Meet the new 'Roshans' of the adfilm industry

I just loved the track... loved the painting-effect on the visuals.. Loved everything about the IPL 'Dharmyuddh' promo. Aiyyayo! Just when I was about to start my research for my Asatthal Advertisement series on the IPL 'Karmayuddh' ad, here comes a dampener. This ad is a blatant lift from a five year old baseball commercial and what's worse - Prasoon Pandey, the director of the commercial denying that it is an eeyadicchan copy.

Paavegala.. Now am waiting for an American Ram Sampath to 'bless' (sue) Prasoon and Piyush Pandey - the new Roshans of the adfilm world!

Watch the original here.

Saappaturaami-1

It is getting tougher by the day to find a friend (with a good appetite) who could give me company to eat out on week days. Most of my friends are the typical Mumbai ladkis-dieting variety, who have three.. sorry, a maximum of two idlis for lunch and say "I am full ya...."! So, with my limited company of two or three food.. sorry good friends, I try and explore new eat-outs every week.

Here's a new series dedicated to all the food lovers of the world especially to my friends - Ha and Ra from Mumbai and Van, Tees, San, Ush, Ras, Anu ,Sha, Aru, Raj, Sach, Kat - the Chennai 'foodie' queens and kings whose company I really miss. And yes, to my dear better-aaf who has never restricted me from tasting the fat-filled wide range of food items viz. Mishti Doi of Sweet Bengal, Vadapao from Mithibhai college, Tamizh saapadu from Mani's, Pesto pasta (home made), Natural's Mango icecream, Sizzling brownie from Cafe coffee day, Noodles from Noodle bar, Garlic Bread from Papa Jones, Apple-cinnamon cake from Bread talk, Rajasthani Thaali from Sarvodaya and much more...

btw,for those wondering, what or who on earth is Saappaturaami ? It is the tamil-ised version of the hep- socialite-Pg 3 ing term 'Foodie'

The Gujrati Club

For all those hungry souls dying of hunger at the Great Indian-Santacruz airport traffic jam, don't head to the horribly expensive Orchid hotel for food. Instead, take a left at Milan Subway, head towards Santacruz (west) station road and take the second gully on the left. You'll find an old bungalow which could easily be mistaken for a shooting bungalow but for its bright light and an old signboard that says 'Gujrati club'

Open from 11am-3pm and from 7-10pm on Weekdays and only for lunch on Sundays, this place serves only Gujju thalis. For lunch, they serve four sabzis, dal/ kadi, roti, rice, bonda / bajji type of thing. For dinner, it is two sabzis, dal / kadi, roti, rice, bonda/ bajji type of thing. The taste is simply superb. Please don't mind the sweetish tasting Dal. Gujjus are like that wonly! When I visited, they didn't serve dessert but I saw two maamas having amarkhand.hmm, may be dessert was reserved only for Gujjus. Quite possible, I say!

The best part is that, it is an unlimited thaali where you can eat eat and eat. The service is superb reminds you of the kind of service in a saravana bhavan or any such hotel in Madras. But the prices though are definitely not the Saravana bhavan type [one cup pongal=30 odd rupees!!]. At the Gujrati club, one thaali is priced at Rs.60/= which is very very reasonably by Mumbai standards.

Saappaturaami rating: 4 out of 5 (dessert enga?)

PS: I complete 11 years in Aamchi Mumbai today! Still remember the first day in Mumbai way back in 1997 at the Santacruz airport asking for "Yeh Peddar road mein jaane..." [I want to go to Peddar road]. My hindi hasn't improved one bit. Ask my colleagues / friends here.

MaambazhamAAM MaambazhamAAM

The weekend was filled with Mambazhams - It started with vanilla icecream topped with Haaphus pieces. Monday was the mega mambazham day with a mango milkshake and mango kulfi at Elco's. A, the rockstar at office decided to treat S and I and so we travelled all the way to Elco's for some pav bhaji, bhelpuri, parathas and an overdose of mambazhams... Yummmmmy!

Thank you A! You are the next super star, I say!Haapus a.ka Alphonse is priced at approx. Rs.42 per piece - yes per piece! This year's mambazha output is 5% less than the usual. Even otherwise, the average price is somewhere close to Rs.24-25/- which is etta-k-kani for AAM junta like me.

Kanigalilee aval Maangani...Kannadasan's ; Mambazhamaam mambazham, malgova mambazham - remember the school poem? and ofcourse the latesht Maambazhamam Mambazham *Ouuuuvvv* from Pokkiri. Can you think of more mambazha songs ?

PS: Somehow the engleees word mango does not do justice to the juicy 'Maambazham', right?

அசத்தல் அட்வர்டைஸ்மென்ட் 8

இந்த விளம்பரத்தை முதன்முதலில் பார்த்தபோது "எவன் அந்த டைரக்டர்?" என்று கத்தவேண்டும் போலிருந்தது. பின்னொரு நாளில் ஒரு நெருங்கிய நண்பர்-கம்-விளம்பர இயக்குனரிடம் இவ்விளம்பரத்தைப் பற்றி 20 நிமிடங்கள் விளாசியபிறகு "நான்தான் அந்த கலைப்பொக்கிஷத்தை இயக்கினேன்!" என்றான் அவன். "பாவி, பரதேசி... I disown you!" என்றேன் நான், சிரித்துக்கொண்டே. பிறகு, இவ்விளம்பரத்தின் நெளிவு சுளிவுகளை அக்குவேர்-ஆணிவேரா அலசினோம். ஆண்டவா!

ஏறக்குறைய ஒரு வருடம் கழித்து இன்று அதே கலைஞானியை சந்தித்தேன். பெளத்தாயன் முகர்ஜி - கடந்த ஆறு மாதங்களாக Little Lamb films என்று சொந்தமாக விளம்பரப்பட நிறுவனத்தை நடத்திவருபவர்தான் அந்த மாபெரும் இயக்குனர் (ஐயோ! இவர் அவர் என்று எழுதவே ஒரு மாதிரி இருக்கிறது.) இருவரும் ஏறக்குறைய 8 வருடங்களுக்கு முன் ஒன்றாக பற்பல விளம்பரங்களில் துணை இயக்குனர்களாக பணிபுரிந்தோம். இப்போது விசாலமான தனி ஆஃபீஸ், விளம்பர ஷோரீலில் அவருடைய இயக்கத்தில் க்வாலிடியான 10 விளம்பரப்படங்கள், 2 துணை இயக்குனர்கள் என்று அவன்(ர்?) வளர்ச்சியைப் பார்க்கவே பிரமிப்பாக உள்ளது. வெகு நாட்களுக்குப் பிறகு இன்று இருவரும் சந்தித்ததால் விளம்பர-வெட்டி உலகின் வெட்டிப் பேச்சுடன் பார்வை அவனுடைய ஷோரீல் பக்கம் திரும்பியது.. அதில் ஓர் விளம்பரம் என் கவனத்தை ஈர்த்தது.

"திரும்பவும் அதே அமுல் மாசோவுக்காக விளம்பரம்...ஆரம்பிச்சிட்டியாடா? " என்றேன். விளம்பரத்தைப் பார்த்தவுடன் "இந்த விளம்பரத்தின் விஷுவல் எஃபெக்ட்ஸை முடிக்க எத்தனை நாள் ஆனது? பட்ஜெட் என்ன?" என்ற என்னுடைய Nagging கேள்விக்கு பதிலளித்தான் சிரித்துக்கொண்டே! "இவ்விளம்பரத்தின் ஒரு ஷாட்டிற்குக் கூட எஃபெக்ட்ஸ் யூஸ் பண்ணலை, எல்லாமே ரியல் people.. er.. almost people" என்றான். "Whattttt? you must be kidding" , இது நான். அதே பிரமிப்புடன் இந்த பதிவை எழுதுகிறேன்.

Saints & Warriors - விளம்பர ஏஜென்சியின் கருத்தாக்கத்தின் விளைவுதான் இந்த அமுல் மாசோ பகுதி 2. ஸ்டோரி போர்டு கையில் கிடைத்தவுடன் இயக்குனர் தொடர்புகொண்டது இவர்களைத்தான். கூடவே, மனித குரங்குகளின் ஆக்ஷன்களை தன் அஸிஸ்டென்ட்ஸ் உதவியுடன் படம்பிடித்தார் இயக்குனர். அந்தப் பதிவு உடனடியாக குவாலாலம்பூர் அனுப்பப்பட்டது.

படப்பிடிப்பிற்கு எடுத்துக்கொண்ட நாட்கள்: மூன்று. ஒராங்குடான்களின் பயிற்சிக்காலம் : ஐந்து வாரங்கள். இரண்டே இரண்டு ஒராங்குடான்களை டூப் போட்டு ஐந்தாக்கிவிட்டார் இயக்குனர். ஒராங்குடான்களின் பயிற்சியாளர்கள் இருவர் - 'The good trainer' and 'the bad trainer'. அதாவது பயிற்சியின்போது சொல்பேச்சுக் கேட்காத ஒராங்குடான்களை திட்டுவார் bad trainer. உடனே ஒராங்குடான்கள் good trainer-ரிடம் "அவரு திட்றாரு..." என்று கம்ப்ளெயிண்ட் செய்ய, உடனே good trainer, "என் செல்லம்ல நீங்க... நான் bad trainer-அ 'பாத்துக்கறேன்'.. இப்ப நீங்க சமர்த்தா ஆக்ட் பண்ணுங்க....நான் உங்களுக்கு தின்ன எதாவது தர்றேன்" என்பாறாம். உடனே இரண்டும் சமர்த்தாக நடித்துக்கொடுக்குமாம். கேட்கவே வேடிக்கையாக இருக்குல்ல? இவ்விளம்பரத்தின் ஒளிப்பதிவாளர், அர்விந்த் கண்ணபிரான், மை பிரதர் நிகில் போன்ற படங்களை படம்பிடித்தவர் ஆவார்.

இவ்விளம்பரத்தின் ஹீரோக்கள் இருவருமே ஹீரோயின்கள்.. ஹி.. ஹி.. புரியலையா? ரெண்டுமே female orangutans. ஆண் ஒராங்குட்டான்கள் ரொம்ப wild, மேய்ப்பது கடினமாம். அதனால் இருவரில் ஒருவரை அலங்கார பூஷணியாக்கிவிட்டு மற்றொன்றிக்கு போஸ்ட் புரொடக்ஷனில் கொஞ்சம் கலர் ஏற்றி மெருகூட்டியுள்ளார்கள். பெளத்தாயன் முகர்ஜியின் மனதில் ஸ்டோரி போர்டு, எடுக்க வேண்டிய காட்சிகள் அனைத்துமே தெள்ளத் தெளிவாக இருந்ததால், பல NG [Not good / not granted] டேக்குககளையும் ஒ.கே-வாக்கினார் அவர். உதாரணத்திற்கு ஒராங்குடான் கையை கீழிருந்து மேலுயர்த்தும் காட்சி ஒன்று ஒ.கே-ஆனது. அதை உல்டா செய்து ரிவர்ஸ் ஷாட்டில் மேலிருந்து கீழ்வருமாறு செய்த்துள்ளார். விளம்பரம் படம்பிடிக்கப்பட்ட இடம் : குவாலாலம்பூரிலிருந்து இரண்டு மணி நேரம் தொலைவிலுள்ள மலாக்கா. சரி, குரங்குகளின் சேட்டை விளம்பரத்தை இப்ப பார்க்கலாமா?

btw, இந்த ஒராங்க்குடான்களை எங்கேயோ பார்த்த மாதிரி இருக்கே என்கிறீர்களா? கேதரின் ஜீட்டா ஜோன்ஸ் - வீசா விளம்பரம்.. ஞாபகம் வருதா? அவரோடு நடித்த மரீனாதான் இருவரில் ஒரு அழகி. மரீனா இருக்க சனா கான் எதுக்கு?

PS # 1: வெகு நாட்களுக்குப் பிறகு தமிழில் பதிவு... மனநிறைவு!

PS#2: விளம்பரங்களைப் பற்றிய பதிவு எழுத எழுத ஒன்று நன்றாக விளங்கியது... ஐ வாண்ட் டு கெட் பேக் டு அட்வர்டைஸிங் ஃபிலிம்ஸ்.

Dimensions Mumbai

'Dimensions Mumbai' is a competition on five minute films based on the city, as part of the ongoing MAMI film festival. The competition was open to people below 25 years, who in some way or the other should be associated with film media - students, assistant directors etc. The theme for the short films was Mumbai.

Twenty five such short-listed entries were screened yesterday at IMAX, Wadala. With a vast canvas like 'Mumbai' I was expecting films of different dimensions. But what I saw was a mish-mash of Mumbai shots with bad voice-overs and music. But for a few films, rest turned out to be duds. The screening commenced with a film called 'Breathless Mumbai' - All it had was a number of Mumbai shots - trains, vada paos, cars, taxis.... for a whole five minutes. What was the film-maker trying to convey? That Mumbai doesn't sleep?is breathless? so what's new? If that was what the film-maker wanted to say, it could have been said in a better way. .. not with those done-to-death train shots... puhleeez! Ditto, a film called 'When do I sleep?'... it appeared as if the film-maker had shot Mumbai with his mobile camera. Neither did it convey anything nor were the shots clear... it ended up giving me a bad headache.

And there were other films that spoke about the darker side of Mumbai. Some even tried fictionalizing it... 'Dhuan' - a film in true RGV style! Why why why? Why do you want to dress up a college dude in a suit, dark glasses with dialogues like "%^$%^$%& #^#$$*" [censored] and woah! there were "f#^#^ "subtitles for it. I have no problems bringing fiction into short films. For instance, 'This is Mumbai, my friend' - another short film. There was this guy who wakes up late, takes a train, gets to college, is late, gets chucked out of class, takes the train back and sulks on why Mumbai is so crowded... A voice-over says "This is Mumbai, my friend!" !!!! What was that? That way, 'Patri' was a better film. It had this guy falling in love with the female voice that announces the train timings in local stations. But the last scene spoilt the entire fun... This guy bumps into this girl sulking about her 'no-boyfriend' life, over the phone... and is happy that he found his dream love or something like that.. Gawd! How I wish he had chopped off the last scene! 'A handful of sky' , 'Suryast' , 'Sunday Holiday' were about the people of Mumbai - a girl with a pillow underneath her dress wanting to look pregnant, a mother of a teenager committing suicide not being able to cope with the Mumbai life etc. But not too impressive.

Are you guys missing the good ol' Films division documentaries that used to be screened in theatres? Worry not. Here were a bunch of film that started with a voice-over - "Mumbai... city of dreams!" wih stock shots of trains, cotton mills, sky scrapers and all the film spoke about was "Mumbai ek aisa sheher hain...."arrggh!! wake up guys! NDFC and Films division have aruttufyed us with the same trash for years now.

Having said that I must talk about a few films that were impressive. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of this film that had a series of food items that the waiter brings to a table and the song on the radio at the hotel shifts from Punjabi (punju food) to Bengali (roshogulla )to tamizh (dosai)to English (some angrezi khana) and finally to a vadapao with a "Mee marathi" song playing in the background from a radio. Hilarious, I say! It was very well thought of and brought out on screen. 'Aamchi Mumbai' was about people urinating on the Mumbai streets and roads.. well told! Though the story of 'Vaapsi' - a film about a struggling actor in Mumbai did not impress me much, it was well filmed. 'Mumbai is...' was most impressive with montage shots of different people - a BMC worker, college studs, chai wallahs, party junta talking about what Mumbai meant to them - right from a "Mumbai hamara hein..." to " Mumbai is sexy!" to the cliched` "Mumbai rocks!" . Certain responses were superb! Very well edited!

I am told the prize money for the winner is Rs.1,00,000, the two runners up get Rs.30,000 and Rs.20,000 respectively. The names will be announced tomorrow. I believe Mr. Govind Nihalani was part of the jury that selected 25 out of the 82 entries that they received for the competition. If this is the quality of the twenty five films, I can imagine the rest. With a broad canvas like 'Mumbai' the young film-makers could have conveyed things in a better way. Better luck next time guys!

விளம்பர விளையாட்டு 24

Identify the advertisements posted in the picture grid.
# 12 points to be won
# Email answers to blogeswari[at]gmail[dot]com
# One attempt per person.
#Only one guess allowed

Results on the next Vilambara Vilayaattu
Answers for விளம்பர விளையாட்டு 23
1. Arogya 4 1/2 milk ; 2. Jr Horlicks ; 3. LIC housing finance ; 4. Brookebond 3 roses ;
5. Pepsodent ; 6. Ariel ; 7. Comfort ; 8. Dove ; 9. Clinic all clear ; 10. Surf excel excel matic
Results :
Manikandan rajamani wins! 10 / 10 ; Umayal - 9 / 10 ; Ravages , Dhivya ;Raji ; Sala annamalai ; gayathri nathan ; The visitor - 8 out of 10 . Congratulations!

Kaapi with KK

Ask any die-hard Radio listener in Mumbai on their favourite RJ... and they will most likely say "Jaggu and Tarana, ofcourse!". Jaggu and Tarana of Radio One are probably the only spontaneous, intelligent, genuinely funny, no-nonsense, non-vazhinjax non-"chooo chweeet ya" RJs around in Mumbai and my mornings are incomplete without listening to their show 'Good morning Mumbai'

Having participated in umpteeen Radio One contests I decided not to miss this one where they invited listeners, a couple of days ago, to sing with playback singer KK on Radio One. After several calls to Radio One, I managed to get through and record my singing bit. There were two other singers who were shortlisted and their renditions of a KK song along with mine were played back to back and the other listeners had to judge the final winner. Yippee, I had won. And yes, I was there this morning at the Radio One studio to meet KK, this super duper marvellous singer. Please ask me what I sang on air and won.. Uyirin Uyirae.

This morning, KK walked into the studios at around 8.30 am and I was introduced to him by the enthu morning producer Jagjit aka Jaggi [not to be confused with Jaggu]. I was super thrilled to meet the voice behind Appadi Podu, Kaadhal Valarthen, Mudhal Naal Indru, Strawberry Kanne and many many other hits. After the intro link on air with KK, it was duet time.. yes the peoples! Sang with KK! We sang a few lines of the song 'Yaaaron Dosti badi hi haseen hai' from the film Rockford. Shiv Shetty, another die hard KK fan [he works with Radio One] joined us.

Jaggu and Tarana's interaction with KK on-air was a laughter riot. Tarana was her usual teacher self. "KK, don't drink water when we are on air...we can hear your gulp", "Areey KK, why have you sung an English song on this album?" "Why that?" "Why this?". Quite unlike a few other RJs who go vazhinjax with every guest on air... including the tundu beedi types.

Post the on-air session, was invited for breakfast with the crew. Vettified idli sambar with a little bit of talking in tamizh with KK. I did one number Malarum ninaivugal kinda interview with KK. A few excerpts.

Me: Please sing more tamizh numbers
KK: I want to avoid being repetitive. It is no fun doing another 'Appadi podu'
Me: But 'Appadi podu' is a huge hit. We would love to hear another dappanguthu from you... Your last number with Rahman was from Saathiya...which was sometime in 2002...
KK: Rahman works mostly in the nights. My voice cracks up after 10 pm and I can't sing after 10. (he mentioned this on air as well)
[A gist of the rest of the conversation with KK]
KK: I am excited about my first Mallu song from the film Violet. My grandma refuses to acknowledge me as a singer since I haven't sung a single Mallu song. Now she is all excited ever since I told her about my Mallu number. Harris, Yuvan and Vidyasagar are the rockstars in Tamizh film music. Of late, since I have been busy with my album I haven't been able to travel or concentrate on film music. I do 3-4 recordings a week and am quite busy with shows.
[during breakfast] Soambu venuma?
[In the pic: KK, Jagjit, Jaggu and Tarana]
I got an autographed CD of his new album Humsafar. Yet to listen to it.. hopefully, during this weekend, I'll be able to. KK came across as a down to earth, warm and genuine person and I guess it reflects in his renditions. Listen to Labon Ko from Bhool Bhulaiyya, Tadap Tadap from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, two of my favourite Hindi songs by KK.

Dear Jaggu and Tarana, when is your next "meet the playback singer (Shankar Mahadevan!!) contest?"

Kala Ghoda festival

Half a dozen caricature artists busy drawing sketches of people, kids bathing themselves with colour, a whole lot of craft exhibits from all over India, dance performances... The Kala Ghoda festival was a mini carnival of sorts. The best part about the festival is the great Mumbai Mumbai connect it has... starting from Prayer wheel-Tiffin dabbas (see pic), a 'Mumbai Eye' ferris wheel made out of cycles with tiffin dabbas, a giant..wow!

A giant shoe exhibit stuck with miniature shoes, a no.30 size shoe, vintage cars, pottery... It was a visual treat. More pictures...

Goa ahaaaaa!

A two day marathon location hunt 10 years ago, a three day non-stop shoot six years, a two day holiday last year where I fell ill plus the non-stop "Yo baby, let's rock eeet at Goa" kinda french-bearded advertising junkies' nonstop nonsense talk made me hate Goa and I was one of the very few who sighed at the very mention of Goa, followed by a "What funnnnnn man!!".

Not anymore.

We - some 15 of us from office were in Goa for two and a half days on an 'official' break. It was not easy for all the RJs, show and promo producers, writers to go on an official holiday - not for a radio station that works 24*7 with live shows on from Monday to Saturday. Hats off to the entire team that worked round-the-clock and created a Goa feel for promos on air. Even the songs for the three days had to be 'Goan'ised.

After hours of dumb charades, gossip, songs and dance galatta in the Konkan Kanya Mandovi express we reached Goa by 12 noon. An elaborate lunch and laughter session followed at Infantaria and we headed to the Baga beach in the evening. Dinner at a beach side shack was simply superb. Some of us headed to the pool table where the rest of the junta played pool for some time. It was DJ Nikhil Chinnappa [yes, the MTV guy] at Mambo's who completed our mad evening at Goa with some kuttu dance from us. The best aspect of Nikhil's DJ-ing was his ever smiling face and he posed for umpteen pictures entertaining the crowd out there. "This is not trance.. this is not fusion.. not even techno.. It is electric... Electric is back!" he said. "Whatever!" we said. Honestly, I do not know the difference between trance / techno / electric etc. but DJ Nikhil at Mambo's was mindblowing. Back in the hotel at 3 am, some of us craved for coffee and headed to Coffee day. Where else but in Goa would you find a Coffee day open at 3 o' clock or a 24 hour Subway joint?

The next day started with breakfast at 1 pm and the bestestest part of Goa happened... a 15 member team on 8 bikes travelled 40 kms from Bagaa to the Tiracol Fort. It took us 2 1/2 hours to travel to Tiracol only because we ended up waiting for one another, some of us lost our way and headed to some beach. My bikemate and I went mad singing songs - I would sing in Tamizh and she sang the same number in Hindi. Our fellow bikers were quite harrassed with this double torture from us. We ferried our bikes to Tiracol and the view from the fort was amazing. Headed back to Bagaa to join our boss for dinner at Fiesta. This is a magical place where no two tables look alike - be it the chairs or upholstery. The food wasn't all that great but thanks to a crack-a-PJ-every-second colleague we had a lot of fun. The fun did not stop here. Some of us headed to the famous Ingo's Saturday Night bazaar. It seemed like one night was not enough to roam around this shoppers' paradise . We bought bags, T-shirts, jewellery and a whole lot of stuff. Back to the hotel at 4am, asusual some of us were hungry and headed to a nearby dhaba for some yummy food.

The next day..ie. afternoon was spent at the beach, water scootering. I was laughing non-stop after the adventure because it was a complete roller coaster ride... It was time to leave Goa and we were very sure we were going to miss the train and were damn thrilled that we'd get to spend the evening in Goa if we missed the train. On our way to the station, we received an SMS from boss which said "Guys, if you miss the train, take the bus and report to work tomorrow morning. No exceptions" Sigh! We rushed to the next station where the train had a stopover and managed to get into the train... Not before an elaborate lunch and laughter session at the station.

We were not at all happy about getting back to Mumbai and reporting to work on a Monday morning but we had to.Sigh! such is life, dearies!

Highlights of the trip

1. The train catering: Neatly packed in casseroles, the food was hot, tasty... no watery dal, no oily gravies... tasted like home food and we didn't have to do an Anniyan in any of the stations.

2. Veggie food: Goa is a sea-food lovers' paradise. But there was no problem in any of the restaurants for a hardcore vegetarian like me.

3. Roomie: I am extremely choosy about the people I stay with. Late nights with "I-am-so-upset..Life is bad" kinda self-pity stuff bugs me. Thankfully, my roomie was a non-fussy person. We had a helluva time shopping... singing songs on our bike ride... laughing! Thank you, Ms.A.

4. Bikes : I am a two wheeler lover. More than 100 kms in two and a half days was free....dom from crowded trains, perennial traffic jams in Mumbai.

I have already made my next holiday plan with my purushan. Bagaa, here we come!

Pongal with Hariharan

The last time I heard Hariharan live was in Madras during the 'Colonial cousins' concert, almost a decade ago. Times of India had organized this brilliant concert as part of their Pongal celebrations at Bandra Fort's open auditorium on Sunday evening.

Pongal concert, Hariharan... hmm but will he be singing tamizh songs? This was my doubt even as I stood in the long queue from 6pm for a 7 o clock concert. The moment I saw a lot of Pattu-p-podavaias, right mookuttis, a man with THE HINDU paper, "jaldi-aa vaa" aunty, a lakshanam girl saying "latha perimmavai vara cholren"[kindly note the Mumbai-tam-influenced-by-Palakkadu Kameshwaran accent], I knew he was going to sing a lot of tamizh numbers.

Our star RJ, Anmol was the host for the evening. The whole of last week, another tam colleague and I rehearsed his tamizh lines with him. The show started with Anmol wishing everyone "Pongal-o-Pongal", offering Hariharan a bit of Karumbu to see if his teeth were still intact :) Oh ya, I had my...rather my name had its one second of fame on stage with Anmol thanking his tamizh colleagues for our valuable tamizh sevai.

Hariharan started the concert with 'Nila Kaaigiradu...', moved to 'Ennai taalatta varuvalo', 'Manjal veyyil', a few ghazals, 'Chaie chapp Chaie', 'Yaadein' 'Roja Janeman' - He even got the audience to sing "Roooooooooja" bit along him.

The moment Hariharan mentioned Illayaraja, Harris Jeyaraj - one could hear semma whistles

Hariharankku O podunga from the crowd. During the time between two songs, this playback singer friend with me suddenly screamed "Poi sollakoodaadu... pleasee". Hariharan replied with a"Poi sonnengala?" and immediately sang a few lines from this hit song from Run. Though this song was not part of his songlist for the day, those two lines made my friend's day coz from the time I mentioned Hariharan's concert, the one question she kept asking for days was if Hariharan would sing "Poi sollakoodadu" .

The much awaited 'Vaaji vaaji' followed amidst loud "Once more"s; then came 'Kurukku siruttavalae','Pachai Nirame'... Hariharan concluded the concert with 'Bharat humko' - the Hindi version of Tamizha Tamizha. Would have loved it if he had sung the tamizh version which is more powerful - lyrics and renditionwise.

Half an hour into the concert and one could hear the audience cheer for someone who entered the auditorium then. It was Shankar Mahadevan, the special invitee! Shankar was invited on stage during the break by the organizers and he sang a few lines from the title track of Taare zameen par. Hariharan and Shankar Mahadevan on the same day at the same concert! Wow, what more could one have asked for? Sweeter than Chakkara pongal I say!

Most often, when I watch all me-too playback singers on TV/ stage- Haricharan, Saindavi, Madhumitha, Vinaya, Chinmayi and the likes [ who are seen more often judging / hosting song based shows than playback singing ], I am simply appalled by the abaswaram. These are fit to sing only within the four walls of a studio doing retake after retake. Despite the classical singing background most of them claim to have, none of these can create the magic a Hariharan /S P B/ Shankar Mahadevan or an Usha Uthup create on stage. These me-too playback singers should learn from stalwarts like Hariharan on the basics of singing on stage - clear pitching!

Hariharan left the audience- from a Bandra Sandra, Powai paaji to a Matunga mami & Chembur mama longing for more at the end of the two and a half hour concert with his masaledaar mix of ghazals, hindi numbers and tamizh paatus. I hope Times of India comes up with a Shankar Mahadevan - tamizh songs special for April 14th! That would be one concert I wouldn't want to miss!

Pongal vaazhtukkal to everyone. Pongal-O-Pongal!