Magalirkkaga tamil movie review

Average entertainer.  It has a host of 'star' actresses - Khushboo, Vindhya, Ambika, Kovai Sarala.  The story is set in a women-only police station.  Vindhya is a conscientious constable who also takes tuitions in her spare time.  Ambika and Kovai Sarala know the ropes of the station better and keep the atmosphere lively and going.  Khushboo is the head constable whose principles interfere with her neatly mapped personal life and predictably she chooses her principles over any other temptation.

The comedy of Kovai Sarala and Vadivelu enlivens the movie.  Apart from the comedy track everything else seems clichéd - plotting villains, righteous cops, songs etc.

 

Vaidehi Kathirundal Tamil movie review

Vijaykanth and Revathi play the lead roles in this 1984 movie.

    Revathi plays the role of young widow named Vaidehi and Vijaykanth is a recluse whose nightly songs soothe the entire village but no one knows his story.  He scratches her name in the temple walls which intrigue the villagers and they start to speculate if the two (hero and heroine) have any connection. 
    That's when Vijaykanth narrates his tragic story to her - his beloved's name is Vaidehi too.  'Do not jump to conclusions' is one moral viewers can probably learn from her avoidable death.  This Vaidehi too opens up her history to him too, of how she came to suffer this fate at such a young age. 
    Meanwhile love blossoms between two youngsters - a new arrival to the village and a rowdy's (Radharavi's) sister.  By some circumstance the new arrival (who ends up working at a ration shop) stays with Revathy and her dad; and quite inadvertly the new person gives the idea that he may be interested in marrying Revathy.  The dad is quite enthusiastic about the prospect of a new lease of life for his daughter.  I think that it is in poor taste that the new person calls Revathy to a secluded spot just to seek help for his love which Radharavi is dead against.
   The pathos of all the primary characters forms the rest of the story.
Goundamani as 'All in all Azhaguraja' makes quite an impression which has in fact been considered as iconic.
    The music of Ilaiyaraja deserves another laudable mention.  'Indraikku yen intha' in Abhogi ragam is mesmerizing and refreshing.
 

Chinna Thambi Periya Thambi Movie review

Two heroes - Satyaraj and Prabhu - are big brother and little brother respectively being brought up by their widowed mother, Gandhimathi.  They are a happy go lucky pair and the way in which they cheat a restaurant owner without paying up and in fact destroying his eatery is quite hilarious.  Nadiya is the heroine, she is their niece; inspite of the availability of 'murai maamans' she is betrothed to another wealthy person because her parents are well off and do not want their daughter to be married to either of the brothers because they are simple village folk and not rich.  At this point I was quite curious because here are the heroes and here is the heroine but she is not going to be married to either seemed to defeat the purpose of the movie.  Hmm... 

 

Naturally both Prabhu and Satyaraj are disappointed, more so is Gandhimathi; she is irked by their arrogance to overlook close relations.  After all who would come to rescue in times of dire need, but close kith and kin.  Her sentiments prove true when due to unexpected tragedy Nadia is orphaned and her grandmother takes her in when she has no where else to go, but now she does not hold any grudge against the girl and takes care of her affectionately.  She too for her part, in spite of her luxurious up bringing does chores around the home and makes herself useful.  She also tries to take up a job to supplement the family income but in that small town there are little or no opportunities suitable for an educated girl like her. 

 

Sudha Chandran a young widow who lives with her unmarried older brother is their neighbour.  Sudha well depicts the anguishes of a girl widowed at a very young age without ever having lived a happy bride.  She has to change from her wedding silks to the widows' white sari almost immediately because her wedded life has been extremely short lived. 

 

Will either of the brothers marry Nadia?  And is the movie going to depict either of the brothers giving a new lease of life to an innocent young widow?  are some of the questions answered if you watch this movie.

 

Some laughs in the first half of the movie, the second half is more serious. 

How to Cut your Grocery bill in half by Steve and Annette Economides - book review

     When I saw the title of the book ' Cut your grocery bill in half'  I was intrigued, since I am a  avid couponing enthusiast and generally love to save some green stuff!  I thought this was going to be another book teaching its readers the nitty gritty of couponing - where to find great coupons, how to look for sales in stores etc etc

     The first point these folks (authors Steve and Annette Economides) drive home is the once a month grocery trip.  Okay something that I had not heard of.  I have heard coupon savvy folks like to go once a week to all stores in the vicinity which offer nice sales.  ( Some of them even do not mind hitting stores early in the morning when sales have just begun)  And on this once a month trip you tally the store sales with your menu plan for that month.  That's another sensible thing - planning out your menu for a month or even a week would be a good start for beginners like me  - that way your are in control of what you eat and there is some drastic drop in unplanned restaurant visits or take outs late in the week. 

    In this book couponing is just a chapter among ten other vital topics on how you can cut your grocery bill in half.  The authors have given ample pointers on all aspects of food consumption - planning menus, how to buy meat, produce, cooking once a month or even a week to save time, gardening, how to store all the stuff that you have bought with care - because throwing out stuff just because it was not stored in optimum conditions just defeats the purpose, right? 

    Well, here I have just mentioned a glimpse of what the authors have talked about in their book - they have covered all related topics right from how you can bring around picky eaters (adults or children), what are essential tools in the kitchen, the list just goes on.  Its almost like an encyclopedia of all things food related!  This book to me seemed like the westernized version of the popular book 'Cook and See'  by Meenakshi Ammal which almost all brides in Tamil Nadu (India) are gifted with during their wedding.  Not only does it have recipes starting from the simplest to the most complicated (you could even cook for a wedding based on the pointers in that book) and everything in between. This book by Meenakshi Ammal has been looked upon like an elder's presence and benign advice, especially for brides who have to go far away from home to start their family life.  This book by the Economides could certainly draw that parallel for people who are new to this country and/or do not have many friends to share information with. 

    The gardening chapter came as quite a surprising addition to this book.

    The narration is very enthusiastic and inspires the readers to take some positive steps towards managing your food budget as well as being in control of what you eat.  And another thing I like about this book is in almost all aspects of planning and execution the entire family could be involved - even the kids.  If only one family member were to take up the burden of planning out, go grocery shopping, or cook for one month at a time, it could get tiresome, but if the entire family is involved - even kids doing their age appropriate tasks like clipping coupons, helping with cleaning up and storage of food, and ultimately the family having dinner together most times of the week would certainly increase familial bonds; that itself is no mean feat in this fast paced world.

   

 

 

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Kizhakku Vasal - Tamil movie review

Another movie with an innocent village singer as the hero, in this case Karthik.  Manorama is his widowed mother and Chinni Jayanth, an orphan but adopted by Manorama as her first son. 

The village head's daughter Khushboo takes Karthik for many a ride but he does not mind any of it - except for one particular jovial word from her, that she wishes to marry him.  Believing it to be real he sends his mother to formally ask for her hand in marriage which is a fatal mistake for Manorama and alters the course of the story. 

Meanwhile new entrant in the village Revathi with her escort Janakaraj intrigues all.  She is the special guest of the village head and everyone keeps their distance from her, except for Karthik who moves with her quite casually and she too takes to his child like ways.

Things move fast after Khushboo's wedding is arranged with someone else and Karthik is invited to sing for the wedding ceremony.  He has forgiven her but her conscience troubles her.  Meanwhile the village head's (Vijayakumar's) pressure on Revathy to be submissive mounts and unexpectedly Karthik rescues her by placing the kumkum in her forehead symbolizing their union.   So in the end there is poetic justice.

The music is great; makes you hum the tunes.  Overall nice entertainer.  I am sure this movie has been an important landmark in all the main actors careers.  Chinni Jayanth's innocence is very endearing.  One particular dialogue of Karthik's that I like is when he says his hut has all the facilities for the new bride (Khushboo).  They say contentment is the biggest wealth and in that sense Karthik is the richest guy even though he may live in a hut, taking alms from the villagers for his survival.

 

Chinna thambi - movie review

         Prabhu as Chinna Thambi and Khushboo are the heroes in this village based theme.  The scenery is lovely and the music is very good too.  A nice entertainer if you can tolerate the extreme thali sentiment.  I say entertainer because for the three hours of watching this movie you have to be prepared to buy into the unrealistic bringing up of the heroine which has propelled her to marry the first guy, who is not her brother, that she has access to.  The hero of course is the epitome of innocence since he does not even know what a marriage means but otherwise he is the perfect hero - he can sing well, he can fight well, has his heart in the right place etc.

 

         The villains in this movie are Khushboo's over protective brothers who obviously cannot tolerate this bumpkin to be her suitor.  So they wreak vengeance in a very unique way - by pouring colored water, then applying kumkum then adorning flowers on the long widowed mother of Chinna Thambi, Manorama.  He is about to tie the thali (again thali sentiment) when Chinna Thambi promptly rescues her from that predicament.  As Radharavi, the villain hovers with the thali, my mind works fast, is this movie going to end like Apurva Ragangal movie?  So if Radharavi, Khushboo's brother marries Prabhu's mom and becomes his father is he rendering the possibility of marriage impossible?  And what would happen to his wife Sulakshana?  Thankfully putting an end to all my surmises Prabhu jumps in and saves his mother from further insults! 

 

     And all ends well when the villains repent for their deeds and decide to get their sister (re)married with her lover.  (She had already married him in secrecy - in fact Prabhu himself did not know that he was making her his wife by tying the thali around her neck!!!)