Attakathi by Ranjith

[Kalyasi]

Atta Kathi from Venkat Prabhu’s assistant

At a time when Madurai-based movies are ruling the roost, Ranjith, a debutant filmmaker has come out with Atta Kathi, a film on the life of a youth in North Chennai, who thinks that he is a messiah of the masses, when he is actually not.

Ranjith, who worked with director Venkat Prabhu, has chosen to set the film in the backdrop of fisherfolk in North Chennai. Speaking about the film, Ranjith says, 'the people in North Chennai live life in a different way. They have their own culture and they have their notion about things'.

'Atta kathi is about one youth who thinks he has a mission to accomplish. Dinesh, who acted in Aadukalam, Mounaguru among other films plays the lead role. Swetha plays the female lead.'

Santosh Narayanan, who won the National Award for Advaitham, is scoring the music.


http://www.supergoodmovies.com/36056/kollywood/atta-kathi-from-venkat-prabhu-s-assistant-news-details


The film's music director is my close friend...

He is an amazing talent, worked as an assistant to A.R. Rahman and this is his first film as music director...

Guys I hope you all would support this movie...

[Kalyasi]

Attakathi First look teaser...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5nzleYJD3E

I am starting to like the BGM... Its really good...

[Scale]

We have lot of Yann Tiersen coming up :good: :clap:

[Scale]

Wow! Attakathi is knifelike :)

[Kalyasi]

Friends pls share the trailer in your FB, twitter or whatever social media page if you like the trailer...

He is an amazing talent and has been waiting for a long time to get a break... Your publicity will defly. help.... Its been a struggle for him in tamil film industry... pls do help...

[Kalyasi]

The last bit piece is sung by him...

[Kalyasi]

http://www.kollytalk.com/stills/attakathi-movie-stills/

[Kalyasi]

http://attakathi.com/

[Kalyasi]

Attakathi cuts like a knife!

Ranjit, who has earlier worked with Venkat Prabhu as a co-director until Goa, is ready with his directorial debut. Titled Attakathi, the film is about the lives of youngsters who live in suburbs near Chennai.
"When we make a film on youngsters from cities and towns, it's usually about their conflicts. But my film will talk about the happier side of their lives," begins Ranjit.
Ask him why he has titled his film Attakathi, and he says, "This title denotes the character of my hero (played by debutant Dinesh). Attakathi means a knife made out of cardboard. It serves only as a showpiece; you can never fight with it. My hero is just like that - all fluff and no stuff !"
Ranjit adds, "The film will trace three years in the life of the hero. It's his autobiography and will reveal the many infatuations he has had, his lovehate relationship with his relatives, and his affection towards his friends."

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-12-27/news-interviews/30561133_1_directorial-debut-ranjit-film

[Cinemarasigan]

Trailer is good..

The details are interesting.. Looking forward to this film.. Autograph maadhiri padamA irukkumO-nu thOnudhu..

[Arragesh]

Trailer looks good but i'm getting documentary feel

[Kalyasi]

Trailer looks good but i'm getting documentary feel

Documentary ellam illainga, full length comedy... Audio releases Jan 9th @ Sathyam theatre... I am eagerly awaiting the audio release...

[Kalyasi]

Attakathi Paper Ad

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=223371967743328&set=at.223371964409995.55592.203885763025282.60999 9670&type=1&theater

[Kalyasi]

Attakathi - A Realistic film

http://www.sify.com/movies/attakathi-a-realistic-film-imagegallery-kollywood-mbcmC5deacf.html?html=5

[Kalyasi]

'Attaikathi' audio releases tomorrow!

http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/76430.html

[Kalyasi]

'Attaikathi' Audio Launch: An Entertaining Affair

http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/Events/31774.html

[Kalyasi]

Attakathi audio launched

http://www.sify.com/movies/attakathi-audio-launched-news-tamil-mbjpo5hgbca.html

[Scale]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIbSriNzVXk

[Scale]

I like venkat prabhu. அப்பா சாயல் நல்லா வந்திருச்சி. படம் தான் மொக்கையா எடுக்குறீங்க.

[interz]

Mokkaiyo pukkaiyo, theaterila 3 padam sakka pottathu.... intha kaalathila 2 vetri padam edukkurathe kashtam...

and back to Attakathi.. trailer is really boring... the promo song .. whish is a Viral video isnt impressive either...some amateurs made a cool version of Evandi Unna pethan... learn from them...

[Scale]

yea seriously gonna take that last line and see how the songs fare.

[satissh_r]

Attakathi - Nan ennavo pattakathi mathiri purinjikitten... Kalaila radio la kekkum pothu than purinjuthu Attai - Kathinu :lol:

[Kalyasi]

http://www.muzigle.com/track/aasi-oru-pulveli

The songs are good. I am liking it, maybe because Santhosh is my friend... Plz share your opinion guys...

[KV]

Very good, I say! :clap: Super stuff for a debutant MD! Some raw Chennai local flavour songs and couple of lovely acoustic (just what the doctor ordered!) melodies where ARR/Amit Trivedi influence can be felt, but that doesn’t take away much from the composer.

My pick is Vazhi Parthirundhen - super guitars, loved the chords; nice singing, very pleasant song.

Aasai oru pulveli – beautiful soft rock number. Again very nice guitars and nice flute as well. Is Pradeep a debutant? Chap’s got a bright future for sure. The ARR touch in this one is more evident and I kept sliding off into Naan Varuven.

The folk songs are good fun and lively which is exactly what they should be. Thaara thappata kizhinjing! Nadukadalula has a nice Chandrababu tinge to it.

Podi vechchu pudippaan – the only song that felt like a standard popular number, made for the market kind. Atleast there isn’t any autotune here, so it’s fine!

Long live acoustic music! Death to electronically fornicated music!

Here’s wishing the very best for the team! :thumbsup:

[KV]

Just realized I'd missed one song in the playlist - aadi pona aavani. Glad I heard it now. The format is very interesting - harmonium backed gana singing with tabla for support and keeping these company are guitar chords and bass in the background. Awesome! :clap:

[Scale]

Good to hear that KV! I tried to listen but the its takes too much time to buffer.


Long live acoustic music! Death to electronically fornicated music!

There is nothing acoustics or lively performance anymore. Its all the sound and recording quality matters now. This is the typical attitude (sorry to use that word) which I hate to hear and got involved in several combats offering explanation. I am sure even this score's composer would feel very bad about yours choice of words as they are also very important to their music today.

Any sound that goes thru a microphone and comes out of speaker has some kind of electronic transformation. A touch of harmoinum key or a pull of guitar string goes through that process. Like so many other instruments. Even if you are attending a carnatic/qawwali/concert, a listener from the last rack of an auditorium can complain about the quality for not being lively. nam vaaiyil irunthu varum vaarthaigalum sari kai thattalin sathamum sari kaatroda/pollution-oda kalanthu thaan varudhu.

As a longtime music lover with two pair of ordinary ears and no musical knowledge, I listen to all types music from crap (?!) to classical its all the tune, music and lyrics matter to me and most importantly to see how others conceives that song.

[Scale]

contn.

some may find it interesting and that sound may rejuvenates their mood. ungalukku pudikalana vozhinji ponnu solradhu nalla illai.

Listened to Udumban songs very bizare stuff, not so easy to ears and gives an outdated feel. Unless you pay lot of attention (+HH/SM fan) and well promoted these songs are not going to stay. Still a good listen and I need to listen more (http://www.musiqbuzz.com/tamil/movie/udumban/songs-download/)

Mukesh two short versions are raw and he has a ganeer kural.
Vaanukku Nilavu is a lovely ride
First 3 songs are also fairly listenable.

I heard Marina songs are also good.

All these 3 albums are from debutant's and their hard work shows well.

[Scale]

(just what the doctor ordered!)

Another funny rebuke even his sons don't take seriously. Only fans keep harping about it and they forget often that is just another drop in the ocean of world music which can be easily scrutinized for its purity/content.

Music is a very subjective issue differs from person to person and time to time. The song which appeals to you today may not be the same tomorrow and the next day you may unfold some surprise.

A proficient kanjeera player and the composer of VKK & Kullanari Koottam Mr. Selvaganesh loves to have a student like Tom
http://yfrog.com/08t5psz

/End Dign

If anyone comes across a link to listen Marina & Attakathi songs please let me know. Thanks!

[wizzy]

Scale, for starters does acoustic drum kits/ synth drum kits sound the same? their lies the difference..

[KV]

Scale, sorry, but in reference to what I’d written, neenga engyo poitgeenga saar! Let me try to explain again.

By electronic music, what I essentially mean is the big umbrella of ‘electronic pop’ and the various sub-genres that took birth under it. To me, electronic pop killed the musician and created the ‘music star’. Here’s why I think so. We’ll need to go back a long way to elaborately lay out what I have in mind, so here's the warning for a long post ahead.

The first logical classification of music would be vocal and instrumental where the latter can be split further into string (guitar, violin, piano, etc), wind (flute, saxophone, trumpet, etc) and percussion (drums, tabla, mrudangam, etc). Back in the days of pure acoustic music (not electric or electronic support whatsoever), every musician/performer had to know his music - to sing/to play his instrument – which was the primary and mandatory requisite. Then came electric amplification. This just helped in increasing the volume, quite literally, and offered little help otherwise to the musicians. The electric guitar, that was the next big thing, was in a way, another form of sound amplification, and the required music skills didn’t change. One fine day someone discovered that the sound emanating from the guitar could be distorted and that made way for guitar ‘effects’ - patches and distortion types that made the guitar sound different. But again, this was just another ‘output modulation’. You couldn’t stand with an electric guitar in hand, clad in tight leather outfit sporting a flowing hairdo and expect the guitar to do everything. Nothing would happen. You had to know to play it, else we’d have had a million Hendrix and half a million Claptons by now. Parallelly, the piano saw similar developments as it morphed from its strings avtar to electronic form. But the early electronic keyboards were similar to the electric guitar with effects, wherein you could play the same instrument and make it sound different. But the keyboard advancement wouldn’t just stop there (unlike the guitar in which the electric guitar is still the most ‘latest’ variety even after 3 or 4 decades of its invention). Science gave us the ‘synthesizer’, the thing that was to change the course and dynamics of music thereafter. For the first time musicality took a beating and ‘sounds’ (as opposed to musical notes) started gaining importance. We’re still talking of the 60s and 70s. Musicians began exploring ways of incorporating these new sounds with their music. Think Floyd and the sounds of animals and cash registers. But this was more or less used as an add-on feature in addition to the guitars and drums and other instruments which was still their ‘main’ music. Floyd, though they might be famous for popularizing this culture, had the best of guitarists in the form of Gilmour and a top notch drummer in Mason. Their songs wouldn’t probably have stood the test of time with just the ‘sounds’ had it not been for the brilliant guitaring and singing in them. The other forms of music were yet to fully embrace this technology and genres like classical, jazz, rock, heavy metal still stuck to their respective conventional styles - just raw musical capabilities, many a times, combined with showmanship.

Come the 90s and this new wave of electronic pop took up centerstage. Synthesizers advanced further. Tribal drums - button 1, disco beat - button 2: ‘ready to eat’ packages of this sort started evolving. You didn’t need any real musical talent to run a show. If you could kinda manage your singing, you could pass off as a popstar because the rest was all synthesized music mostly. The band didn’t even need to have a guitarist or a drummer. The type of instruments didn't really matter - wind/string/percussion, they were all the same, just another button. The trend then spread like wildfire from then on till date. Technology has made people lazy and creating music is no longer reserved only for the musically talented. This democracy, like in digital photography, is fine at one level, for it gives many people a sense of achievement and makes them happy. But popularity taking on talent’s mantle is tragic in every sense. How many artists currently in the popular music scene are capable singers or instrumentalists? Auto-tune, voice modulation, packaged instrumental bits, loops, the list of facilities are endless. One just has to know how to use (as opposed to play) them, which is why every tom dick and harry today is a music star. Where is real musical talent in this? On the other hand, there still are talented musicians who take the effort to learn music and believe in giving non-gimmicky performances. Thanks to this, genres like classical and jazz have managed to retain most of its charm.

Coming to film music, how many of our composers/musicians nowadays are really musically talented or knowledgeable? To gauge a musician or composer’s talent, an easy indicator is his ability to play or effectively utilize instruments (that require musical ability to play) – classical instruments live Violin or Veenai or acoustic instruments like guitar/flutes/trumpets or percussions like acoustic drums or Indian drums. Take the Coke Studio concept for example. Most of the musicians there are really talented and they make/play similar kind of popular music. This is what I want our film music to progress towards. Recording these instruments and then tweaking their sound electronically is what your referring to. This isn’t really an issue, rather, it’s the previous stage that I’m talking about.

When I say acoustic, let me list some songs that I have in mind – cry cry ithna cry (jhoota hi sahi), kannadi nee (mangaatha), Roshini (admissions open). The effect and ‘feel’ of live/acoustic instruments in these songs, in my books, are unmatched by any synth sounds. Encouraging such songs/technique will help in breeding a musically talented and good quality environment. Digitalization of all aspects of composing/music making has resulted in dismal quality of music and musicians in the recent years. It is in dire hopelessness of the continuing and growing popularity of this trend that makes me condemn digitalization of music making/composition. And I will stick by my stand - digitalization be damned.

[KV]

Another funny rebuke even his sons don't take seriously.
:confused2: yaara saar sollringa? Raaja-viya? Naan avarayum vittu vekkalaye. Raaja threadliye naan idha paththi azhudhurkken, thitteerken.

[Scale]

A very informative post :clap: Thanks KV! Much needed.

:exactly: that's how the music making process and role of musicians have evolved over the years. I felt that you are simply dismissing the song because it's auto-tuned neglecting other good elements of the song. The employment of digitalization is going to be the future of film music that may rise anyone to fame with one-hit wonder but when it comes to perform variety (Folk/Carnatic/WCM...) your ability as a composer is really tested.

[Scale]

Its going to be far more competitive than before you won't find a place even if you belong to any of Mr.Incredible's family. I was surprised to find almost 20-25 composers last year.

[wizzy]

KV, nice writeup :clap:

Asai oru Pulveli/Vazhi Parathirundhen can easily pass off as a track in VTV. Pradeep/Kalyani were part of the Harmonize Projekt which went viral in Youtube for good reasons :-D have seen them play in Chennai with drummer Darbuka Siva..Keba Jeremiah is their lead guitarist and AR had him strumming for quite a few songs in Rockstar...


Pradeep/Kalyani in Uravugal thodarkadhai cover


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbd4WPPMNQo



Pradeep/Kalyani crooning Kandukondein kandukondein which went viral in Youtube..from 3.45 to 4.03 bliss...cans needed to hear the bass clearly//


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9q8MxZ2NYk&feature=relmfu

[Kalyasi]

Attakathi Theatrical Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahmdb6yKfaU

[Scale]

Looking at the credits except podivechi pudippan I guess/see this as a more collaborative effort rather giving full credits to the debutant composer. Good luck next time.

Band Music - Band Kuberan & Band Murali (are the local bands playing the peepee and mela thaalams)

Aadi pona Aavani & Nadukadalula Kappala:- Gana Bala
Adi yen Gana Mayil - Ayinjivakkam Muthu

All the above 3 Ganas are raw and very authentic could be their tune/concept and the composer did the arrangement like vaazhameenukkum velangumeenukkum.

Aasai oru pulveli & Vazhi Parthirunthen: Praveen & Kalyani Now wizzy throws in a swagger of information. This is truly their sound and harmonizing part doesn't leave any doubt.

Podi vechi pudippan - Leaves no impact. Very Substandard stuff.

[Kalyasi]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9jptQUY4Is

[Kalyasi]

Looking at the credits except podivechi pudippan I guess/see this as a more collaborative effort rather giving full credits to the debutant composer. Good luck next time.

Band Music - Band Kuberan & Band Murali (are the local bands playing the peepee and mela thaalams)

Aadi pona Aavani & Nadukadalula Kappala:- Gana Bala
Adi yen Gana Mayil - Ayinjivakkam Muthu

All the above 3 Ganas are raw and very authentic could be their tune/concept and the composer did the arrangement like vaazhameenukkum velangumeenukkum.

Aasai oru pulveli & Vazhi Parthirunthen: Praveen & Kalyani Now wizzy throws in a swagger of information. This is truly their sound and harmonizing part doesn't leave any doubt.

Podi vechi pudippan - Leaves no impact. Very Substandard stuff.

Athu Pradeep nga, avanum enga junior thaan, romba aniyaayama pesareenga... , Ghana vena naa othukaren, its a team effort nu but Aasai or pulveli and Vazhi Parthirunthen ellam neenga Santhosh ku credit kudukala na enna nyayam nga, rite ok... naa onniyum solla virumbala...

[Kalyasi]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXoslfv6E28&feature=related

[wizzy]

@scale MD is a debutant..pliss to give him some breathing space.

@Kalyasi got the cd..was Santhosh part of any band//

[Kalyasi]

@scale MD is a debutant..pliss to give him some breathing space.

@Kalyasi got the cd..was Santhosh part of any band//

Yup La Pongal

[Kalyasi]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7oCQQVE_lY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2lmqwd_c0E

[Kalyasi]

Advaitham Short Film

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqnoM9wHZcQ

[Kalyasi]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OJsiESmtlQ

[Kalyasi]

Merkondu ethavathu kelvi iruntha Santhosh kittaye kettukonga

Scale ungalukku ethavthu doubt iruntha kettu theethukonga...

https://www.facebook.com/santhosh.naraynan

[Scale]

Wizzy & Kalyasi,

I haven't said anything awry or in discouraging sense. Equal credits thaane kuduthirukken.

[Kalyasi]

I am sorry scale, maybe I misunderstood ur post, but enakku Pradeep um friend thaan, so onnum thappu illa, ellarum munneranum nu thaan kashtapattukittu irukaanga...

I can assure you that there was no influence from Pradeep or Kalyani while composing these songs... may be anga anga improvise panni irunthu irukalaam and Santhosh ku athu pudichu irunthu irukalaam... ulla enna nadanthuthu nu enakku theriyathu, but ovvoru bitayum compose pannitu enakku anupuvaan... athunaala thaan sollaren...

[gurusaravanan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9jptQUY4Is

[Kalyasi]

Enakke romba sinna pulla thanama irukku ennoda post... mannichurunga... enna thaan irunthaalum namma close friend nu varum pothu kannukku ethuvume theriyathu... he deserves the credit for this album, romba kashtappattu vanthu irukaan...

[Scale]

No No... The songs are really good no doubt about that. Just the composing credits are so blatant.

[Kalyasi]

Yeah its defly a team effort, FYI - Leon Zervos thaan Lada Gaga oda sound engineer...

[Kalyasi]

http://www.thehindu.com/arts/cinema/article2820301.ece

[wizzy]

Scale, it could be Pradeep's singing..he sings nonchalantly..do check his album Yodhakaa with drummer Siva.

[Kalyasi]

Link for Yodhakaa

http://www.muzigle.com/album/yodhakaa

[Kalyasi]

Sorry wizzy solla maranthuten, Santhosh Yodhakaa band layum irukaan... ellam ore pasanga thaan, Santhosh, Darbukka Siva, Pradeep, Sujith...

ellarume ore gang thaan

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=145807402149992&set=fp.609999670.647235079&type=1&theater

[Kalyasi]

Scale, it could be Pradeep's singing..he sings nonchalantly..do check his album Yodhakaa with drummer Siva.

Defly wizzy his voice is a big plus... amazing and refreshing... Santhosh compose pannara 75% of the songs(engaloda local ones ellame) paadi irukarathu Pradeep thaan...

intha paatu kooda kelunga, paadunathu pradeep thaan...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=APCoEoRzHoc#!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YTLu8K2nxk&feature=related

[Scale]

Kalyasi,

By your own words those 3 gana's and the gana-naathan's belongs to the composer's troupe/band. Right?!

Wizzy,

Acquiring composing credits in this fashion has been an age-old custom in our industry. Surprised to see that's so blatant in a debutant work, Attakathi alone!

[Kalyasi]

Kalyasi,

By your own words those 3 gana's and the gana-naathan's belongs to the composer's troupe/band. Right?!

Wizzy,

Acquiring composing credits in this fashion has been an age-old custom in our industry. Surprised to see that's so blatant in a debutant work, Attakathi alone!

Yes...

[Siv.S]

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/425931_289554017770286_157956920929997_801714_2092 594495_n.jpg

[balaajee]

'அட்டகத்தி' படத்தின் மொத்த உரிமையை ஸ்டூடியோ க்ரீன் நிறுவனம் வாங்கி இருக்கிறது. விரைவில் அப்படத்தினை வெளியிட இருக்கிறார்கள்.

[gurusaravanan]

lookiing forward..

[gurusaravanan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwTwuCEdE-s&feature=player_embedded

[P_R]

ungaL karuththu?

[Kalyasi]

Reviews so far

http://behindwoods.com/tamil-movie-reviews/reviews-2/aug-12-03/attakathi-review.html

http://www.sify.com/movies/tamil/review.php?id=15005447&ctid=5&cid=2429

http://www.in.com/news/entertainment/review-attakathi-50133474-in-1.html

Looks like they all have rated it above average

Makkal karuthu romba mukkiyam...

[gurusaravanan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsMoZ5XO2xU&feature=youtu.be

[gurusaravanan]

liked attakathi...good time pass movie :) route thala rox:)

[srimal]

அட்டகத்தி - கொஞ்சம் மொட்டை கத்தி

but வித்யாசமான படம்... கண்டிப்பா ஒரு தபா பாக்கலாம் .. ஹீரோ வா வந்த பையன் கொஞ்சம் நல்லாவே நடிச்சிருக்கான் ... hopefully a good replacement for Vimal..

[srimal]

yosichu partha ... padam nallave irundhadhu... it has some wonderful moments...

i loved it that despite being a youth movie, there was no boozing or smoking.... actually appa character who is a drunkard, warns him not to drink...

kadhalai romba seriousaa edhuthukkadha kadhal padam... so many cliche moments - oru thalai ragam parthu thaan hero vukku love failure feel varum and the i love u in blood :D

innum konjam fast aa pace pannirukkalaam, but a really good effort !!

[Kalyasi]

Padam Nalla Irukku!!

[jaiganes]

அட்டகத்தி - கொஞ்சம் மொட்டை கத்தி

but வித்யாசமான படம்... கண்டிப்பா ஒரு தபா பாக்கலாம் .. ஹீரோ வா வந்த பையன் கொஞ்சம் நல்லாவே நடிச்சிருக்கான் ... hopefully a good replacement for Vimal..
kamal rajini indha maadhiri vayasaanavangalayellaam replace panniyaachaa? sollave illa..

[srimal]

kamal rajini indha maadhiri vayasaanavangalayellaam replace panniyaachaa? sollave illa..

payyan range avlo thaan nu solla vanthaen.. :D not so good looking - and konjam nadikka therinjirukku.... dont feel he will make it big

[Madhu Sree]

padam ok kind... paakkalaam..

herova enakku pudichirukku :oops: acting iyalbaa varudhu...
Heroines-um ok... oho nu solla onnum illa padathula, second half izhuvai... but oru changekku timepassku paakkalaam... :)

[Arvind Srinivasan]

Liked the movie. Even though the movie was predictable, there were some really nice moments all through. The hero, Dinesh has really performed well. Quite natural throughout, he really brought out of the character well. Another notable performance was from the guy who played the hero's dad.The girls were good too. But just found the climax to be a tad too predictable for comfort. Overall quite a decent watch.

[19thmay]

Not bad, second half is dragging. Certain scenes were too good and hilarious. Hero is good, so as the director. Chennai-28 slang nallave adikudhu.

[LihDacRurdy]

NON STOP COMEDY:cool2:

[LihDacRurdy]

Naanum oru ROUTE THALA PA:-D

[geno]

Pretty Good!. Evoked a lottt of memories! kuRippA purasaiwalkam MCTM Revathi-kaka appO pasanga , Tank Bus stop-la adicha koothukaL and stuff!

Dinesh konjam muyarchi pannA nallA varuvApla. Definitely Better than Vimal (Im biased Probably coz he did this chennai-based movie!)

[19thmay]

Vimal nadicha Ishtam-nu oru padam mudinja paarunga adhukappuram Vimal-naale eGiri oduveenga.

[Senareb]

Vimal nadicha Ishtam-nu oru padam mudinja paarunga adhukappuram Vimal-naale eGiri oduveenga.

i watched sri... nalla oru comedy movie.. :rotfl:

[kid-glove]

Attakathi

- Seamless performances & well controlled mood/tone makes it one of the rare functioning plot-less 'hang out' flicks in TFI..
- Nice musical choices to get 'attakathi' tone without a pitch high or less
- Got the changeover of youth of that period well. The early Alaipayuthey/Ajith-Vijay, then the brief interlude of Gilli/Mounam Pesudhey 'geththu' attempts, then once again, undoing it back to that.
- The film is concious of its tribute(s) to Vijay from predominant 'lous' phase to Gilli, with lyrics, posters or what have you. The ending however is the kind of swipe at 'Shahjahan' I would gladly welcome.. About time too.
- For once, woman not functioning for the male protagonist. Nor is it reduced in to a Mounam PesiyadhE. One of life's big mystery is how post-2000 TFI reward characters like Surya's, rugged behaviour where they're quick to insult and look down.. behave like they're 'so geththu' (without being truly challenged or punctured, with convenience by filmmakers).. behave in a 'arrogant' way.. More likely to turn off women for meaningful relationships.
- A consensual fling in the bus sets a false guilt trap, without having to sermonize or censure that heavily, public indecency aside, it doesn't really make or break things
- For most part, nice set-ups of the period.. except Share Auto (was it a concept of 2000-02 Chennai/Kancheepuram/Chengalpet villages)
- The detailing of the early 00 phase with no Cell phones or head phones, when people actually had to look up, see each other, hear each other out, crack jokes, the songs to get through the elaborate journey and general mundaneness of life. from having to be forced into watching TV shows when women get to swear at the conniving Male twunts. Then the college phase, share auto & then cell phones were OK. (2002 still early, but we had that Reliance 500 offer break out on a mass scale)
- They've been careful to turn on its head, the domestic violence of Kalavaani (which might be more honest but was it right, I'll leave it you), they get the mother of the girl to lash out the broomstick, and the male lead's mother here is pretty much the head of the household. Btw the husband's a riot without being out of ordinary.

[kid-glove]

Scale, sorry, but in reference to what I’d written, neenga engyo poitgeenga saar! Let me try to explain again.

By electronic music, what I essentially mean is the big umbrella of ‘electronic pop’ and the various sub-genres that took birth under it. To me, electronic pop killed the musician and created the ‘music star’. Here’s why I think so. We’ll need to go back a long way to elaborately lay out what I have in mind, so here's the warning for a long post ahead.

The first logical classification of music would be vocal and instrumental where the latter can be split further into string (guitar, violin, piano, etc), wind (flute, saxophone, trumpet, etc) and percussion (drums, tabla, mrudangam, etc). Back in the days of pure acoustic music (not electric or electronic support whatsoever), every musician/performer had to know his music - to sing/to play his instrument – which was the primary and mandatory requisite. Then came electric amplification. This just helped in increasing the volume, quite literally, and offered little help otherwise to the musicians. The electric guitar, that was the next big thing, was in a way, another form of sound amplification, and the required music skills didn’t change. One fine day someone discovered that the sound emanating from the guitar could be distorted and that made way for guitar ‘effects’ - patches and distortion types that made the guitar sound different. But again, this was just another ‘output modulation’. You couldn’t stand with an electric guitar in hand, clad in tight leather outfit sporting a flowing hairdo and expect the guitar to do everything. Nothing would happen. You had to know to play it, else we’d have had a million Hendrix and half a million Claptons by now. Parallelly, the piano saw similar developments as it morphed from its strings avtar to electronic form. But the early electronic keyboards were similar to the electric guitar with effects, wherein you could play the same instrument and make it sound different. But the keyboard advancement wouldn’t just stop there (unlike the guitar in which the electric guitar is still the most ‘latest’ variety even after 3 or 4 decades of its invention). Science gave us the ‘synthesizer’, the thing that was to change the course and dynamics of music thereafter. For the first time musicality took a beating and ‘sounds’ (as opposed to musical notes) started gaining importance. We’re still talking of the 60s and 70s. Musicians began exploring ways of incorporating these new sounds with their music. Think Floyd and the sounds of animals and cash registers. But this was more or less used as an add-on feature in addition to the guitars and drums and other instruments which was still their ‘main’ music. Floyd, though they might be famous for popularizing this culture, had the best of guitarists in the form of Gilmour and a top notch drummer in Mason. Their songs wouldn’t probably have stood the test of time with just the ‘sounds’ had it not been for the brilliant guitaring and singing in them. The other forms of music were yet to fully embrace this technology and genres like classical, jazz, rock, heavy metal still stuck to their respective conventional styles - just raw musical capabilities, many a times, combined with showmanship.

Come the 90s and this new wave of electronic pop took up centerstage. Synthesizers advanced further. Tribal drums - button 1, disco beat - button 2: ‘ready to eat’ packages of this sort started evolving. You didn’t need any real musical talent to run a show. If you could kinda manage your singing, you could pass off as a popstar because the rest was all synthesized music mostly. The band didn’t even need to have a guitarist or a drummer. The type of instruments didn't really matter - wind/string/percussion, they were all the same, just another button. The trend then spread like wildfire from then on till date. Technology has made people lazy and creating music is no longer reserved only for the musically talented. This democracy, like in digital photography, is fine at one level, for it gives many people a sense of achievement and makes them happy. But popularity taking on talent’s mantle is tragic in every sense. How many artists currently in the popular music scene are capable singers or instrumentalists? Auto-tune, voice modulation, packaged instrumental bits, loops, the list of facilities are endless. One just has to know how to use (as opposed to play) them, which is why every tom dick and harry today is a music star. Where is real musical talent in this? On the other hand, there still are talented musicians who take the effort to learn music and believe in giving non-gimmicky performances. Thanks to this, genres like classical and jazz have managed to retain most of its charm.

Coming to film music, how many of our composers/musicians nowadays are really musically talented or knowledgeable? To gauge a musician or composer’s talent, an easy indicator is his ability to play or effectively utilize instruments (that require musical ability to play) – classical instruments live Violin or Veenai or acoustic instruments like guitar/flutes/trumpets or percussions like acoustic drums or Indian drums. Take the Coke Studio concept for example. Most of the musicians there are really talented and they make/play similar kind of popular music. This is what I want our film music to progress towards. Recording these instruments and then tweaking their sound electronically is what your referring to. This isn’t really an issue, rather, it’s the previous stage that I’m talking about.

When I say acoustic, let me list some songs that I have in mind – cry cry ithna cry (jhoota hi sahi), kannadi nee (mangaatha), Roshini (admissions open). The effect and ‘feel’ of live/acoustic instruments in these songs, in my books, are unmatched by any synth sounds. Encouraging such songs/technique will help in breeding a musically talented and good quality environment. Digitalization of all aspects of composing/music making has resulted in dismal quality of music and musicians in the recent years. It is in dire hopelessness of the continuing and growing popularity of this trend that makes me condemn digitalization of music making/composition. And I will stick by my stand - digitalization be damned.

Great post

[kid-glove]

That last post by KV came to my mind, quite often, when I caught IR-porn on Jaya..