Impressions and expressions

Some of my thoughts and feelings after listening to Rahman's latest offering "OK Bangaram" The most touching song in "OK bangaram" for me is " maula wa sallim " which apparently is a traditional Sufi song and so not a Rahman's tune. Rahman's young boy AR Ameen sings this song with such devotion and innocence that I can't help uttering - "God bless you beta, may you shine like your father!" I am big fan of Rahman's classical-based compositions and “Ok Bangaram” has 2 such songs - " edo adagana " and " manase tiyaga ". The tunes sound somewhat familiar but nevertheless good. Chitra does a splendid job in "manase tiyaga" though her voice shows some age. One crib I have in this song is that Sirivennela uses the word "trishna" in the pallavi which sounds too strong and disturbs the soft feel of the tune.  Singer "Shasha Tirupathi" (I am hearing her for the first time) does ...

  I saw ZNMD few weeks back and liked it. I read some reviews that made comments on the actors' performance and tried to compare the movie with " Dil Chahta Hai ". All this is quite unnecessary, if we realize that we can appreciate something only by experiencing it all by itself and not in comparison with something else. Most people dislike message oriented movies, especially if the message is delivered in a preachy manner. "Hi, cut all this crap. Give me something entertaining" is the attitude. We are so filled with our ego that it does not like if someone tries to teach things. So this movie chose the right approach of conveying the message in a subtle and mild manner. The message, as I understood, is - " Banish all fear. Live your life to the fullest ." Let us think about this. Fear is a popular word in the spiritual/philosophical circles. The great sage Vivekananda often said that the message of Vedas and Upanishads is - " Be fearless ...