie’s car parking collection was more than the first day’s collection for ‘Anjaana Anjaani’.” I don’t doubt it did!

Had the misfortune of having to watch this no-brainer. Share your curses :P

Endhiran Movie review

The only reasoning that stood between Rajinikanth and impossible stunts was that he is human. Being a ROBO has allowed him defy all odds and that gives us an ultimate entertainment blockbuster – Endhiran. Tamil cinema scales new heights with this magnum opus by Shankar. This movie is a proof that with enough cash under the belt, guys down here can make James Cameroon look a dwarf.

Its Rajinikanth all the way. Be it the subtle portrayal of the scientist Vasi or the awe inspiring Chitti or even better the upgraded Chitti 2.0, Rajini was on the dot. Just like any Rajini fan, I was left longing for the slow-motion winning Rajini walk (the one in Kadhal Anukkal doesn’t count) and the punch dialogs (I just loved the single punch dialog – the one when the cashier at jewel stores asks: “Cash a, Card a, Cheque a? Chitti2.0: Gun). Though that sense of missing something lingers, the film still leaves me happy for its entertainment quotient. I couldn’t help thinking that this was a fitting reply to guys barging about ‘Dasavatharam’!

Agreed that Aishwarya looks darn pretty at 30+ (am green with envy) but she a college student? Huh! And has she ever thought of acting or did she think her role was to just look pretty on the scenes that involved her?? I don’t think the romantic scenes between the scientist Rajini and Sana made any impression at all but Chitti 2.0 did a better job at it.

Everything about this movie is brilliant. Just when I start thinking that Indian cinema must grow up and stop having meaningless song sequences that dampen the pace, something like “Endhiran” comes up with such exceptionally choreographed songs that I didn’t at all mind them stopping the flow of the story. Though ‘Kilimanjaro’ was the only song that seemed to have been ‘fitted in’, it topped the others in choreography and singing(I cannot write enough of Chinmayee and Javed Ali). 

As every other Rajini fan, all the hyped-up promos for this movie made me get nervous that this must not become another ‘Baba’ or something. But after watching the movie, I thought that Mr.Maran could’ve saved his breath (and also money thrown in for publicity) for, such a well taken Rajini-fare can never fail! Hope this movie plants seeds for braver efforts from Tamil film makers.

Don’t even think of watching “Endhiran” anywhere other than a theater. Rajini Rocks. Its already Diwali time indeed for Rajini fans when he says “Happy Diwali” folks.

Jhootha Hi Sahi Music Review

I doubt if I can ever call any of the A.R.Rahman albums anything less than ‘Good’ and that’s not just me. “Jhootha Hi Sahi” goes to prove that right once again. I am very happy about this album mainly because of the number of tracks in it. There are 9 tracks - each one a treat to our ears.

“Cry Cry” the first track, is in the same league as ‘Kabhi Kabhi Aditi’ in terms of the lyrical theme sung beautifully by Rashid Ali and Shreya Goshal. Shreya has one of the most admirable voices that makes this song work. 

I’ve still not had enough of listening to “Kilimanjaro” from “endhiran” that the same duo (Javed Ali and Chinmayi) strike again with another absolute brilliance in “Maiya Yashodha”. Awesome exemplification of their unbeatable singing talent. Just like any Chinmayi/Rahman/Javed magic, this one is the best in the album and will top the track list! The crescendo that Chinmayi and Javed build up in the end will make you exclaim out loud. The flute work in this song is creditable and I liked the ‘Jamuna mix’ better than the ‘Thames mix’ but hold on ‘Thames mix’ is a beauty in itself too.

“Hello Hello” made me ask “Hello? Is this from this album or ‘Karthik calling Karthik’ because of its lyrics. Karthick has the silky voice that carries this song very well.

Rahman and Sonu Nigam just added another song to my ‘all time favorites’ list. “Do Nishaniyan” is just a cakewalk for Sonu and it caresses the soul so beautifully. The ‘Heartbreak Reprise’ of this number focuses more on the lyric and Sonu’s vocals and makes you long that it never ends.

“Pam Para” – Ok, I must admit this. Even though it has a catchy tune with Shreya Goshal singing, it is the only song that fails to just sit on your mind may be because the other tracks are too good. Someway it reminded me of Rangeela songs.

Rahman’s innovative trials with the Indian audience paid of well in ‘Vinnai Thandi Varuvaaya’ when he tried introducing ‘Blues’ to us in ‘Aaromale’. His trials continue and this time with Jazz. A surprise in the package “I’ll be Waiting” has been rendered excellently by Vijay Yesudas. My my! this guy is one talent. The ease with which he transitions from English to Hindi  is absolutely commendable.

The title track “Call me Dil” has some interesting lyrics and a good rendering by Rashid Ali with complementing Guitar.

The Album is a definite buy. And if you didn’t feel the magic the first time, hear them once again for just like all other Rahman albums this grows on the listeners. Am sure you’ll not stop humming “Maiya Yashodha” after you’ve listened the album.

Details of Tracks in the album:

Cry Cry
Sung By: Rashid Ali, Shreya Ghoshal
Lyricist: Abbas Tyrewala

Maiya Yashoda (Jamuna Mix)
Sung By: Chinmayee, Javed Ali
Lyricist: Abbas Tyrewala

Hello Hello
Sung By: Karthik
Lyricist: Abbas Tyrewala

Do Nishaaniyan
Sung By: Sonu Nigam
Lyricist: Abbas Tyrewala

Pam Para
Sung By: Shreya Ghoshal
Lyricist: Abbas Tyrewala

I'II Be Waiting
Sung By: Vijay Yesudas
Lyricist: Abbas Tyrewala

Maiya Yashoda (Thames Mix)
Sung By: Chinmayee, Javed Ali
Lyricist: Abbas Tyrewala

Do Nishaniyaan (Heartbreak Reprise)
Sung By: Sonu Nigam
Lyricist: Abbas Tyrewala

Call Me Dil
Sung By: Rashid Ali
Lyricist: Abbas Tyrewala

You can listen to the songs and buy them too here

Heard the songs?? Did you like them? Share your views!