Train,Train! Come Again!!

Note: All the characters in this story are factual. Any resemblance to a living person is purely intentional to make sure it is a first step to meet them again!

Wednesday, July 21st

   I had planned the earlier day to wake up early to book my tatkal tickets in IRCTC. After snoozing my alarm for nearly 10 times (7:00,7:05,7:10,etc.,), got up at 7.52 sharp to prepare for the battle. Booking ur tickets in IRCTC website is like waiting for opening of Swarga Vasal in Perumal Temple. Till 7.59AM, the site traffic would be as low as  and right @ 8AM(Perumal Sannidhi Opens!), it would throw you the most feared screen "SERVICE UNAVAILABLE". For more info on this, check Dummies Guide to IRCTC. The author is a very seasoned campaigner!

   After a long struggle with all known browsers, finally booked a 3rd A/C ticket to CBE in Cheran by the mercy of a Firefox Session! There was nothing special in this trip till the date of Journey (Friday the 23rd!)

Friday, July 23rd

   Booked my return ticket which would be an action replay of the paragraph above. As usual, like a perfect workaholic, started from office by 7PM to board my 10PM train. Though 3 hrs seems to be ample time, chennai traffic makes you realise it the other way. Everything went in my way and I was there at station by 9.15PM.

  Then it happened! An incident which turned my journey to be a special one!

  I found the coach B2. Placed my luggage in Seat 6 [UB]. The train was literally empty as there was more than half an hour for the departure. At that time, she entered. Tall, Fair, Beautiful and in addition to that, her seat no was 3[UB again!].

  I immediately went out, checked the chart [Thanks to Indian Railways! But there are areas of improvement which I will tell later!] and found out her name as Archana. Cool! Got back and immediately texted some of my close friends about my surprise co-passenger.

   One guy replied immediately,"Machi! Dont forget to get her mobile no!". I replied back with a smiley and started reading a book. She was busy in her phone talking to someone. The train started to slowly fill up as time progressed. My other co-passengers of Seat 1,2,5 occupied their respective places. The passenger of Seat 4 didnt turn up! Good bcoz if it was a guy, one competition less now and if it was a girl, one distraction less! Guitar was missing in my hands to sweep her off her feet! [My friend gave a different definition for this but it is marked "CLASSIFIED" as her comment will be a damage to my image!]

   Like all stories, in this case too I had a villain. But a Villain completes a Hero! He was passenger of Seat no:5 [Didnt even mind to check out the guy's name in chart!] He had a laptop and was hearing music from his iPod and he initiated a conversation with all talking about Indian IT market, global recession,etc., in a flamboyant English. I could see Archana's expression like Yuck! for his blabbering and I was celebrating inside. Such an early defeat for the Villain boosts my morale!

   Then, an elderly person [Seat no:2 whose name I did checked later in the chart for specific reason!] sitting next to Archana started talking about Chennai Climate, Traffic,etc., She was still silent. I just introduced myself to the elderly person and slowly, all started building the conversation. The elderly person was working in a Nationalised Bank as Manager who came to visit his daughter, the bizarre guy working  in an MNC and most importantly Archana in an IT firm, Chennai.

   After some fruitful data mining, got the info that Archana had her schooling in Avila [Ada CBE ponnu!] then in NIT, Trichy! Like "Michael Madhana Kamarajan" dialogue, I thought "Aiyo! Coimbatore-u upper berth-u! Catch my point-u! Semmaya work out aayuduchu!!" Then, she turned to the elderly person next to her and asked, "Thoonga pongo pa! Karthaala seekiram ezhundhirukkanum!"[Nammava!].

   I felt like somebody has slapped hard on my face.[Adapavi! Appa va pakkathula vechukitte Kadala poda try pannirukkaye!!] I didnt utter a word and just went to check the chart again! She was Archana P and her father was Mr.D.Parameswaran [ Seat 2 & 3]. That set the record straight. All my plans came to a standstill. Silently, climbed to the upper berth and started my preparation for sleeping. She had already occupied the other upper berth and was having a word with her Dad in the middle berth before going to sleep. I also planned to sleep as there was no point to be awake.

   Suddenly, I felt somebody shaking me and trying to wake me up. I opened my eyes and it was her. Like in movies, I felt Ilayaraja's set piece orchestra playing a melody[A bit of exagerration! Please dont mind!]. It was interrupted by her voice [Another melody! :)]saying "TTR is asking for ticket", then she continued her slumber. After all the formalities by TTR, I resumed my sleep. I kept reminding myself,"Dont forget to tell her a Bye tmrw! That would be ur last chance to talk to her in this journey!!"

Climax [or rather Anti-Climax]

Saturday, July 24th

    I woke up at 6.20AM and to my disappointment, there was no one in the whole compartment. The train has reached CBE by 6 itself. Due to my Kumbhakaran's sleep, I missed bidding farewell to her [ Vada Poache!!] Came out and did a 360 degree check of CBE Rly Station, she was nowhere in sight [Aval parandhu ponaale!] This encounter turned out to be a passing cloud but a beautiful cloud!

   As usual, got the comments from friends,"Nee Waste da". The height of all the comments was from my brother,"Nee avanga appava correct pannirundhenna veetuke oru visit adichirukkalaam"[Experience speaks!]

   I consoled myself,"Trisha illati oru Divya!" :)

Sunday, July 25th

Cheran Express. Same B2 Coach. Return Journey.

   If there is something called destiny, I was expecting Archana again. But luck knocks the door only once and the key of the door was with luck's father supported by some conspiracy from IRCTC Chart preparing personnel :)

Area of improvements for Indian Railways: Try to include Contact details in chart[Atleast mail id!]. It would be useful for many of us! I believe most of my friends will support me on this!

EPILOGUE:

       This was my first attempt on "Based on True Story" kind of work. Hope I have done good for a starter!!

Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya - Movie Review

GENRE: Romance
CAST: Silambarasan, Trisha Krishnan
DIRECTION: Gautham Vasudev Menon
MUSIC: A.R.Rahman

After frustrated with the Red Smudges in the websites of Sathyam Cinemas, Inox, etc., I was lucky enough to find tickets at Mayajaal !! [ Obvious in a multiplex where a film runs 35 shows/day!]

Expectations were high in the air and I could sense as it was contagious.

2.40PM..

Movie started to roll with a credit to Director Rajeev Menon!! [for using the line "Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya" from Rajeev's directorial debut "Minsara Kanavu"! Good Gesture Gautham!!]

Love! A topic which has been used by Tamil filmmakers to vivid dimensions is once again brought to the forefront by director Gautham Menon who catapulted his career with a dashingly romantic "Minnale".

Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya [VTV, in short] is a romantic story between a straight forward guy and a much confused girl. As it has been promoted, VTV is a love story with difference.

The curtain raises with a Scene in a church where Jessi's[Trisha] marriage is taking place and Karthik[Simbu] hiding & standing as one among the guests & watching it! Then the pin wheel moves to the past.

Karthik, a mechanical engineer with a heart of a film maker, stays along with his family in a rented house owned by a christian family. This gives a lead to the story and your assumptions turns out to be right but the director scores in how he unfolds the story.

Cupid strikes Karthik on the first sight of Jessi who is one year older than him and he falls in love. Jessi works in a software company [Adhukaga kaila eppa pathalum oru Laptop bag!!]. Karthik makes sure to get atleast a glimpse of Jessi everyday when she goes for office and on her return. He also tries hard to open the gates to his career in film making by trying chances with some directors. At that time, he finds acquaintance with a cinematographer, Ganesh [played by Ganesh, one of the producers of VTV] who helps him pursue his passion.

One fine day, Karthik proposes to Jessi and she just gives an angry look and walks off. The next day, Karthik got the news that Jessi has gone to her Grandma's home in Alappuzha. So our hero starts off to kerala to woo Jessi. I liked the dialogue "Avan Avan grilfriendkaga Americavukke poran!!"[Remember Vaaranam Ayiram!] Ganesh's dialogue delivery keeps the humour quotient in the movie alive with timely one-liners.

Karthik meets Jessi at a church in Alappuzha and apologises for his behaviour and they decide to be friends. Jessi introduces Karthik as his classmate to his relatives in Kerala and their friendship[??] grows.
Everything is going on well, now what do you expect? A Villain! Here Villain comes in the form of Jerry, Jessi's brother. He senses what is perspiring between Karthik and his sister and this triggers a fight in which Jerry ends up beaten black and blue. This bitters the relationship between the families.

Such problems wipes down the chances of Karthik and Jessi getting married and Jessi had no other choice but to come out of the relationship. Jessi's marriage gets fixed to a wealthy christian guy.

"Will Karthik get back his lost love? Will Jessi take a strong decision about her future life? Did Karthik's ambition to become a filmmaker get washed out amidst this furore??' The Second Half of the film provides answers for all the questions in a much slower pace.

The main highlights in this movie is the cast. Simbu as Karthik has given what is expected for that character and does not cross the danger line even at one instance. This script provided a big scope for acting and Simbu has utilized it to the maximum. It is very rare to see Simbu underplay fitting himself to the character and he has done that in style in VTV. His ability to emote the situations is very much vivid while getting angry over Trisha, making Trisha to understand his love,etc., Simbu has proved his acting skills right from the first frame in VTV.

Trisha as Jessi, a malayalee christian looks very cute in her sarees [All credits to Nalini Sriram, the costume designer]. She plays just the perfect confused girl with an oscillating mind and doubtful decision making [ She leaves audience confused at many places, but thats what Jessi is!!]. She delivers perfectly how the character is portrayed and has made her strong presence in the screen with some really good acting. Trisha takes the heart of the audience with homely looks and elegant gestures.

Ganesh will his humourous dialogues keeps the viewers' bone tickling especially his dialogues when caught in the police station and during the journey to Kerala.

Also Uma Padmanabhan, Kitty and Bob Antony had done justice to their roles.

There are no words to laud the lens works of Manoj Paramhamsa who has picturized Malta, Kerala, USA in their utmost beauty. Each frame is a picture perfect filled with vibrant colours of nature. Hats off!!

"The Mozart of Madras" ARR has created a masterpiece with all the songs already scorching the charts as chartbusters. His re-recording and background score has provided the much required flavour to the brewing romance. "Hosanna" and "Omana Penne" shot at Malta has been the pick of the songs and other songs are equally good in their own class. One important thing I could clearly notice is that the lyrics of any of  the song played depicted the current situation of the story. Totally the music of VTV is magical.

Now its time for the Helmsman, Gautham Vasudev Menon. The first thing to appreciate him for the way he has taken the story. Without this clear characterization and charming dialogues, VTV would have been just another love story. Though the narration is on the slower side which gets more slower in the later half, it is acceptable to an extent  for such a smooth story. Gautham has proved his élan in creating romantic flicks yet again with VTV.

As we already discussed a lot of pluses,  a few pitfalls in VTV:

• Though romantic movies normally are bit slow, the pace of VTV gets slower as it progresses.
• In many of the places just to keep the logic intact some of the scenes are included.
• Though the climax is a different try, many of the audience are left confused. Some of my friends actually left the hall thinking the movie was over when actually 10 to 15 mins was still left !

On the whole, A good romantic movie which makes you nostalgic if you have been in love and will make you to love if you have not yet been in one.

Surely worth a watch!

VERDICT: விண்ணைத்தாண்டி வருவாயா! உள்ளத்தைத்தாண்டி உயிருக்குள்!!

RATING: 3.5/5