Movie Review - Syriana

Its not a new release, but if you are looking for a good dvd to watch, search
no further. Urgently narrated, intriguing, complex, relevant, and compelling - Syriana is arguably one of the best Hollywood movies of this decade, and also probably one of the most important.

I do not wish to give away any details of the story here, as it is a treat to watch the events unfold. The movie makers are daring enough to weave a complex web of geopolitical machinations. The storyline is punishingly complicated, but the intent seems to not be confusion - the movie makers simply want to communicate the fact that we live in a complex and completely interlinked world. Domino effects are inevitable, and every action sets off a terrifying chain reaction.

The casting is flawless. Christopher Plummer, Matt Damon and other known faces like Amanda Peet provide ample support. The characters portraying Prince Nasir and the young immigrant oil field worker also touch your heart with their heartfelt performances. And George Clooney? He is fantastic! Completely deglamourized (he added 30 pounds for the role), he slips into his character with consummate ease. Watch the movie just for him!

What to write?

There are many topics that I want to write about, current affairs mainly. However, I have resolutely decided to stay away from anything potentially partisan. This includes my musings about wars, the debate on stem cell research etc.etc..

And that explains my silence on the blog front (and of course, the insane workload). What will I write about? Movies? There is not a single Thamizh movie right now that is worth watching (my blog readers, i will be glad if you disagree with this, and suggest a few good movies for me!) Travel? There is not much variety to my trips up and down I-355. And that is why you see this blog meandering between the following three topics - food, music, and Madras nostalgia. I am desperately trying to break out of this rut....maybe books? gardening? home decor? Help!!!

The hottest song this summer

Well, if I have heard an english song, then it must be really really famous (because, as you know, its going to take me another 5 years just to finish discovering all the Ilayaraja songs)

Anyways, Hips dont lie by Shakira is super hot! Check this link out for the music video. The beats are racy, the hip hop sections (by Wyclef Jean) are cool, the lyrics are not great, but makes it all the more easier to sing along, and then Shakira....her dance movements make even Madhuri Dixit seem pale.. She does make a man wanna speak Spanish... The rest of the album is surprisingly ok, unlike many other albums that have exactly one good song.

Rediscovering Raaja jems

"People claim they are Illayaraja fans, but they just listen to Pani Vizhum malar vanam and Illaya nila pozhigiradhu..." - said Miss.Paranoid to me.

And she is right. I was in danger of falling into the Punnagai Mannan/Sindhu Bhairavi rut. I saved a few olden goldies to my mp3 player yesterday, and smiled all the way to work.

Check these songs out -

En jeevan paaduthu - Karthik and Saranya starred in this really weird movie. Basically, Karthik has a love failure, kills himself and becomes a ghost. Saranya discovers his diary, reads his story and sympathizes with him, and becomes friends with him (the ghost). Finally, she realizes she is in love with him, and many soulful Illayaraja songs later, she kills herself and the two ghosts live happily ever after. I cannot believe this...i actually watched the full movie and even remember every scene! Like my mom says, if i had paid this kind of attention to my books, i could have gone to Harvard!

Anyway, some songs are really good.

- Ore murai un dharisanam by S.Janaki captures the longing of a girl in love

- Katti vechuko un anbu manasa is too good - it has the catchy thavil beats. I think Deva copied this for Vaali, and in turn, the beats inspired Rehman for the Mayilirage song from Anbe aaruyire

- Engiruntho azhaikum - There are two versions. The male version seemed a little boring, and the female version is actually sung by Lata Mangeshkar. She sings it well, however, her accent is not easy on the ears at all (especially when it comes to words like "azhaikum"

Some other songs -

- Neela kuyile from Soorasamharam - This song is almost as good as Naan yenbathu nee allavo from the same album. The only jarring notes are from the background music between the charanams, and it was composed that way for the song picturization (the hero is going through some trauma after battling the bad guys and the heroine is helping him out). Chitra is soulful, and Arulmozhi (a singer who never got his due) is as good as SPB

- Medhuva medhuva from Anna nagar mudhal theru Chitra and SPB elevate this song with their crystal clear voices, despite the fairly trite lyrics.

That brings me to another topic. Ilayaraja never had the advantage of Vairamuthu's superb lyrics the way Rehman did. That gives me enough material for the next blog post.

Great Kathiawadi food at the Village Hut

Just yesterday, my husband and I were lamenting the lack of good vegetarian indian restaurants in the Chicagoland area. After some googling and a helpful friend's recommendation, we went to the Village hut at Glendale heights for lunch. Well, I know that most of my blog readers do not live near Chicago, but I wanted to write this article because of the superb cuisine. And I am hoping to inspire you into hunting for the closest Kathiawadi restaurant near where you live.

We were not given a menu. Instead, the restaurant owner, after ascertaining that we were first-timers, decided that we should go for the Kathiawadi style lunch. The food was awesome. We were given a big jug of Chas (buttermilk flavored with cumin and chilli powder) and papads for starters. The appetizers were regular vadas and something like a cross between dhoklas and dosais.

Now on to the main course - we were served a wide variety of curries, dhal, kadhi and bajra rotis. The unique aspect of Rajasthani and Gujarathi cuisine is the simplicity of the recipes. There are very few ingredients used, and no heavy masalas or rich tomato gravies. And absolutely no cream in the dishes (something desi restaurants are notorious for). My favorite was the patra curry - colocasia leaves stuffed with a besan filling and steamed and then made into a curry. We finished the meal with a decadent walnut-milk-something. My next project? To try and start cooking Kathiawadi food at home.

Chilli curry

I am discovering the joys of gardening. It has been really hot for the past few weeks, and the plants on my deck are growing wild! The weather has been really kind, every week has had alternating rainy and sunny days.

I bought a little "mariachi pepper" plant in spring, and dumped it in a pot and forgot about it. This beautiful plant is now almost too big for it's pot. I had to pluck the peppers as they were almost too heavy for the plant.

I really wanted to make molaga bajji, but my health conscious husband vetoed the idea. So, I used the peppers in my other favorite recipe - Mirch ka salan. If you have not tried this recipe, you do not know what you are missing! This is the perfect dish - it has an unusual combination of mughlai, north indian, and south indian flavors, and is both hot and sweet. Hemant Trivedi's cookery corner has the best recipe for this dish. I recommend you follow every instruction (i skipped the peanuts as I am allergic). You can use any kind of green chilli, or even bell peppers for this dish. Check out the other recipes on his website as well - the udipi sambar really has the hotel sambar taste.

My photo blog

For a precious few months in the year, everything is green in the midwest. Check out my new photo page on flickr. Here is the link. An easy way to view the pictures is to click on one of the photo sets, to the right of this page (i have two sets currently). Click on "all sizes" to save a full size image to your pc.