Aaranya Kaandam - a delicious treat of a film

I finally got to see Aaranya Kaandam today. And it made me smile. Nay, grin. Not all through. But at the very end, very definitely. And also through a lot of parts along the way. Quite a few laugh out loud moments as well. It wasn't all love though. I found myself puzzled and confused about where it was going and even how I felt about it as I was watching it, but it all came together eventually and the lingering note was yum.

Lip-smackingly good also was another tamil movie I'd heard a lot about and only just got to watch recentishly - Jigathanda. Contrary to my Aaranya Kaandam experience, however, that film had me in thrall almost right from the word go and never let up its iron hold over me until the intermission (and boy what a stunning sequence the one before said intermission is!). I was quite enraptured with it till that point. What followed was, admittedly, a bit of a let-down though still very good. That it wasn't nearly as interesting on second viewing speaks to how much the film hung on its twists to hold one's interest.

I suspect that Aaranya Kaandam will be unlike Jigarthanda and actually reward a second (and possibly more) viewing(s). Yes, it had its twists too. Or perhaps, surprises is the better word. But it's not only from them that its yumminess derives.

I really do have to watch it again. For one, I saw it on DD National (let me here express my gratitude for their Best of Indian cinema showings every Sunday and Monday nights that've given me the chance to watch so many good films I would never even have heard about otherwise..with subtitles!) and the cuts/bleeps seemed both extensive and excessive. And thankful as I am for the subtitles when watching a film in a language I don't know (at all or very well), they are rather distracting when it's a tamil movie because my brain keeps insisting on checking their accuracy and takes me out of the film. But even putting those issues aside, this is the kind of film that demands repeated viewings by its very nature. So much stuff to mine. So much deliciousness. Ah! 

So long, and thanks for all the notes

If there's one thing I'll most definitely miss when I move back home, it's the live music. I guess I'll find some even there, but I doubt it'll be anywhere near what I've had the chance to experience here in the U.S. The sheer variety and quantity astounds me when I think back. Even living in middle of nowhere America, I managed to average about 20-30 shows a year, from genres ranging the entire spectrum pretty much. And I've only ever been disappointed once or twice in all that time.

I really wish I could've squeezed in more shows these final few months. But sadly, winter slows things down and there's been a dearth of live music. I did make it a point to visit New Orleans last week though, as one final trip inside this country before I bid it adieu. Went to no less than 9 shows in 4 days, and 4 weekdays at that! So much music. Highlights were Mike Dillon going wild, Helen Gillet being reliably awesome, and the Preservation Hall band's jaw-dropping jazz.

I thought that was the last of it for me since I leave in 3 weeks. But I just found out, to my uncontrollable excitement (hence this post after the long hiatus), that one of the best bands I discovered last year is playing in Chicago mere days before I fly out from there! I refer to Good Willsmith, of course. As it turned out, there was much more awesome music left for me to uncover last year after that discovery. Yet, if I had to pick one defining record that captured my imagination and, in a sense was the theme for my 2014 musically, it would have to be The Honeymoon Workbook. It was the record that reignited my passion for music and got me drinking in all I could. I really wanted to try and see them last year, but couldn't make it happen (I even passed through the same city they were playing in, only a few hours too soon). So I'm extremely thrilled to have this chance to see them again. And they're not just playing on their own. It looks like there will be other artists from and/or related to their Hausu Mountain label. This is going to be so awesome. I can't fucking wait.

It will be the perfect note to say farewell for the present to a country that has amply fed my appetite for that very special experience of live music. So long, and thanks for all the notes.

Sort of unrelated (or only obliquely related, since I just noticed that the post I linked to above about GWS also has an eerily similar unrelated note) - AMT just started following me on twitter. Like just now, right before I started writing this post. How weird is that. Also, whoa! I mean, AMT is THE live music band, and here I am thinking about writing about live music, and BAM! I have a new follower and it's them! Freaky. o_O

Haider

What an ambitious adaptation of Hamlet! Worth every second of the scary 45 min drive it took to watch the first day first show of this amazing movie. I was enthralled from start to finish except for a minor misstep or two (only one that stands out in my memory is the odd placement of a song that broke the flow of the film). Some really really good performances. Kay Kay Menon and Irrfan Khan, of course. But also, Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor. Even the players of the smaller parts left an impression.

And then there was Tabu. She owned the screen in every frame that she was in. It was simply impossible to keep my eyes off her when she was in a scene. If ever I take up acting, she's the one I'd aspire to be like. What an actress.

Visually and aurally too the movie was a treat. Especially the music. It lingered on in my head even after I walked out of the theater. That's usually a sure sign of a movie that got to me. This one sure did. I really hope I can watch it again on the big screen. Very seriously thinking about going back again next week right after (like driving straight from the airport) I get back home from a week-long trip. I hope the DVD comes out soon as well. Must have it.

Next up in my VB movie to-watch list: Maqbool and Omkara. Was having trouble finding copies of those here in the U.S. So looking forward to finally acquiring them when I go back home.

P.S.: Here's a review of Haider that does it justice, more justice by far than my meager words could do.

Kaminey

What a delicious rollercoaster this was! I knew going in that it would be good, but man. Shahid, I forgive you for all those godawful movies. Vishal Bhardwaj, this is what I expected from you. Not a confused, uncertain step here. This is the movie I should've watched first. Not 7 Khoon Maaf.

On the other hand, better save the best for last. Speaking of which, so so so looking forward to Haider tomorrow. First day, first show. Don't think I've ever done that for any film. Better sleep now so I don't oversleep and miss it.

Probably shouldn't have picked Kaminey to watch tonight. Hard to calm down after such a ride. *grin*

The Road Not Taken

Spooky coincidence decreed that I should hear this particular poem in Robert Frost's own voice yesterday -- hear it just as I find myself at a fork in my own life.

Initiative is the one thing none can accuse me of. A drifter if there ever was one. Nearly every major turn in my life happened by, well happenstance. I choose by inaction. I'm doing the same now, more or less. Will it turn out to be the road less traveled by? Probably not. But I want it to be. Why? Because I want to be special. Because I want something different. Because..

Naanum veezhven endru ninaithayo?

You know what, it doesn't even matter. The road will be interesting because if it isn't, I will find a way to make it so. Yes, I will.



(How did I get from Frost to Bharathi to fucking Linkin Park?!)

Panacea

As usual I found out about an awesome show at very short notice. The description on the facebook event page was very intriguing/tempting indeed -

"An evening on the cusp of oblivion. Why-Trance and Virtual Horns."

"Tarot influenced Ritualistic Unprotected Saxscapes:
Devil card has been selected for tonight."

"Zoned out psychedelic keyboard and "super-strong primitive percussion" for the haunted tropics of Beguiling Isles film collage."

"AUROGRAPH" - See here for why the name was enough to get my attention in this instance

"ALL MUSICIANS WILL COMBINE FOR A FINAL FALLOUT."

-- only catch was that it was all happening tonight and I wasn't sure if I could handle another late night out. I'd already driven to the city three times in the last week, twice for music - two incredible shows which both deserve a few words in due course - and once to see The Shining in 35mm - one of the very few movies to have ever really fucked with my head. Even on the nights when I stayed in this week, I was up really late either spinning newly acquired records or reading old favourites. So I was quite beat. And yet I couldn't pass on this potentially awesome show either. I decided to try and take a quick nap after work and head over come what may.

As it turned out, I couldn't take my nap, but I didn't have to. My week/month/life suddenly opened up wide. I teetered on the edge for a while, but recovered my footing. One of the immediate positive effects of what at first came as a rude and awful shock was that I could stay up as late as I wanted tonight. I determined to go to the show and put everything else out of my mind for a bit.

Music, live music, has always been my go-to panacea. The most life-affirming experiences I've ever had were at concerts. Nothing can match a really great concert.

The show tonight was such a one.

I missed the first act, Quazar Bran - I really wished I hadn't when they joined in for the "final fallout" and I saw one of them playing a didgeridoo(!) and another playing an instrument I've never seen before (a flute shaped like a ghatam??). I bet their set was really good. I blame google maps for sending me around KC in circles.

I finally found the venue and walked in partway through Corum's set. "Zoned out pychedelic keyboard and super-strong primitive percussion" was right on the mark. There was also much incense and a flute(?) and some visuals projected behind him. I couldn't see much though because the smoke was blowing right into my eyes due to where I was standing. Not that I minded that too much. I end up closing my eyes involuntarily when the music is good anyway. And this sure was good. Could've listened to it for much much longer. I'd already been quite taken with the music on his bandcamp page and would have ordered it by now if not for..but nevermind that. Back to the show..

Next up was his co-conspirator from Million Brazilians - Suzanne Stone a.k.a White Gourd. She who drew the devil card (or Le Diable) and summoned him up with her eerie vocal loops and keys and sax. I particularly loved the note she ended on, with a loop that really stirred something up in me.

Aurograph went on last. Needless to say, they rocked. And grooved. And droned. And just tore shit up in general. My eyes were closed within 5 minutes and stayed that way until at some point I realized I was hearing more than one wind instrument, and it didn't seem like a loop either. I peeked to see what was going on, and lo and behold, the trio had turned into a quintet. Corum and Stone had joined them on stage and things got almost unbearably good. Nothing else existed outside of right there and right then.

They could've ended there, but they didn't. Oh no. They called up the Quazar Bran guys up as well and jammed on furiously. Eyes close again. Suddenly, I hear voices joining in the jam and they're coming from the audience direction, and then the stage, and back and forth.  Eyes open and what a sight. A lovely duet (is it still a duet if there are multiple voices harmonizing together on each end?) that goes on for some time that serves as the perfect end to a perfect evening.

I walk out grinning wide, ever so grateful to be alive.

Mindblowing psychedelia from Thailand

No words. Just a couple of links of awesomeness.

The blog post with the live video that started it all.

And the album that came/is coming out of it.