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I am back online after couple of weeks of vacation.  It’s festive time in India.  The festival season starts off with Vinayaka Chaturthi and probably ends with Pongal/Makar Sankranti.  TV Channels, in particular TAMIL CHANNELS TV, will telecast special programs during festival days.   But these days I am not very particular about watching these programs, may be I am no longer a fan of tamil movies or rather Tamil Cinema Standars has gone down to such a level that I wouldn’t waste my time watching new Tamil Moviles or listening to new Tamil Movie Songs.  Having said that, I still enjoy movies from 80s, 90s.  I think movies in those days had some good substance, good story writing, good actors (decent looking actors) and great songs.

In my college days in 90s, I would be eagerly waiting for Movies with  Illayaraja’s music.   I would buy them as soon as they are released.  Illayaraja has given great numbers in 80s and 90s in both Tamil and Telugu Films.  Even today these songs give you a sense of pride in the history of Tamil Music.  The duo of Illayaraja and S.P. Balasubramanian were instant hit in those days.  How can one forget songs from "Kizhakkau Vasal", "Geetanjali", "Mounga Raagam", "Dalapathi","Karagatakaran", "Chinna Thambi", "Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal" and the list goes on.   In fact during the same period Maragathamani has given great hits and songs from "Azhgan" is my favorite of all time.  The songs has great lyrics, great picturization and no use of English Words.  In addition to 6 CD’s collection of Illayaraja music, I have number of individual audio cassette which I had bought during college days and I still listen to those songs. 

Well, with the arrival of A.R. Rehman, I think Tamil Films Music Industry changed for ever and gradually it is dying.  I am not critizing A.R. Rehman, but his kind of music was and is not suitable for Tamil Films.  Now a days he doesn’t even score music for Tamil Movies, but he left his impression in such a way that other tamil music director imitate his music style and pour all sorts of English Words, in the name of modern songs for youth, and making songs unbearable to listen and watch.  These days watching or listening Tamil Movie is a traumatic experience.  I don’t understand where are all those genius have gone.  Is the Tamil Movie goer crowd likes these kinds of music?  Well if thats the case, then I must say that even their standards have gone down.  I WILL BLAME A.R. REHMAN AND I BARELY LISTEN TO HIS MUSIC. 

I think most of you will agree with me that ILLAYARAJA’S music style was better suited for Tamil Movies than AR. REHMAN style.  Will we ever see the rise of Tamil Music and Cinema?  Only Time Will Tell.

According to World Bank, India’s economy will grow 5.2% this year. Whereas according to our own Finance Minister, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, the growth will be around 7%. Let’s see how close these numbers are in reality. With recent compromise between the Multiplexes and the India Movie Producers, we will soon be seeing the so called block buster hitting on big screens again. Its a good news for the metro janta who throng to multiplexes to watch crap movies. Most of these movies in a months time end up on DVDs unlike blockbuster like Ghazani or Taare Zameen Par, which I think took almost more than 6 months to come onto to DVDs. DVD business is booming in India and it will continue to grow considering the growth factor. People like to watch movies at their own pace and own time. With big screen TVs (LCD/Plasmas) filling the Indian Market, more and more people will watch movies at home. In many big cities and II tier cities, real estate builders are building gated community. I would recommend these builders to come up with (5-10) mini-theatre with projection or LCD TVs big enough to entertain small group, say 20, of resident. The number of mini-theatres could be determined based on number of resident / flats / houses. There mini-theatres need to not be hi-fi. Just a basic room with good cushy chairs to sit and enjoy movie comfortably. I guess the cost of constructing this would be around 15-20 lakhs which they can include while fixing the home price. With this approach, I guess more people will watch movies on DVD. Many would say that these blockbuster movies come to TV channels like UTV, SETMAX, Zee Cinema within 6 months time or watch on pirated DVDs/VCDs. So why to pay extra? Well if you are someone who enjoys movie in true sense, either you would go to theatre or watch in a theatre kind of atmosphere. Have you seen the picture quality of movie telecasted by channels on LCD TVs? Or the picture quality of pirated DVDs/VCDs? The picture quality is so bad that you would end up getting headaches and if you continue to watch bad picture quality movies, you would definitely end up getting vision problem. I think to avoid piracy, the entertainment industry need to bring down the prices of quality DVDs. I think currently good movie quality DVD sell around Rs. 400 / -, which is quite expensive considering that Bollywood is not an industry like Hollywood. Most of the workers in Bollywood are temporary and they don’t get any benefit and they dont have fixed income. This is something which I think entertainment industry in India need to think about.