NO SMOKING - MOVIE REVIEW

"CIGARETTE SMOKING IS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH" is the main highlight of the movie.A nice attempt by Anurag Kashyap to render a message to the world about smoking.No Smoking is directed by Anurag Kashyap, under the big banners of Vishal Bharadwaj and Kumar Rangat, was released on 26th of October.The music is composed is Vishal Bharadwaj, and lyrics by Gulzaar.

MAIN CAST: John Abraham as 'K', Ayesha Takia as Anjali, K's wife and as Honey K's secretary, Parwesh Rawal as Baba Bengali.

SYNOPSIS:The story revolves around K who is a chain smoker and doesn't want to stop smoking at any cost and who is really stubborn guy, stubborn as a mammoth! and wouldn't give a listening ear to anyone. His wife Anjali walks out on him, and it is only then K thinks about quitting to smoke and joins a rehabilitation centre.

The rehab is run by Guruji Baba Bengali and K is forced to sign a "freeze contract" meaning K cannot come out of it. The rehab enforces different kinds of punishments to K for trying to smoke,like,chopping of fingers, making his asthmatic brother inhale smoke or trying to harm his wife. Entangled in a smoky situation does K give up smoking or does he give up his near and dear ones for smoking? That's the story.

Anurag has tried to bring about the whole thing by walking us through a life of dreams and unreal things. The first half of the movie was going OK, but the second half was really very confusing.....To appreciate the movie one has to understand it, but this one was very chaotic. Seriously at one point I did not get to know what was happening!

As for music goes Vishal Bharadwaj and Gulzaarji's combo took off well. The music album of No Smoking starts with 'Jab bhi Cigarette' which has a blend of Jazz added to it, with all the perfect instruments required to bring a Jazzy mood. The female version of Jab Bhi cigaratte by Sunidhi Chauhan is a trance.'Phoonk De' by Rekha Bharadwaj is a catchy number and you start humming the tune, once you hear it.'Kash Laga' is another number by Sukhwinder Singh, Daler Mehndi and Vishal. When compared to albums released recently,I think this one is very weak.'Ash tray' by Deva Sengupta who is making his first entry here, creates a blue mood in the listeners. This ending song of the album brings about a haunting feeling, the days and nights of life, which goes well with film's title- No Smoking.....

On the whole, No Smoking, is a different movie with a different story, does not have very enchanting music... It could be rated a 2 for 5....

Meera signing off.......Enjoy the trailer and stay tuned

The Spooky Day.... Halloween almost here!

Halloween is almost here!Halloween is also called as the All Saints Day by the Christians. It was first celebrated on 1st of November and later it came to be celebrated on 31st October.The history of Halloween dates 2000 years back and originated from a European group called Celts.They believed that the dated roamed together on this particular night! It is an "Evening of the Dead."

Halloween is celebrated in high spirits here in the US. I see houses decorated with all kinds of spooky stuff, pumpkins beautifully carved and people enjoying and partying in Halloween costumes! Kids on this day go to every house in the neighbourhood for Tricks and Treats.

I was going out to shop for my kid and all the shops were stocked up with costumes, and beautifully adorned with skeletons,and scary stuff! Wowie! Some were really scary! Halloween fever is up here!

I still have no clue as to why people celebrate the "Dead" here. There has to be some strong point to prove this, which I am unable to understand.... If any of you think, you could tell me something about the whole thing, that would be really nice... Thanks!

Meera WISHES Everyone a Happy Halloween much in advance!..... Stay tuned!

"Chiyaan " Vikram's Bheema

The summers of Chennai did not witness the release of Bheema,which is now postponed for Diwali. The audio was released in August and already hit the waves of success in Chennai. The album is a mega hit. Harris Jayraj has once again proved his calibre.....Directed by N.Lingusamy,who directed Saamy,Vikram and Trisha pair up again in this movie and is under the big banner of A.M.Rathnam Productions. Vikram's new look is rocking!! As an ardent fan of Vikram, I am dying to see the movie!

Heard the songs? Listen and have fun!

1. Mudhal Mazhai Enai-Hariharan and Mahathi.



2.Ragasiya Kanavugal-Madhushree and Hariharan



3.Rangu Rangama-Vijay Yesudas, Khailash Kher and Swarnalatha...



4.Enadhuyire-Sadhana Sargam, Sowmya Rao, Nikhil Mathew,Chinmayi



5.Oru Mughamao-Krish,Naresh Iyer



6.Siru paarvaiyile- Karthik and Harini



Every number is a super hit, and so will the movie I hope.... Keeping fingers crossed for Vikram...

Meera signs off........Stay Tuned

Dasavatharam..

If Bollywood is talking about Saawariya, Om shanti Om, Kollywood seems to be rumbling upon Azhagiya Tamizh Magan, Bheema and K.S.Ravikumar's "Dasaavatharam." Vijay's Azhagiya Tamizh Magan and Vikram's Bheema are scheduled for Diwali, and Dasaavatharam's release has been postponed to Pongal. Oh! What a disappointment!

The 60 crore budgeted movie, brings in Kamal in 10 different avatars. The movie seems to break the records of Shivaji Ganesan who played nine roles in the movie "Navaratri." Dasaavatharam's story is not fully revealed, but it looks like Kamal's roles of a Brahmin, an young lady, a scientist, a robber,and a pimp are confirmed. Kamal is always known for his unique talents.Hence, in the movie he has tried to talk in 10 different voices, which is really amazing and requires a lot of effort!Also, 20 foreign dancers have been hired for a dance sequence with Mallaika.

The movie has Asin as the main heroine, who plays dual roles, for the first time in ,her career. It has Mallika Sherawat from Bollywood who also shares the leading role with Jayapradha, a character artist. Apart from this, the movie stars Napoleon, K.S.Ravikumar,Santhana Bharathi, K.R.Vijaya, in other pivotal roles.K.S.Ravikumar has directed the movie, with Himesh Reshammiya, the well acclaimed music composer of Bollywood, composing the music for the first time in Kollywood.

Thus with so many stars in the movie, there is a lot of expectations from the people in Chennai with this movie. Lets see..... how the movie turns out.......

Sit and enjoy a promo of Dasavatharam from youtube....




Meera signing off now... stay tuned!

Melodies of A.R.Rehman...

Here are really some wonderful songs of A.R.Rehman.Sit back, listen and enjoy!

Vandhe Maataram - A.R.Rehman.


Gentleman-Arjun and Madhubala.


Roja- Madhubala


Love Birds- Nagma and Prabhu Deva


Jodi- Simran and Prashanth

Minsaara Kanavu-Kajol, Prabhu Deva, Arvind Swamy


Had Fun?

Meera says bye, see you again with more nice,and beautiful songs...Stay tuned....

Negligence during surgery!...What a shame!

Isn't this horrible? The head of the Cardio-Vascular Department Dr. Sampath Kumar, performed a surgery on 12 year old Tsering Norbu and closed and tied his arota- the main artery that supplies oxgyen rich blood, instead of correcting the child's patent ductus arteriosus.This is a cogenital heart disease where in the patient's ducuts arteriosus fails to close by itself. The child was admitted on 15 March with complaints of shortness of breath,and irregular heart beat, and was operated the next day.After the operation, the child suffered excessive internal bleeding,no urine output,High BP on the upper limbs and no pulse on the lower limbs. The child was rushed to the theatre and it was found that Dr. Sampath Kumar had closed the wrong organ.The child finally died on 18th!

Shear negligence has claimed the life of a child.Dr.Sampath Kumar was expelled from his post of being the head of the Cardio-Vascular department.

Another senior doctor of Cardio-Thoracic Dept was placed under suspension for leaving a screw in a patient after a heart surgery. The patient died due to multiple-
organ failure!

Why are doctors becoming so negligent? Don't they understand that they are dealing with Life? I was reminded of another incident that happened 3 years ago. A friend of mine was supposed to have delivered a very healthy baby. It was fine , but kind of getting sick often. The doctor said there was nothing to worry about and all of a sudden in 5 months the baby dies. Later after a biopsy, it was reported that the baby had 2-3 holes in the heart! Cant' these things be diagnosed at a earlier stage itself? The question of us being alive itself is a scary one these days! We have so much trust in our doctors, and when some doctors neglect their duty , the belief in them seems to slowly vanish!

I wonder what will be the decision of the judges who are dealing with the above cases... Anyway the lost lives cannot be brought back....

Meera signing off.................

Audio Release of Aaja Nachle...

The sound track of Aaja Nachle was released on the 18th October. The album has 9 numbers, each of them being distinct in their own ways.I got to hear the tracks and I feel the Salim- Sulaiman- Piyush Sharma group could have done much more. The songs are full of fun, have nice catchy tunes... but personally, Madhuri's come back could have been a greater Dhamaka!

Lets have look at the songs....

1.Aaja nachle: The title song of the movie, is one real good number. All Madhuri fans would really love to see her in this song. I am sure Madhuri would have all her Jatak Matak movements and her Nainon ki Bhasha!The song is sung really well by Sunidhi Chauhan and definitely picturised on Madhuri.It would be the number for the youth!Listen to it and have fun!

2.Aaja Nachle Reprise: Thank God! it is different from other remixes.Another fantastic number which says, Come Let's Dance! Well sung by Sunidhi Chauhan.Real nice...Have fun listening to it!

3.Show Me Your Jalwa:One of the most addictive albums is Show me your Jalwa rendered by Richa Sharma,Kailash kher,and Salim Merchant.This number is going to hummed by everyone even kids!More than a song it is a narrative fun story! Nice fun one.....nice lyrics.. Bahot hi Khoob!

4.Soniye Mil ja: The song begins with Madhuri's narration and continues in a nice celebration mood brought in by Sukhwinder Singh, and Sunidhi Chauhan.A thrilling number for the youth.

5.O Re piya:O re Piya, is sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan,nephew of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.A situational track with a blend of Qawwali.We need to hear it again and again to register it in our head!.Could have been better!

6.Dance with Me: An English song in a Hindi movie?Would we accept? Why not? It has a nice catchy beat and is sung by Sonia Saigal.But,it has the familiarities with 80's discos,and good one, but not a wow!

7.Is Pal: A nice romantic song in the album with the magical voices of Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal and sets of Yash Raj productions!Wow! What can u expect? Truly lovely song.

8.Ishq Hua: Shreya and Sonu Nigam have rendered this lovely song. Nice romantic album again,to be hummed by most of us..

9.Koi Pathar Se:This is a sad situational number,one of the weakest songs in the album.Not much to say!The singers Shreya, Sunidhi and Sonu did their jobs...

The songs are nice, but we have a lot of expectations for and from Madhuri! It could have been better....Enjoy the title song!



Meera says bye...............