Gajini!

If one went to gajini with memento etched in his mind, he will be dissapointed. One must understand the bottomline ; gajini is an indian movie. Although 'Gajini' has borrowed the core concept from memento , the story drawn around it is a typical tamil flick with action sequences and duets in beautiful locations. That was to be expected. Just a fool would mimic memento exactly with alternating 15 minute pieces and a story so dense that one would have to wrack his brain to understand what was happening. So i am not going to make any comparisons between the two movies. By itself, Gajini was a great movie.

The movie revolves around sanjay ramaswamy played by surya. Sanjay is a rich entreprenuer who after an 'incident' suffers from short term memory loss. He has only one goal : to avenge the death of his lover. The beauty is (the memento snip) sanjay cannot remember anything that happened more than 15 minutes ago. To counter this he uses all sorts of aids and means to keep track of what he was doing and what he should do. The movie jusxtaposes sanjay's past and present and showcases it so that the movie moves at a quick pace. Surya has delivered a great performance ,as expected. His mannerisms and moves are good to watch especially as a memory loss patient who tries to untangle the maze of riddles that surround him. Even as the gregarious business man he has performed neatly. Asin is a treat for the eye and livens up the screen with her presence. Nayan tara is the only aberration. I would have liked someone else in her place.

Harris jeyaraj to me is a dissapointment in this movie. Apart from two songs all others are average. Even the background score was sporadic and unpleasant. For a movie of this sort background score could have played a huge role reflecting the moods and thoughts of the protagonist. The fight sequences are good if one has made his peace with men flying about defying gravity. After countless tamil movies, i have come to accept it and no longer feel odd when i see a man flying around revolving in the air and hitting a lamp post. Camera work is good and the movie is visually captivating using colours and shades to convey the mood of the scene.

Overall gajini is a different movie by tamil standards and a must watch. The story line although diluted holds some of the anguish and tension of memento and is gripping.

Awaiting the brazilian carnage!

The brazilian grand prix has started off on a furtuitious note for Alonso. The pole is where he would have liked to start in his quest for his world championship title. The renaults were very competitive and a surprising error by kimi ensured that alonso got what he wanted. All he needs to do is to keep a level head for the rest of the race ; something that looks very much on the cards given the matured way alonso has been driving this season. It would all boil down to the first corner where a carnage could be expected. With juan having the whole crowd behind him, alonso needs to be wary of any corner mishaps. But he is relatively safe compared to the crowded segment behind him. With kimi , fisi , montoya and button crowding at the first corner, it is gonna be one hell of a start. Kimi would still possibly win this race but i believe that the renaults with new aero and changes are extremely competitive here; on par with the McLaren. It would only be a fitting way to win the chamionship if we some some fist fight between alonso and kimi on the track.

Hail Alonso!

On the threshold of greatness.

Alonso will step into his car this saturday with a real chance of being crowned the world champion. All he needs is a podium finish to settle the issue. Going by the amazing consistency he and his car have been showing this season, the prospect looks very real. If it were to happen it will be a great moment for the young spaniard as well as for f1. Kimi , whose challenge must be rated as one of the most spirited ones given his constant flirt with bad luck, will be eyeing the next season. He has been the driver to watch for more than half of this season and is the driver to watch for the next season. Meanwhile Alonso, would like a shift to a team that would take him to greater heights the coming season. However it is still too early to be talking about things like that for the moment has come for alonso to finally seal it off. He is on the threshold of greatness - will he do it?

Kimi's tryst with horrendous luck continues....

The championship race is finished for kimi. The mathematical chance that he might still make it is ridiculous. At the risk of shooting off my mouth let me hail the new king of F1 : Fernando Alonso. I cant hold back the desire to say 'i told you so'. Alonso every bit deserves this crown but let me reserve this when he actually wins the championship.

Now if ever there was a saga of persistent bad luck, it is kimi's tryst with faulty Mclaren. Every time he plays catch up , something gives. I am no longer sure if Mclaren is the one to blame. Interestingly , kimi's team mate Montoya doesnt seem to have so many problems but his car is also not as fast as kimi's. There could be several explanations. One is , in their urge to push kimi to the top Mclaren is tweaking the car for maximum performance thereby compromising on reliablity. The other is , kimi just doesnt know how to manage his car. He may cut corners at amazing speeds and push the limits but may not be looking after his machine. Whatever it is enough words have been wasted trying to understand this wierd kimi-Mclaren phenomenon that it is no longer worthwhile to pursue.




Sport is cruel. And Schumi is discovering it the hard way. A massive icon of f1 seems to be fading right before our eyes. A lot of schumi's die hard fans have stopped watching f1 but a lot more f1 fans are coming back. My friend has started watching it after a 2 year break now that the stalemate at the top has ended. But one can help but feel sorry for this man. He might be retiring on a low and no sports man would ever want that.

A vindication for Montoya ; Alonso stretches lead

Keep ur cool , Ice-man
Not that he needs to be said that!The Ice man - who stormed to a third place finish from the back of the grid - must be one very frustrated and let down soul. Who wouldn't be? McLaren are essentially nullyfying the fruits of a spectacular car that they posess by consistently throwing up these 'problems'. Kimi deserves more. Kimi deserves to stay at the top of the grid and it is McLaren's prerogative to do that. But then , F1 is beautiful for these little ironies and unpredictablity. McLaren don't have the best car on the circuit. To rephrase , they have the fastest car but not the most reliable. It takes two to tango.

1 - 2
Now Montoya was able to exploit the sheer power at his disposal to take a deserving win. Alonso wasn't far behind , putting pressure and trying to take little opportunities that came. He would be happy with the result , of course. He would be happy as long as kimi stays behind him. Compared to last year , Alonso is a changed man. He seems more sensible , more tactical and strategic compared to the fiery hot head that he was last year. He seems to understand his limitations and strenghts better. Of course , when you have a good car everything seems rosy.


A Class apart
Silverstone threw up the picture of how F1 is this season. A McLaren - Renault top four just showed that they were a class apart as jenson put it at the end of the race. However the surprising factor was that the Renaults who were supposed to be subdued here , were nearly up there with the McLarens although kimi's last lap showed how fast the black beasts could actually go.

The man who faded away
Fisichella was either clumsy or unlucky. He had a potential podium finish until he stalled in one of the pit stops letting kimi go ahead. Thats the second time in two weekends. Amidst kimi's blitzkreig his sublime drive got overshadowed. Starting sixth he did a good job. In fact he set the third fastest time during the race faster than his team mate.

And Jenson. Must be a dissapointment but it was the best he could do. Hope he keeps doing this.

And the reds....Shumi aptly put it after the race "We are going backwards". Again Barry ; a botched up pit stop strategy put him behind schumi. Was that intentional or poor strategy? Poor Strategy? Ferrari?..Nah...Lets brew this controversy some time later. They already have enough problems to worry about.