Mano Murthy

The music director of the movie, "Mungaru Male", Mano Murthy was a part-time composer who came on breaks to India to compose music to movies.

His songs are catchy but I see a pattern. His hit films include America, America , Nanna Preethiya Hudugi, Mungaru Male , Amrutha Dhaare and so on.

Mano Murthy says, "During my college days in UVCE Bangalore, we had a pop band. I have composed some Kannada pop songs and many tunes. America America was the first film in 1995-96 to have my music. I used to work for one movie every two years and from last year I am working on one movie per year. Music is something that keeps me busy and brings freshness every moment. High tech world is routine for me but music is something that I can work on all the time."

Oh by the way, he was a graduate from Stanford and he is the founder of 3 Network Companies and 2 of them went public and one of them was bought over by Cisco.

Check out this poem by a person on Bangalore :-

I love this city and love to hate this city

Mungaru male review (not by me)

Mungaaru Male (First Rain)

- Swarupananda Bissoyi

It takes 110 days in theatre for a kannada movie to be watched by a
non-kannadiga guy like me. Its not that all my kannada friends vouched
for the movie ( for the first time in four years of my staying in Bangalore),
its the soul-stirring songs that took me to watch Mungaaru Male.

Well, watching such a nice movie in a saturday evening with a Rs. 30/-
balcony ticket in a non-AC-but-DTS theatre was altogether a different
kind of experience. Of course a magical one.

Not everytime you watch a good movie! This movie, I would say a great
movie.

A gently crafted piece of work, with sheer brilliant execution by actors, director, cinematographer and above all the music director. Sonu Nigam should think himself lucky enough to sing such an ecstatic song. Mungaru Male was all about defying boundaries. Boundaries that exist within ourselves, boundaries that created kannadigas and non-kannadigas, boundaries that defines how to distinguish between good and bad films. It crossed all boundaries but it didn't dare to touch the boundaries created by the family that separates the protagonists of the movies Preetam and Nandini. A very usual love story - boy sees girl, love at first sight, a hooligan pursuing the heroine and our karate master hero doing everything for the
sake of love blah blah blah..

Expressionism at its best, the movie tries to depict the true character of our a Indian looking, tough but yet soft at heart young man. You don't need a deadening shahrukh to cry in a sheep-ish voice to limn pain ! Our local hard drinking guy delivers far better. You need not understand kannada to understand this kannada movie. A little rabbit Devdasa who symbolizes the immortal concept of love in the movie tells you the story. Not many times you find symbolism finding its way to filmdom.

For the two and half hours, the movie was extra ordinary and rhapsodic. But last two and half minutes of the movie will stir your soul, will make you somber. Suddenly you'll cry for you'll find yourself hard trying substituting in place of Preetam, when he was burying Devdasa wrapped with jasmine petals at one high point on earth where it all started. Love.

Land of sorrows, Ocean of tears, Valley of truth, End of life. Did our Preetam knew it before falling (he falls into a gutter at the first sight) ? Why on earth Nandinis do not understand Preetams ? (Or do female understand male beyond male understanding female ?) Everybody loves a love story, but why nobody loves lovers ? Why they couldn't meet at the end ? Is sacrifice - the highest form of love ? If yes, what love tries to achieve? If no, then what love will achieve ? Elton John puts it; and its no sacrifice/Just a simple word/Its two hearts living/In two separate
worlds/But its no sacrifice/No sacrifice/Its no sacrifice at all/Mutual misunderstanding/After the fact/Sensitivity builds a prison/In the final
act.

But why love never reach its end ? Why great lovers on earth have never meet? Famous oriya poet Ramakant Rath answers this phenomenon in his book Sreeradha - "once you achieve success, that becomes the end of your desire, after that nothing remains like love, you will feel empty within, coz the cause that drives you to this point no more exists and you will fail to imagine your success minus that cause". Hence, true love is all about the passion unadulterated by the desire of success. The moment you realize that, you opt for sacrifice. Mungaru Male tells at the end - Preeti Madhura, Tyaga Amara. ie Love is sweet, but sacrifice - immortal. But not everybody love to
sacrifice for love.

Heart strings playing on the wind....In the first rain of Madikeri

Haage summane ......

---Swarup

Hmm...Australia and SL.

I personally prefer Lanka to win. I have had enough of Aussies winning mercilessly. Oh god, somebody stop the Aussies or atleast let them give a strong competition.

This World Cup has been a real boring damp squib. :-|

But yesterday's 27/5 in 10 overs was the limit for showing the prowess of the Aussie team. Only one interesting match was the WI v/s ENG.

What is yahoo doing?advertising thru google ads!!??

movie endings ..

I think I am biased to happy ending movies .. :D ..
or to movies which leave the ending open-ended..
I appreciate movies which have a morose ending .. but I usually would not watch it again .. :) .. the ending should be quite inspirational .. or happy .. period ..

Same with life :)

Of Jokers and Jugglers

In the morning in the 7.a.m. it is abt the Jugglers. After 9.a.m. it is abt the Jokers.

Talking abt Jugglers, I always thought juggling was about rhythm. But if you see this video, you will leave yourself slack-jawed. The juggling suits the background music like a charm.

Have a look at this video.
It is worth your bandwidth and your time. Phew! Awesome.

One stupid mistake. I don't know why the Linkers don't give clever messages unlike the compilers. A linking error eats away one whole afternoon of valuable time. And morning I discover it is a silly mistake.

For sun compilers, If I try to define extern and initialize (like a bum) in two or more files, the compiler doesnt give any warnings, but it does strange things and the linker cribs about multiple definitions

extern unsigned char gStackCount = 0

This is a stupid Copy and Paste mistake. Never try to intialize an extern global variable (atleast in sun compilers). I tried to initialize it as an extern in two files, just for safety purposes and I was trying the whole day yesterday fighting a linker error regarding multiple defintions . Be careful for such stupid mistakes !!!!! Time is precious when your ass is on fire....

I want to write a piece on how Copy and Paste (although a very precious keystroke) can really screw up the code with untraceable and weird mistakes. I will do that someday. For now cheers on a friday morning!

Just Lather that's all

Adapted from a short story having the same name.


FADE IN:

EXT. CITY OF BOGOTA - 1940s

A faded white JEEP vehicle parks in front of a Barber's shop named NATALIA's. The front doors of the vehicle open and an ARMED DRIVER and an UNARMED MAN get out of the Jeep. The two men exchange inaudible talks in Spanish and the Unarmed Man laughs loudly. The Driver salutes the unarmed man and then, the driver gets into the Jeep and starts it.The Jeep EXITS.

The Unarmed Man, is a giant of a man , coarse and bearded and forty-ish. He runs his fingers over his hair and wears an army dress and heads into Natalia's. He has a bullet-studded belt but he does not have any weapons.

INT. NATALIA's BARBER SHOP

The UNARMED MAN enters the Barber's shop. The barber is NATALIA, a 25-ish Doe eyed girl who notices the unarmed man walking in, as she shaves another man, MAN#1. The MAN#1 who has lather on his face, sees the UNARMED MAN and he looks terrified. Natalia looks startled too. MAN#1 stands up in fear/respect and offers the seat to the UNARMED MAN.

MAN#1
(stuttering)
Ppp-please take the seat, Gustavo.

The UNARMED MAN, who is known as "Gustavo" smiles.

GUSTAVO
Oh thanks a lot.
(wicked Grin)
Don't you need the shave, young man.

MAN#1
I will take it sometime later. I got to go.

MAN#1 wipes the lather and with his half shaved beard, he makes a quick EXIT.

Gustavo sits on the barber's chair as the stone faced Natalia watches him.

GUSTAVO
It's hot as hell. Give me a shave. I think it is a six day beard.

Natalia tension seems to ease. She maintains her cool and she doesn't want to show her fear to Gustavo.

NATALIA
Your face looks red. Burnt by the sun, eh ?

GUSTAVO
I guess so.

Carefully, Natalia begins to prepare the soap. She cuts off a few slices, drops them into the cup, mixed in a bit of warm water, and began to stir with the brush. Immediately the foam began to rise. Natalia has the cup full of foam in her hands. Meanwhile, Gustavo keeps looking at his beard, scratching his massive face and combing his hair.

GUSTAVO
By the way, me and my boys....We did some good stuff this week. We killed a few of your town's generals, you know.

NATALIA
With curious, sharp eyes
And what did you do ?

GUSTAVO
We did all right, you know. We got the main generals. We brought back some dead, and we've got some others still alive. But pretty soon they'll all be dead.

NATALIA
(narrating)
No doubt about it, I was upset....He leaned back on the chair when he saw me with the lather-covered brush in my hand.

GUSTAVO
The town must have learned a lesson from what we did the other day.

Natalia starts shaving his beard.

NATALIA
(narrating)
I wanted to kill him, when he talked like that.
(aloud)
Yes.

NATALIA
(narrating)
His name was Captain Gustavo Torres. Right under the roof of my shop. A man of imagination. An enemy of the state. A fearless rebel who was on his way to become a dictator. A man whom man of us loved to hate. A cold and hearless enemy. Who else would have thought of hanging the naked generals and then holding target practice on certain parts of their bodies?

GUSTAVO
Without any effort I could go straight to sleep, but there's plenty to do this afternoon.

NATALIA
(curiously)
A firing squad?

Gustavo looks at Natalia in the eye. There is a desire in his eyes.

GUSTAVO
Disinterested
Nah.Something lesser than that.
(Changing the topic, Looking at Natalia in the eye)
Ohh look at those eyes. Hmmm...I feel like falling in love with the first woman I meet. I feel like taking her in a wheelbarrow and wheel her down the street.

NATALIA
(with a small fit of assertive anger)
Thanks. That comment was not invited.

The radio whizzes some incomprehendable Spanish song. GUSTAVO is about to fall asleep. Natalia is into deep into her job.

NATALIA
(narrating)
The beard was now almost completely gone. He seemed younger, less burdened by years than when he had arrived. I suppose this always happens with men who visit barber shops. Under the stroke of my razor Gustavo Torres was being rejuvenated-rejuvenated because I am a good barber, the best in the town, if I may say so.

GUSTAVO begins to snore. Natalia is shaving with her sharp eyes fixed on his chin and throat.

NATALIA
(narrating, contd)
I could cut this throat just so, zip! zip! I wouldn't give him time to complain and since he has his eyes closed he wouldn't see the glistening knife blade or my glistening eyes.

Natalia starts off a second shaving by mising some more lather.

NATALIA
(narrating, contd)
If I could kill him, I would be the Captain Torres' murderer. The rebels would say "She slit his throat while she was shaving him - a coward." And then on the other side, "She was the town barber. No one knew she was defending our cause."

And what of all this? Murderer or hero? My destiny depends on the edge of this blade. I can turn my hand a bit more, press a little harder on the razor, and sink it in. The skin would give way like silk. There is nothing more tender than human skin and the blood is always there, ready to pour forth. A blade like this doesn't fail. It is my best. But I don't want to be a murderer, no sir. You came to me for a shave. And I perform my work honorably.

I don't want blood on my hands. Just lather, that's all. You are an executioner and I am only a barber. Each person has his own place in the scheme of things. That's right. His own place.

By now, Natalia has finished shaving. She applies the after-shave lotion and wakes him up.

NATALIA
You are ready.

GUSTAVO
(Laughs)
Wow! you are a good barber. Excellent job.

He grabs a few notes out of his pocket and hands it over to Natasha. Gustavo goes to the hanger for his belt, pistol and cap. Natalia looks very pale but confident; her shirt is soaked. Gustavo finishes adjusting the buckle, and after automatically smoothens down his hair and he puts on the cap.

GUSTAVO
Oh, by the way, they told me that you'd kill me. They told me that you hated me a lot. I came to find out. But killing isn't easy. You can take my word for it. And you are a beautiful woman.

Gustavo walks out of the shop.

FADE OUT

Back to the square one.

Today morning

as I was having my cup of coffee, I had switched on "U2", a channel in Udaya TV. I guess it is Udaya-2. There was a birthday wishes program, where people dedicate happy birthday wishes on TV.Sometimes they feature old kannada songs of Vishnuvardhan and Dwarakeesh which go very well with a Sat morning coffee.

Hmm perfectly normal, I thought. However, as I observed the VJ, she was wearing a Lynyrd Skynrd T-shirt. That's something weird. I know there are a lot of Shakira and Justin Timberlake fans...But a Ronnie Van Zant fan on Udaya TV doing birthday dedications is a little out of place...It's something like having a fan wearing a T-shirt with Pandari Bai's photo in VX1/AXN.

Whatever. Mixing of cultures in different channels, I guess.

Side notes for youtubers :-

1. By the way, this video features a death metal vocals for a Britney Spears video!!!! So all you metal fans, Britney Spears rocks!!! hahahah...

2. What happens if Kurt Cobain sings Britney Spears's Toxic. It sounds like this. I liked the grunge version of Toxic very much.

Chappel versus the Senior Players

Tendulkar is never the kind of person who has a loud mouth or louder actions like Saurav Ganguly. He is always docile and silent. Dravid too is of the silent non-controversial type.

Admittedly, Tendulkar's performance has been really hopeless in the world cup. But this time, in an interview to Times Of India, when the BCCI Management is busy passing the blame on the senior players , the normally silent Tendulkar gives his side of the story :-

"Tell me, the world has gone on talking about all this (our defeat and exit) but has anybody spared a thought for us? Did they try to find out what we have been going through?" a shaken Sachin Tendulkar asked TOI .

"Again, it's not that we are defending ourselves. We do realise that we played badly and, as a team, we take full responsibility for that. But what hurt us most is if the coach has questioned our attitude.

"I've given my heart and my soul for 17 years. No coach had mentioned even in passing that my attitude was not correct. Cricket has been my life for all these years and will always be," Tendulkar said.

Some of the seniors are, in fact, so upset with the personal attacks that they are hoping to meet BCCI president Sharad Pawar on April 5 to present their side of the story.

Another Senior Player (gawd knows who is this) gives his take on the episode :-
“Chappell did not speak to us for 3-4 days during this World Cup. He just doesn’t listen to anybody. How can a coach behave like this? It’s a disgrace”

The point which I'd like to observe here is, Greg Chappel is insane. From the moment he has been the coach, there is always some mudslinging going on between Selectors v/s players or some cr@p like this. If somebody with the responsibilities of a coach wants to be an autocrat, the whole team loses. And I want the Indian team to win in a bowler's pitch liek the West Indies pitches or the English pitches. There is no point in winning only in India.

Current Music - Metallica : Master of Puppets

Kalam for 2nd term

Yes, I would definitely want Abdul Kalam for a second term. He places a high value for education and the importance of man-power as Milan has rightly pointed out in his post. I think education is something which uplifts the Indian Society the most and especially after reading Outlook's article about "The Other India"[1], I realise the importance of Education. And Kalam is a symbol of HOPE for our nation .

The way he presented his vision for Karnataka to the sleepy legislators of the Vidhana Soudha was magnificient and speaks of volumes about Abdul Kalamji. We need a right mixture of idealists, shrewd statesmen, diplomats and distinguished scholars in our political system.

[1] Please grab a copy of Outlook and have a look at one of the poorest districts in Orissa. It is touching that they feel that the government is doing a fairly decent job to improve their living.

Got hair ironed ...

and now it is back to how it was earlier. Of course, there was a lot of criticism and even I could not accept my own look....It became really long!!!!

So now it is back to wavy format after one shampoo treatment.

heheh