Well, we've all been there. We've put in everything we can in our resumes to make sure companies take notice and hire us / invite us over for an interview....but there's one thing i'd definitely like to do.... put a set of goofy qualifications on my resume and watch as good company representatives stare back at me when i visit their career fair booths, all suited and booted. Here's a couple of them...no particular order.. though u can tell me which one u liked the most...!! :)
11. Can work well under pressure - Can sit without tapping nervously on steering wheel when pulled over by Cop
10. Can effectively multitask - Can have YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and several other tabs open and not miss a beat
9. Can handle large volumes of information - Can watch 63 episodes of Family Guy in one evening.
8. Has a penchant for time management - Wrote blog, ate bag of chips and watched 10 more episodes while preparing for this career fair....
7. Has strong interpersonal skills - Have 433 friends on Facebook, 1600 friends on Orkut and another 200 follwers on twitter. Many of them 'like' what i put up.
6. Has work experience - Was once offered $2 to buy neighbour-lady pickles from Meijer
5. Is a team player - Always has bunch of cronies to go to bars with
4. Has effective conflict resolution skills - Smashed martini glass onto barkeep's head to keep him from telling boucer that I scratched expletive on counter
3. Has good grades - what was the name of that website where you get free notes again?
2. Has effective communication skills - 'Expletive'
1. Needs job and will perform well in position offered - $20 taped to back of resume.
(Thanks for reading. Comment away!!)
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Assorted Laughs from Blogs that never made it
For every single post that I write on this blog..there's about six that i reject .....well..i know that sounds really cool-n-all (yes I do accept fan mail at my id..hate-mail too...just in case)...:|
I decided to make this mid month post as a collection of things that could've been awesome blog posts but never made it past the first few paragraphs.
The Origin of the Orange[Chicken]: I once started a post that talked about different versions of the fictitious (...hopefully) origin story for my favorite dish. Here's my favorite from those ideas...
"The Rajnikanth" is on a mission to the sun. He is so pissed that the weather in Chennai is so hot that he wraps the sun up in his jacket and throws it high up in the air...err..wait.. the sun is already in the air.. but thats ok.. Rajnikanth is a being of cosmic proportions..and the sun for him is just waist high...
...back to our story. Rajni throw is so powerful, the wrapped sun falls into an alternate dimension populated entirely by chickens....this causes annihilation of that entire dimension...
Regretting his inadvertant mistake Rajni restores that dimension with his mystical powers (he's rajni... he can do anything) and to pacify the chicken dimension and preventing them from invading ours. he creates a dish called ORANGE CHICKEN as a tribute to the chickens that lost their lives because of being hit by rajni's sun control jacket...and to this day he made sure that grad students worship that dish !
Things to do on a bus while waiting for a train: Well...those of us who still don't have cars still do a lot of this..especially if you travel to college from spartan village. Some of the on that list included
-- Screaming.."THATS MY BABY!" and pointing to the train track.
-- Switching on sound recording on the cell phone and having a loud monologue...try starting with.."Grad Student War Journal... Entry number 2203, June 16th..Surrounded in bus by foul smelling homo sapiens... supressing urge to puke..."
-- Making farting sound with lips and looking accusingly at sleepy grad student next to you...sniffing the air loudly.
-- Locking eyes with a member of the same sex while talking into the phone...watch them cringe..
-- Count number of coaches loudly with goofy numbers (hint: pi, e, infinity, C, X, Thetha)
-- Sleep
Halloween Costumes I'd like to see: I started this one but couldnt really go too far... any ideas on... what would you guys'd like to see ?
Grad Student -- 2 dollar blooper sweatshirt thats two sizes bigger thrown over cheap walmart pants. complete with laptop bag that looks like it hasnt been cleaned in ages...with accessories like the 5 dollar footlong, library book and headphones with ipod. can include mask of stubbled unkempt face.
80's Indian Government Employee -- Bajaj style 'open in front' helmet with black, shell framed glasses. Brown striped shirt non-tucked in, thick black moustache. Black trousers over bata hawai slippers with blue clasps. Clutches copy of the Indian Express or that brown economic times with a black oversized umbrella in the other hand.
(Thanks for reading. Comment away!)
I decided to make this mid month post as a collection of things that could've been awesome blog posts but never made it past the first few paragraphs.
The Origin of the Orange[Chicken]: I once started a post that talked about different versions of the fictitious (...hopefully) origin story for my favorite dish. Here's my favorite from those ideas...
"The Rajnikanth" is on a mission to the sun. He is so pissed that the weather in Chennai is so hot that he wraps the sun up in his jacket and throws it high up in the air...err..wait.. the sun is already in the air.. but thats ok.. Rajnikanth is a being of cosmic proportions..and the sun for him is just waist high...
...back to our story. Rajni throw is so powerful, the wrapped sun falls into an alternate dimension populated entirely by chickens....this causes annihilation of that entire dimension...
Regretting his inadvertant mistake Rajni restores that dimension with his mystical powers (he's rajni... he can do anything) and to pacify the chicken dimension and preventing them from invading ours. he creates a dish called ORANGE CHICKEN as a tribute to the chickens that lost their lives because of being hit by rajni's sun control jacket...and to this day he made sure that grad students worship that dish !
Things to do on a bus while waiting for a train: Well...those of us who still don't have cars still do a lot of this..especially if you travel to college from spartan village. Some of the on that list included
-- Screaming.."THATS MY BABY!" and pointing to the train track.
-- Switching on sound recording on the cell phone and having a loud monologue...try starting with.."Grad Student War Journal... Entry number 2203, June 16th..Surrounded in bus by foul smelling homo sapiens... supressing urge to puke..."
-- Making farting sound with lips and looking accusingly at sleepy grad student next to you...sniffing the air loudly.
-- Locking eyes with a member of the same sex while talking into the phone...watch them cringe..
-- Count number of coaches loudly with goofy numbers (hint: pi, e, infinity, C, X, Thetha)
-- Sleep
Halloween Costumes I'd like to see: I started this one but couldnt really go too far... any ideas on... what would you guys'd like to see ?
Grad Student -- 2 dollar blooper sweatshirt thats two sizes bigger thrown over cheap walmart pants. complete with laptop bag that looks like it hasnt been cleaned in ages...with accessories like the 5 dollar footlong, library book and headphones with ipod. can include mask of stubbled unkempt face.
80's Indian Government Employee -- Bajaj style 'open in front' helmet with black, shell framed glasses. Brown striped shirt non-tucked in, thick black moustache. Black trousers over bata hawai slippers with blue clasps. Clutches copy of the Indian Express or that brown economic times with a black oversized umbrella in the other hand.
(Thanks for reading. Comment away!)
Monday, October 5, 2009
The Taxonomy of The Status Message
I know I haven't blogged in a while, but that's mainly because I've been doing a lot of other writing (short stories, movie scripts, sci fi novels..... and i already see you groaning and saying.."yeah right")...
A careful analysis of all the posts on my Face-book and Gtalk feed show me that there are really only four types of status messages.
Type 1: The Cribber: Mostly originating from all types of people who have to work at some point of time during their day. Sometimes from people who dont have any work at all too.
but most of the time originating from people who have to do something awesomely difficult.. like get up and switch on the fan.. or eat a bar of chocolate (Catch my drift?)...
Examples: Have soooo many deadlines.... Oh my god my pet rock is on a tree and i'm sitting down calling to it but its so much work that my throat aches. Oh shit oh damn it to hell i need to write an assignment and i'm not in a mood because i'm so damn lazy but its not good to be lazy and i need to work....etc etc.. blah blah.. blooh blooh.. yeah whatever..... crib crib..
Type 2: The Show Off: This is a classic and has existed ever since the early days of social networking.... and ever since Aol gave you that annoying custom status message option... Messages of this type range from the well intended, "I had such a great time in [add place here]" to the impossible... "I just did thirteen hours on the treadmill"....
A popular benign subtype of type 2...is the quotation...Most people have this irresistable urge to transform a common quote they heard into their status message. most have the good nature to credit the source...
Type 3: The Beyonder: Have you ever read one of those status messages that doesnt seem to make any sense at all ? Something about dreams and chaos and several other esoteric concepts written in a way that they're understandable only to those that write them?... Well.. there it is.. you have something thats beyond you... we choose to call this, the Beyonder..
Example: Springy Dreams bylane the corner of the window when abracadabra we chant.
(P.S. Dont even try explaining to me what this means...)
Type 4: The Social Butterfly: Well.. there's those messages where people want to thank, congratulate or placate other users. Something about "Oh this person draws like a cuckoo that just had enough caffeine to kill a bull elephant.." or something like that. These are mostly well intended... and give both the person and the recipient enough snob value to last a week.. Some trivia here.. i initially wanted to call this type something else (P.S. this blog still is PG-13).. but decided to stick with the current name...
Cross Breeds: Type 1 messages and Type 2 messages tend to dominate most wall posts.. though, as mentioned before, the line between the four types blurs considerably. For example, sometimes a type 1 message is used to create the effect of a type 2. For example.. consider the following message.
"OH I'm on the lab on a sunday morning when everyone else is either watching rosie o donnel or sleeping".. this message is essentially a type 1 intended to create the effect of a type 2. Cribbing as a means of showing off..!!
Most type 3 messages are also intended to have the effect of type 2....Oh my god look at me.. I can write this but u cant understand..!
Think about it.. take any message... any message at all on facebook, aol, gtalk, orkut.. heck anything at all.. and it shall be a combination of these four types...
(Thanks for reading. Comment Away !!)
A careful analysis of all the posts on my Face-book and Gtalk feed show me that there are really only four types of status messages.
Type 1: The Cribber: Mostly originating from all types of people who have to work at some point of time during their day. Sometimes from people who dont have any work at all too.
but most of the time originating from people who have to do something awesomely difficult.. like get up and switch on the fan.. or eat a bar of chocolate (Catch my drift?)...
Examples: Have soooo many deadlines.... Oh my god my pet rock is on a tree and i'm sitting down calling to it but its so much work that my throat aches. Oh shit oh damn it to hell i need to write an assignment and i'm not in a mood because i'm so damn lazy but its not good to be lazy and i need to work....etc etc.. blah blah.. blooh blooh.. yeah whatever..... crib crib..
Type 2: The Show Off: This is a classic and has existed ever since the early days of social networking.... and ever since Aol gave you that annoying custom status message option... Messages of this type range from the well intended, "I had such a great time in [add place here]" to the impossible... "I just did thirteen hours on the treadmill"....
A popular benign subtype of type 2...is the quotation...Most people have this irresistable urge to transform a common quote they heard into their status message. most have the good nature to credit the source...
Type 3: The Beyonder: Have you ever read one of those status messages that doesnt seem to make any sense at all ? Something about dreams and chaos and several other esoteric concepts written in a way that they're understandable only to those that write them?... Well.. there it is.. you have something thats beyond you... we choose to call this, the Beyonder..
Example: Springy Dreams bylane the corner of the window when abracadabra we chant.
(P.S. Dont even try explaining to me what this means...)
Type 4: The Social Butterfly: Well.. there's those messages where people want to thank, congratulate or placate other users. Something about "Oh this person draws like a cuckoo that just had enough caffeine to kill a bull elephant.." or something like that. These are mostly well intended... and give both the person and the recipient enough snob value to last a week.. Some trivia here.. i initially wanted to call this type something else (P.S. this blog still is PG-13).. but decided to stick with the current name...
Cross Breeds: Type 1 messages and Type 2 messages tend to dominate most wall posts.. though, as mentioned before, the line between the four types blurs considerably. For example, sometimes a type 1 message is used to create the effect of a type 2. For example.. consider the following message.
"OH I'm on the lab on a sunday morning when everyone else is either watching rosie o donnel or sleeping".. this message is essentially a type 1 intended to create the effect of a type 2. Cribbing as a means of showing off..!!
Most type 3 messages are also intended to have the effect of type 2....Oh my god look at me.. I can write this but u cant understand..!
Think about it.. take any message... any message at all on facebook, aol, gtalk, orkut.. heck anything at all.. and it shall be a combination of these four types...
(Thanks for reading. Comment Away !!)
Monday, September 21, 2009
Ten Goofy Things to spice up Monday Morning
Well.. Its monday again and here're a couple of things I dreamed of doing today as I came into DECS. Go ahead and try these (hope you have enough personal insurance though...)'
Disclaimer: T author of this post does not take responsibility for any loss of property / injuries resulting as a result of trying these out.
10. http://a-graduate-life.blogspot.com
9. Stand with a writing pad in the corridor, look intently at someone, smile to yourself, shake your head and scribble away...Look at the expression on their face from the corner of your eye
8. Call a close friend and tell them in a very serious voice...."Hey.. Do you remember that time I loaned you a thousand dollars?... I was wondering if you ever returned it?.. " Keep the farce up until the end of the day... put up a facebook status message that says.."someone owes me a thousand dollars"
7. When on the bus...declare loudly into the mobile phone..."Yes.. the reports came in yesterday... It is what we feared..." and watch people melt away from you...
6. Call last weekend's date and tell her you're sorry....when she asks why....ask if she's into Aliens...
5. Go to the library and empty an entire shelf of books onto a table. Then proceed to build a fort with it...Take one book and keep it open just in case anyone should ask you what you're doing.
4. Take a Hand lens to the diary store and examine the glass for ten minutes.....
3. Draw a quirky looking face on the whiteboard... when people stop to stare at it, look up from your book /computer and tell them very curtly..."nope.. its not you....although I do admit there's a slight resemblance..."...
2. Stop someone in the hallway and tell them you're looking for the Ministry of Magic / Justice league headquarters / Voltori's Temple / Space Port...
1. Send a mail to everyone in your research group telling them there's free pizza in Room XYZ where XYZ is a rest room...Watch as everyone comes back frustrated.. I suggest you do this only when you're not in the lab yourself.
(Thanks for reading..comment away)
Disclaimer: T author of this post does not take responsibility for any loss of property / injuries resulting as a result of trying these out.
10. http://a-graduate-life.blogspot.com
9. Stand with a writing pad in the corridor, look intently at someone, smile to yourself, shake your head and scribble away...Look at the expression on their face from the corner of your eye
8. Call a close friend and tell them in a very serious voice...."Hey.. Do you remember that time I loaned you a thousand dollars?... I was wondering if you ever returned it?.. " Keep the farce up until the end of the day... put up a facebook status message that says.."someone owes me a thousand dollars"
7. When on the bus...declare loudly into the mobile phone..."Yes.. the reports came in yesterday...
6. Call last weekend's date and tell her you're sorry....when she asks why....ask if she's into Aliens...
5. Go to the library and empty an entire shelf of books onto a table. Then proceed to build a fort with it...Take one book and keep it open just in case anyone should ask you what you're doing.
4. Take a Hand lens to the diary store and examine the glass for ten minutes.....
3. Draw a quirky looking face on the whiteboard... when people stop to stare at it, look up from your book /computer and tell them very curtly..."nope.. its not you....although I do admit there's a slight resemblance..."...
2. Stop someone in the hallway and tell them you're looking for the Ministry of Magic / Justice league headquarters / Voltori's Temple / Space Port...
1. Send a mail to everyone in your research group telling them there's free pizza in Room XYZ where XYZ is a rest room...Watch as everyone comes back frustrated.. I suggest you do this only when you're not in the lab yourself.
(Thanks for reading..comment away)
Monday, September 14, 2009
Top 10 Signs you're a newbie graduate student in the US
10. Your shoes still look new. FootNote: Your Spartan Village Carpet still looks clean.
9. Your laptop still has a shit ton of free space
8. You think Taco Bell serves the best food in the world and You still haven't figured out how to order in Subway
7. You visit the website www.msufcu.org as often as you visit Facebook.
6. You are very upset that the loaf of bread you bought costs 400 Rupees.
5. You just bought twenty packets of Ramen noodles from Meijer because they're only 20 cents a pack....&& You visit 'Dollar Tree' once in two days.
4. You attend every crappy resource fair that happens on campus and get all the freebies...including the clips, the post it notes and the small frisbees that go straight to the dust bin after one year.
3. You actually sweep your house once in two days and do your laundry every week.
2. Your backpack has the CATA schedules of all the buses, including the ones that service areas you wont visit in the next five years.
1. You think Research is 'fun'.
(Thanks for reading. Comment Away!)
9. Your laptop still has a shit ton of free space
8. You think Taco Bell serves the best food in the world and You still haven't figured out how to order in Subway
7. You visit the website www.msufcu.org as often as you visit Facebook.
6. You are very upset that the loaf of bread you bought costs 400 Rupees.
5. You just bought twenty packets of Ramen noodles from Meijer because they're only 20 cents a pack....&& You visit 'Dollar Tree' once in two days.
4. You attend every crappy resource fair that happens on campus and get all the freebies...including the clips, the post it notes and the small frisbees that go straight to the dust bin after one year.
3. You actually sweep your house once in two days and do your laundry every week.
2. Your backpack has the CATA schedules of all the buses, including the ones that service areas you wont visit in the next five years.
1. You think Research is 'fun'.
(Thanks for reading. Comment Away!)
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Top 15 signs You're having a boring weekend
13. You're having a conversation with Raghav about Superhero comics.
12. You're a 22 year old male on a Jonas Brothers forum.
11. You're you-tubing videos from Karan Johar movies.
10. You go to the Spartan Village Community Center to check if there's any mail in your mailbox three times.. and then you realise its a sunday.
9. You change your wallpaper thirty times.
8. You eat 7 meals in one day because you have nothing else to do. And u do the dishes everytime.
7. You're with Abinand working on the script for his next movie. (wait .. what?)
6. You're writing a blog about the 'top 15 signs of a boring weekend'.
5. You're reading this blog.
4. You recount the number of signs and mail the blogger saying there's only 12 when there's supposed to be 15.
3. You've asked the question "what else is up" fifty times to the same person during one im conversation.. and he/she signs out..
2. You purposely leave out ten items from your groceries and make ten more trips to Meijer... and they lady at meijer gives you a free notepad on which to make your shopping list.
1. You've spent an hour refreshing your facebook page to see if anyone "likes" your status message
(Thanks for reading. Comment Away!)
12. You're a 22 year old male on a Jonas Brothers forum.
11. You're you-tubing videos from Karan Johar movies.
10. You go to the Spartan Village Community Center to check if there's any mail in your mailbox three times.. and then you realise its a sunday.
9. You change your wallpaper thirty times.
8. You eat 7 meals in one day because you have nothing else to do. And u do the dishes everytime.
7. You're with Abinand working on the script for his next movie. (wait .. what?)
6. You're writing a blog about the 'top 15 signs of a boring weekend'.
5. You're reading this blog.
4. You recount the number of signs and mail the blogger saying there's only 12 when there's supposed to be 15.
3. You've asked the question "what else is up" fifty times to the same person during one im conversation.. and he/she signs out..
2. You purposely leave out ten items from your groceries and make ten more trips to Meijer... and they lady at meijer gives you a free notepad on which to make your shopping list.
1. You've spent an hour refreshing your facebook page to see if anyone "likes" your status message
(Thanks for reading. Comment Away!)
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Unnaipol Oruvan ? Idhaipol oru Padam - Remakes in Tamil Cinema
A rather Wikipedia-estic blog post.
With Dr. Kamal Hassan's Unnaipol oruvan (remake of A Wednesday) and Bharath's Kandein Kadhalai (remake of Jab we Met) hitting the screens anytime now, and with Ninaithaale Inikkum (remake of the malayalam mega hit, Classmates) already creating waves in multiplex circles. I began doing some googling on the prescence of remakes in the tamil movie circuit.
I initially wanted to make a conventional 'top-ten' list of remakes but then realised that everytime i made a list, i looked back at some of the movies and they didnt deserve to be there... and sometimes movies that had been eliminated fought even harder for a chance on the final ten. So what began as a top ten list boiled into a list of movies categorized by actor. A rather Wikipedia-estic blog post.
Just to make sure we're on the same page...I'm talking remakes from other indian languages...not those so called "inspirational tributes" from hollywood and other places overseas. So here we go...
Superstar Rajnikanth: Most trade pundits acknowledge that it was after Billa, the remake of Amitabh Bachan's Don, that Rajni began to monopolize the tamil box office. Billa was followed by Thee, a remake of another Amitach Bachan starrer, Deewar.
During the time when rajni dominated markets in india and overseas, he acted in Muthu which is not acknowledged as a remake, but is heavily inspired by the Malayalam film, Ponmaavin Thombathu.
And of course, after the debacle of Rajni's home production Baba, two out of Rajni's three films have been remakes, Chandramukhi (Manichitra Thaazhu, Malayalam) and Kuselan (Katha Parayumbol, Malayalam)
Dr. Kamal Hassan: The Universal Hero too had his share of remakes from other indian languages in his early years, the most noteworthy of them being Unakkul Oruvan, the remake of Subash Ghai's Karz. Well, technically speaking, Karz itself was heavily 'inspired' by the american film, 'The Reincarnation of Peter Proud'
After a few decades, he returned to the remake scene by starring in the 2003 remake of MunnaBhai MBBS, Vasool Raja MBBS. Following that, he will be acting in the much awaited Unnaipol Oruvan.
Ajith Kumar: Our 'thala' has dabbled with remakes too. Apart from the soulful Kireedom (Kreedam, Malayalam) which failed to rake in the moolah, Ajith made a comeback with the oft-remade Billa where he sashayed with Nayan (ooh. who can forget the much youtube'd Bikini scene at the pool) and Namitha. Also note, that despite being called an orginal screenplay, his 2008 Aegan is heavily inspired by King Kahn's Main Hoon Na.
Vijay: The Illaya thalapathy has by far starred in the largest amount of remakes in this list. But i'm guessing he'll soon be overtaken by another person who's made his entire career of starring in remakes (we'll talk about him soon). Starting with Fazil's Kadhalukku Mariyaadhai (Aniyathi Pravu, Malayalam) and Siddique's Friends (Friends, Malayalam), he also starred in the highly successful commercial blockbuster, Ghilli (Okkadu, Telugu).
His most recent hit, Pokkiri was also a remake of the Telugu film by the same name.
Surya Sivakumar: Surya's Perazhagan (Kunji Koonan, Malayalam) is seen by many as one of the most important films his career along with Gautham's Kaakha Kaakha. Since then there haven't been any movies of his that have been remakes as far as i can think of.
'Chiyaan' Vikram: Vikram, the reigning numero uno of tamil cinema has had two remakes in his career so far. In 2003, the critically acclaimed Kasi (Vasanthiyum Lakshmiyum Pinne Naanum, Malayalam) further cemented Vikram's supermacy as the most bankable star of Tamil Cinema. Vikram also followed his blockbuster film Anniyan with a lighthearted comedy, Maja (Thommanum Makkalum, Malayalam).
'Jayam' Ravi: I did mention that there is one guy who has made his entire career out of starring in remakes directed by his brother 'Jayam' Raja. Here's the list.
Santhosh Subramaniam (Bommarillu, Telugu)
M Kumaran Son of Mahalakshmi (Amma Nanna O Tamil Ammayi, Telugu)
Jayam (Jayam, Telugu)
Mazhai (Varsham, Telugu)
Something Something Unakkum Enakkum (Nuvvostenante Naanowhatever, Telugu)
.......and his next movie is also a remake, Thillalangadi which is a remake of the Ravi Teja hit, Kick.
Madhavan: The almost-buck-toothed chocolate boy of indian cinema has two remakes to his credit. The critically acclaimed Evano Oruvan (Dhombivilli Fast, Marathi) and forgettable Guru En Aalu (Yes Boss, Hindi)
Simbhu and Dhanush (chuckle..): Simbhu's much needed hit in his early days came in the form of Dhum, the remake of the kannada film, Appu. After that he worked with veteran director K.S.Ravikumar in the remake of the telugu film Bhadra, which was released in Tamil as Saravana.
Dhanush's much needed hit came in the form of Yaaradi Nee Mohini, the remake of his brother Selvaraghavan's Telugu hit, Adavaari Maatalu Blah Blah.
Others:
Sarath Kumar's rib tickling Tenkaasi Pattanam, a remake of the mayalam film of the same name.
Prashant's 'Shock', a remake of the RGV movie Bhoot.
The Critically acclaimed Kasthuriman, starring Prasanna and Meera Jasmine was a remake of the malayalam film of the same name.
(Thanks for reading. Comment away!)
With Dr. Kamal Hassan's Unnaipol oruvan (remake of A Wednesday) and Bharath's Kandein Kadhalai (remake of Jab we Met) hitting the screens anytime now, and with Ninaithaale Inikkum (remake of the malayalam mega hit, Classmates) already creating waves in multiplex circles. I began doing some googling on the prescence of remakes in the tamil movie circuit.
I initially wanted to make a conventional 'top-ten' list of remakes but then realised that everytime i made a list, i looked back at some of the movies and they didnt deserve to be there... and sometimes movies that had been eliminated fought even harder for a chance on the final ten. So what began as a top ten list boiled into a list of movies categorized by actor. A rather Wikipedia-estic blog post.
Just to make sure we're on the same page...I'm talking remakes from other indian languages...not those so called "inspirational tributes" from hollywood and other places overseas. So here we go...
Superstar Rajnikanth: Most trade pundits acknowledge that it was after Billa, the remake of Amitabh Bachan's Don, that Rajni began to monopolize the tamil box office. Billa was followed by Thee, a remake of another Amitach Bachan starrer, Deewar.
During the time when rajni dominated markets in india and overseas, he acted in Muthu which is not acknowledged as a remake, but is heavily inspired by the Malayalam film, Ponmaavin Thombathu.
And of course, after the debacle of Rajni's home production Baba, two out of Rajni's three films have been remakes, Chandramukhi (Manichitra Thaazhu, Malayalam) and Kuselan (Katha Parayumbol, Malayalam)
Dr. Kamal Hassan: The Universal Hero too had his share of remakes from other indian languages in his early years, the most noteworthy of them being Unakkul Oruvan, the remake of Subash Ghai's Karz. Well, technically speaking, Karz itself was heavily 'inspired' by the american film, 'The Reincarnation of Peter Proud'
After a few decades, he returned to the remake scene by starring in the 2003 remake of MunnaBhai MBBS, Vasool Raja MBBS. Following that, he will be acting in the much awaited Unnaipol Oruvan.
Ajith Kumar: Our 'thala' has dabbled with remakes too. Apart from the soulful Kireedom (Kreedam, Malayalam) which failed to rake in the moolah, Ajith made a comeback with the oft-remade Billa where he sashayed with Nayan (ooh. who can forget the much youtube'd Bikini scene at the pool) and Namitha. Also note, that despite being called an orginal screenplay, his 2008 Aegan is heavily inspired by King Kahn's Main Hoon Na.
Vijay: The Illaya thalapathy has by far starred in the largest amount of remakes in this list. But i'm guessing he'll soon be overtaken by another person who's made his entire career of starring in remakes (we'll talk about him soon). Starting with Fazil's Kadhalukku Mariyaadhai (Aniyathi Pravu, Malayalam) and Siddique's Friends (Friends, Malayalam), he also starred in the highly successful commercial blockbuster, Ghilli (Okkadu, Telugu).
His most recent hit, Pokkiri was also a remake of the Telugu film by the same name.
Surya Sivakumar: Surya's Perazhagan (Kunji Koonan, Malayalam) is seen by many as one of the most important films his career along with Gautham's Kaakha Kaakha. Since then there haven't been any movies of his that have been remakes as far as i can think of.
'Chiyaan' Vikram: Vikram, the reigning numero uno of tamil cinema has had two remakes in his career so far. In 2003, the critically acclaimed Kasi (Vasanthiyum Lakshmiyum Pinne Naanum, Malayalam) further cemented Vikram's supermacy as the most bankable star of Tamil Cinema. Vikram also followed his blockbuster film Anniyan with a lighthearted comedy, Maja (Thommanum Makkalum, Malayalam).
'Jayam' Ravi: I did mention that there is one guy who has made his entire career out of starring in remakes directed by his brother 'Jayam' Raja. Here's the list.
Santhosh Subramaniam (Bommarillu, Telugu)
M Kumaran Son of Mahalakshmi (Amma Nanna O Tamil Ammayi, Telugu)
Jayam (Jayam, Telugu)
Mazhai (Varsham, Telugu)
Something Something Unakkum Enakkum (Nuvvostenante Naanowhatever, Telugu)
.......and his next movie is also a remake, Thillalangadi which is a remake of the Ravi Teja hit, Kick.
Madhavan: The almost-buck-toothed chocolate boy of indian cinema has two remakes to his credit. The critically acclaimed Evano Oruvan (Dhombivilli Fast, Marathi) and forgettable Guru En Aalu (Yes Boss, Hindi)
Simbhu and Dhanush (chuckle..): Simbhu's much needed hit in his early days came in the form of Dhum, the remake of the kannada film, Appu. After that he worked with veteran director K.S.Ravikumar in the remake of the telugu film Bhadra, which was released in Tamil as Saravana.
Dhanush's much needed hit came in the form of Yaaradi Nee Mohini, the remake of his brother Selvaraghavan's Telugu hit, Adavaari Maatalu Blah Blah.
Others:
Sarath Kumar's rib tickling Tenkaasi Pattanam, a remake of the mayalam film of the same name.
Prashant's 'Shock', a remake of the RGV movie Bhoot.
The Critically acclaimed Kasthuriman, starring Prasanna and Meera Jasmine was a remake of the malayalam film of the same name.
(Thanks for reading. Comment away!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
