Raj Kumar – One of India’s Finest Singers

The late Kannada cinema icon Raj Kumar is widely known outside of Karnataka as the film personality who had grown to a stature such as to represent the Kannada culture. But what is not known is that he was an extremely talented singer. Its surprises me often that whenever someone discusses about Raj Kumar, his singing talent is hardly mentioned. In my opinion Raj Kumar excelled more in his singing than his acting. And I would certainly consider him to be one amongst the finest singers of Indian cinema.

Some of the memorable songs sung by Raj Kumar:

· Sadha Kannali …

· Hosa Baalina…

· Ide Raagadalli…

· Jeeva Hoovaagidhe…

· Nina nana Manavu…

· Haalu Jenu…(excellent rendition by the thespian in this song)

· Beladingalagi Baa…

· Anuraga Yennaithu Manaseke …

If there is one reason that I still at times tune into FM stations notwithstanding my dislike of them is just because to listen to Raj Kumar’s mellifluous voice.

Unreal Reality Shows

I have always maintained that the reality shows on television channels are not worth spending my time on. Whenever I come across such shows, particularly the ‘Big Boss’ kind that is on Indian television now, I feel that they insult my intelligence. And my views are strengthened more with the recent noise over the British television show the ‘Celebrity Big Brother’. I would switch over to watch Cartoon Network or switch off my TV rather than watching these stupid shows and the meaningless discussions about them on news channels.

No Man's Land

Last weekend I had a chance to watch the movie No Man's Land. The Hindi film Lagaan had lost the oscar for 'best foreign film' category to No Man's Land. Rightly so. No Man's Land deserved the oscar and other numerous awards that it had bagged.

A powerful movie showcasing brilliantly the futilty of war. The film brings out the hatredness among waring regions, the hypocrisy that prevails in the media, the uselessness of United Nations splendidly. The story is universal. Consider any war torn regions the film fits aptly everywhere. Appreciate the director's talent in narrating a sensitive story seriously and with great wit.

Do grab the DVD if you haven't watched No Man's Land yet.

FM Radio

Many new FM Radio stations have come on air in Bangalore in recent past. I believe this is the case in many other metros in India. Radio listeners will have many choices now. But I have found them wanting. The talk of the radio jockeys leaves lot to be desired. To listen to a good song I will have to bear senseless chattering of the hosts, ads lacking in creativity and many songs of not my liking. The most irritating is the lack of sense in the talks of the hosts. This is more so if two or more are conducting the show. And I can’t understand why a radio jockey should repeat a catch line of the radio station a hundred times every minute. It’s painful to ears to listen to same wordings again and again. Add to this the listeners interacting with the hosts and sending SMS. The hosts will have to keep repeating the numbers to dial in and message. All this makes me to avoid the FM radios particularly when I am traveling and switch on my iPod which is loaded with songs and podcasts of my preferences. I do agree there are shows which are worth listening but those are few and far between. I can enjoy songs with my iPod sans all things that are boring with the FM radio stations. I hope the quality of shows improves, given the powerful media that it is, with people at all levels of society listening to it, imagine how effective the FM radios would be in bringing about a useful change.

Indian Cricket and Fighting Spirit

Rohit Brijnath is one sports columnist whose writing I follow keenly. He writes for The Hindu regularly. Be it Cricket, Athletics, Tennis or any other sport, he writes with great élan. Read his comments on the recent slump of Indian Cricket here.

"Fighting is many things. It is the constant warding off of impatience. It is battling the waistline. It is the honest struggle to lift personal standards. It is the desperate hanging on to concentration…Part of the contest of sport is not with opponent, but with the self, the ability to find faith and courage when the hands quiver. Furthermore the great player separates himself from the pack because he asks more from himself than others do"

Indian Cricketers should learn from their mistakes and others else they could well forget about the World Cup.

Post Cards from Hong Kong

more will be uploaded in flickr soon

Hong Kong!

I was in Hong Kong last week on a work related assignment. Being on my first visit to any foreign land, it was quite an experience. The city is beautiful, densely populated with numerous high raise buildings. It surprises me on how a city could be so clean notwithstanding its dense population. The attitude of people does matter not just of the authorities, isn’t? I had no difficulty in moving around the city. The city is very well organized to give the visitor knowing English a pleasant stay. But I being a vegetarian who refrains from egg as well it was a tough time. I couldn’t find even a single Indian style restaurant in the commercial hub of the city where I stayed. Nor was I able to spot many Indians, residential or as visitors.

Hong Kong is methodical in contrast to the city in which I live. The Bangalore authorities are planning to establish a metro rail system in the city. It would be many years before Bangaloreans could see metro rail system as good as it is in Hong Kong. Having traveled in the Bangalore city buses regularly I found the metro rail system in Hong Kong too could to be true! The city is costly as well. And it’s a shopping paradise. If you have got the money then Hong Kong should be one city that you would love to be in. In the next post I shall publish some more of photos that was taken during my stay in Hong Kong.

Question

Read the following question in the Last Word column of New Scientist :

Is it true that if the Earth's atmosphere extended all the way to the sun, then the noise the sun makes would deafen us all? How much sound energy does the sun create? And what other effects would manifest themselves?

Pat Morgan, Greenock, Renfrewshire, UK

Interesting question I felt. I think the answer is yes. The Sun sound would deafen us all.

Blogging

It’s been a little more than a year since I started this blog. The frequencies of my posts over the last few months have been very minimal. Though my preoccupation with my work could be one reason, the fact that I didn’t have anything useful to say should also be factored in. I do not wish to continue in this fashion lest this blog should appear as inactive and lose it tiny readership base that it might have! I shall be updating this blog as often as possible, of course with information that would make sense to its readers. I should be posting regularly and with more verbose if the blog title Prabhu’s Literature should make any sense.

Cricket

Only West Indies can lose a game like this!

Wake Up

The day's begun, the sun has sprung,
My shingle on the door is hung.
So work I must, without disgust,
Lest my bank account should gather dust.

- By Bill Cameron

Busy with my work of late, hence my blog is gathering dust!

The Meaningless IIFA Awards

Read here an article commenting on the hypocrisy of the Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards.

Excerpts from the article:

"Indian cinema is not just Bollywood, and Hindi is not the only language. Why should our films be called South Indian cinema instead of being under the banner of Indian films?" - Mammootty

…South Indians have won 14 out of 26 National Awards over that many years (Mammootty himself won it thrice, the Big B once, King Khan never) and that a significant number of Hindi films are remakes of successful South Indian films — Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam. And these include all old record-breaking Telugu and Tamil remakes. Remember those Jeetendra starrers?

Whether it's Chachi 420 or the more recent Hulchul: the modus operandi is to take an intelligent, riotous comedy with well-knit plot and great dialogues, all blended lightly. Whip it up to a thin fizz, add lots of noise, more songs, often more heroines, give it a hit-over-head quality taking care to remove the intelligence, and presto! you have the Hindi version.

I completely agree with the author of the article.

President's Bus Ride

As one of those who use the Bangalore metropolitan buses to commute to office and back home, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud seeing the cartoon in The Hindu edit page. Mr. President would find the bus ride much more adventurous than the Sukhoi and Submarine experience. Just see the smile on our President and plight of his security guard. Excellent cartoon.

The Beautiful Game

The World Championship of the beautiful game kicks off today! Forget about the ongoing Test Cricket series between India and West Indies and get ready to enjoy the live actions from Germany. Except for the most prominent teams and few players I am not aware of the any thing else about the World Cup. But I don’t care. Watching the matches would no doubt be bliss. When I was in school not a day would pass without my class not having played the game. In fact I have rarely played Cricket in my school. But after joining college for lack of opportunities to play football I had to rest my legs. With this World Cup I am going to revive all those memories of school days.

Quote

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

- Samuel Beckett

I Seek A Ban On...

Aamir Khan’s film Fanna is banned in Gujarat. The Da Vinci Code is banned in few states. Even I would like to seek a ban on the following things:

• Mega Serials - These are highly reprehensible.
• Tele-shopping shows - Nothing else can insult one’s intelligence as these shows.
• 24x7 News channels - Can’t imagine how low they have stooped of late.
• Shows on numerology, gemology and craps like that.

I have no opinions on the bans on Fanna and The Da Vinci Code but I strongly feel if all things that I have mentioned are banned, TV viewing can be much better.

The Da Vinci Code

There are many movies that are made based on a book. The Da Vinci Code must be the first movie that I have watched after reading the book upon which the film is based. Having appreciated the book I was bit skeptical that the cinematic version would be a let down, particularly after reading the reviews in media. But it was not. Though not as gripping and riveting as the book, the movie as well can be appreciated. I feel that presenting a literature in a cinematic form has it own limitation. By that thought I give The Da Vinci Code thumps up.

"Avian bird flu" joke

A bear, a lion and a chicken are talking about who is the hardest. The bear says, "When I roar the whole forest trembles." The lion says, "When I roar the whole jungle shakes with fear." The chicken says, "All I have to do is cough and the whole world runs for the hills."

Source: New Scientist

Short Stories

Hot Days Long Nights is an anthology of African short stories. The book is a collection of twenty-six stories by African writers. This book having published by the National Book Trust is priced at a very less price. The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Africa, sadly, is its backwardness. So while buying this book I thought the most of the stories would be about the plight of the Africans, particularly its women. And I was right. Most of the stories that I have read so far have been poignant. I believe the other sories as well would be as as much touching.

Rajkumar

Kannada matinee idol Rajkumar is no more. His death has left millions of his fans devastated.   More than as an actor I liked him as a singer. Rajkumar has sung number of memorable songs one of my favorites being the song 'Halu Jenu'. But the violence that occurred in Bangalore on the day of his funeral was most shocking. I would not accept those who were part of the violence as true fans of the thespian. It was some anti-social elements, which took advantage of the situation and caused trouble to people who cared for the actor. Other wise how can we explain the burning of buses and cars? Is it possible for people who are grief stricken to do such inhuman things? I don't think so. Ultimately it resulted in Rajkumar not receiving the kind of funeral he deserved. It was said that he would be provided a state funeral. But the scenes at his burial place said a different story. There were numerous fans at the funeral but I think he was buried like any other ordinary citizen. I truly felt very sad at the way the whole episode was carried out.
 
The other thing that I didn't like was the English news channels discussing why southern India is so much obsessed with film stars. I really don't appreciate the question. Idolizing someone is a characteristic that exists throughout the world in some form of the other.   It is the Bollywood stars that bring in major revenue to these news and the so-called lifestyle channels.  Salman Khan's arrest was breaking news, why? . While the English channels were covering the mob violence in Bangalore, the Hindi news channels were busy with Salman Khan's possible release from prison.   Were it not for people's interest in Bollywood, Salman Khan would not have occupied the front pages in newspapers and prime slots in electronic media. The difference is just that while the Bollywood stars endear themselves to people representing the elite class the southern stars endear themselves performing roles, which the common man who is not part of the elite can easily identify with. Nothing was more telling than the incident that occurred in a news channel. As the host was discussing the question of southern India's idol worship with a panel the news of Salman Khan reaching his home must have trickled in. The host immediately interrupted saying that Salman Khan has been released and has reached his home. "We bring you the live pictures from his residence…you can see the fans thronging his home."   It was thought that the news of Salman Khan reaching home was hot news and one should not miss it, anything else can wait. Oh, how I hated it!