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Writer Sujatha, in his column Katrathum Petrathum for Anandha Vikatan, remarks that it’s been 25 years since he and Kamalhassan had met first. He briefs about his recent chat with Kamal about the digital cinema happenings for Tamil films. Kamal’s latest movie Sandiyar, which is now put on hold due to the opposition from caste based politics, was supposed to be shot as a digital film only. Already P.C.Sriram, the ace cinematographer, is shooting his latest flick Vaanam Vasappadum as a digital film. This film is based on a Sujatha’s novel.

Kamalhassan’s forethought extends to a time when there would be many small cinema interest clubs, which will feature movies that are based on the common interest. And there wouldn’t be this normal formula of songs, comedy and fight into the same movie. Instead movies will become diversified by genre. And each genre of movies will cater to a small section of this large cinema-going crowd.

Kamalhassan who was recently in Cannes film festival had released few of his movies in Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) format. This format is becoming more popular in the west as it makes cinema watching a less tedious one. As he remembers, when the steady cam was introduced there weren’t many who were ready to use it. Steady cam, as we know is a camera that could be tied to one’s body and would help him to move around and film. This would make the shots more realistic when compared to a fixed camera. Kamal and Sujatha’s joint effort Vikram, which flopped in the box- office, was the first movie to use the steady cam technology. But now after those experimental films, every movie uses steady cam technology. He is very confident that similarly, digital films will also become the need to the day in near future.

Hostile Takeover:

Oracle, the second largest software maker , has launched a hostile takeover attack on <a href="http://www.peoplesoft.com&quot; target=new391PeopleSoft. The bid would roughly cost $5.1 billion for Oracle. Oracle is offering $16 cash per share for each share of PeopleSoft, a roughly 6 percent premium over PeopleSoft’s closing price last Thursday of $15.11. Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, made clear in a press meet that Oracle has no intention of keeping PeopleSoft alive as a separate brand, after the buy out.

On the other hand, PeopleSoft has made a deal to takeover its rival ERP software company, J.D. Edwards for $1.7 billion. The proposed combination of Peoplesoft and J.D. Edwards could increase competitive pressures on Oracle and ERP software market leader SAP.

Hostile bids in this IT business are unusal but not unheard of. Some eight years ago, IBM launched a hostile offer for Lotus Development that resulted in a $3.5 billion acquisition of the software maker.

So as things advance, it looks like, should the deal go through, PeopleSoft would takeover J.D.Edwards and PeopleSoft inturn takenover by Oracle. This combination of the Oracle + PeopleSoft + J.D.Edwards would result with an annual revenue of $2.8 billion for Oracle. Currently Oracle is just marginally ahead of PeopleSoft in marketshare by revenue. It has 13% of marketshare while PeopleSoft has 10% and J.D.Edwards is at 4%.

Being a PeopleSoft proffesional, I personally feel this would affect a lot of PeopleSoft professionals around the world and also the PeopleSoft customers. Even now, many of my onsite counterparts are skeptical and worried about the future of PeopleSoft. But some are sure this would be an anti-trust case against Oracle.

Here is an survey article that says the best invetion ever is ……toothbrush. Phew!!, you might think but MIT professor Merton Flemings is pretty exited to say this. Taking about inventions, he also says about Farnswoth who devoted his life to develop the basis of today’s television.

When asked him what if few people would argue that television is an invention that do great harm, he replied “With any good tool, you can do the wrong thing with it. [When I was a boy] there was a machine in the shoe store I could stand on, push a button and X-ray my feet. It was a terrible thing, but we didn’t know the danger back then.”

We had a similar dicussion on Kiruba‘s blog where I was pointing out that television isn’t a harmful invention and it just depends on how good we use it.

Couple of movies this weekend kept me busy.

One was Lesa Lesa, Priyadarshan‘s re-make of malyalam movie Summer in Bethlehem. The original Malayalam version had Mohanlal (played by Madhavan in Tamil) and Suresh Gopi (Shaam in Tamil). It is a perfect example of a movie with a good storyline but damaged by bad characterisation and very loose screenplay. Madhavan rocks the show with his powerful cameo performance like Karthik in Mouna Ragam. Trisha scores badly because her characterisation doesn’t keep up with the story. Its a heavy role like Revathy’s role in Mouna Ragam and is played very lightly by Trisha but with lot of new comer exuberance. As usual Thiru kalakks with his stunning cinematography. Every scene is framed immaculately. Except Ulaga Azagiye song there aren’t many innovative number by Harris Jayaraj. Finally, the movie can be re-named Promise Promise, for there are dozens of promises made back and forth in the movie.

Also watched a long overdue movie, Mr & Mrs Iyer. Aparna Sen‘s exceptional directorial skill amazes me. Rahul Bose, one of my most favourite actors since the TV series, Mouthful of Sky, continues with a simple-yet-relaistic performance. He is someone who is like Morgan Freeman whose acting couldn’t be distinguished from the movie. He is the best choice for this role. If this movie was to be shot a decade back it would have been Amol Balekar. Not many would attempt this role which needs a common man and not an actor. Konkona Sen, is an unexpected acting talent in the movie. Her performance as Meenakshi Iyer, goes much beyond the boundaries of a veteran actresses.

Ustad Zakir‘s background scores are a treat to ears while Gautam Ghose displays the artistic skills of Kolkatta cinedom. But a little disappointing point is the thin line of dramatic feeling that runs throughout the movie. Maybe for me who is accustomed to Mani Ratnam way of film-making, this spoon-feeding-the-viewer-with-expressions-that-could-have-been-sublime technique is slightly difficult to follow.

This morning was as fresh as Alai Payuthey Madhavan‘s leap to the sky. Watched Pachai Niramey for the nth time in Sun TV. nth time = number of days from the release of Alai Payuthey * 2. Arguably the best picturised song of AR Rahman and one of the best song of ARR and Mani Ratnam combination. Before Pachai Niramey‘s coming I would have argued it could be the Chandralekha song from Thiruda Thiruda. Even today Chandralekha is one of the outstanding songs in tamil cinema. Even if Mani wants to picturize a similar song it would be difficult for him, now. It is such a potent combination of extraordinary camera angles, awesome choreography and fresh vocals (rendered by Anuphama). My cousin couldn’t believe that the whole Chandralekha song was picturised in the Chennai museum located at the heart of Chennai.

Alai Payuthey by itself is such a engrossing movie. But Pachai Niramey clearly stands out. It could be said as a song with nearly no flaws. The picturisation glues with the tune and color combination is so pleasant that there isn’t any diminishing marginal utility funda with this song. Though there is a clear exaggeration of color and this has been achieved by the color grading. I had read in an interview of PC Sriram that he and Mani Ratnam took more than a couple of weeks for the color grading for this movie which is far from normal. The result is such a clean product that will stand over time.

Mani Ratnam loves the Taj Mahal. Not the usual way which others show and see. It is an angle that many haven’t even thought about. From Panni Vizhum Iravil in Mouna Raagam to Pachai Niramey in Alai Payuthey he has shown this tomb of love in some real exciting angles. In Mouna Raagam it was a nightly view with a long panning shot. It was mostly a backdrop for that song. But the most intresting angle was in Iruvar. Many haven’t even attempted to see the movie in theatre. In Iruvar’s Vennila Vennila (rendered by Asha Bhonsle) song when Aishwarya seduces Mohanlal, the camera shows a blurred green leaf and suddenly moves in a fast fashion opening up the Taj from the side angle. It is a very close angle where the viewer is suprised by the sudden appearance of Taj. Only someone of Mani’s caliber could think this shot. A similar backdrop of Taj is filmed in Pachai Niramey just as the last shot when Madhavan takes a huge leap among a maze of white clothes and taj forming the white backdrop for that shot. The whole shot lasts just for 4 seconds and it is real piece of class. And so I sipped my morning filter coffee watching Mani’s masterpiece.