Airtel Atrocities

*** Rant Begins ***

I've got two Airtel numbers - One MP no. and one TN number. I use both numbers simultaneously no matter where I am. And of late Airtel has been troubling me quite a lot.

* When I was in MP, I used to receive these bugging Hello Tune calls for Airtel Tamil Nadu playing the irritating "Kathaazha Kannaala" song. Usually I identify the number as a Airtel promotion number and dont pick the call up. But once, I picked up the call when I was expecting someone else's call and the buggers charged me Rs.1.50 as roaming incoming tariff. [:X]

* To complain regarding the above, I called Airtel Customer Care at 121. As usual, the useless advertisement for the "Reduced call rates since January 1st and the new roaming tariff started. And the infinite loop to reach a "Customer Care executive" started. I had to hold the line for close to 6 minutes before I was connected to a Customer Care executive. And I explained my problem for abt a minute in order to make him understand fully. Then the bugger who was unable to solve my problem, just disconnected me off the call. The process started yet again and at last after close to 5 mins of waiting I got a woman who was able to understand my trouble. She asked me to register a complaint and gave me a different number. I called that number and tried to register a complaint only to find out that I had to send an SMS to 121 within 150 words.( Seriously .. WTF !?) .. I did that too and to my horror I found my account short by about Rs. 40 ! The Airtel @$$ ***** had charged me for my call to customer care (121) .. Seriously .. Dont they know the meaning of Customer Care? Will any one in their right minds charge a customer for calling customer care? ..

When I called MP Airtel from my MP number and asked why the hell was I charged for a call to 121, the idiots told me that if I call customer care from my TN number, I'd reach TN Customer Care and hence it becomes a STD. Hence I was being charged at Rs.2.65 per minute [:o]. I was like WTF !

* The Airtel goons offer this "Missed call alert" service. I had it activated and before coming back to Chennai I deactivated the service as it would be of no use to me back here. I received a message saying "The service has been de-activated" or some such stuff. But all of a sudden, today Rs.15 was charged as Monthly rent for Missed Call Alert Service. [:((]. They provide bull-shit service and customer care !

* Hellotune activation in Airtel is shitty. Hellotunes get activated automatically at times. ( Not jus for me .. Also for my friend Manoj ). Wrong Hellotunes also get activated and to correct them takes a week's fighting with a customer care person who speaks better english than Wordsworth ! And a customer care service which can be reached as fast as a cellphone in the midddle of the forests of India. [:X]

Conclusion : Airtel is SHIT .. Airtel Sucks to the core ! [:X]

*** Rant over ***

Was so pissed of with Airtel and wanted to rant somewhere .. Where better than this place ?? [:D] ..

Kuruvi Movie Review - A Stuttering Flight

I finally got to watch Kuruvi twice - consecutive days - at Udhayam theatre last week.And here's my review of the movie.

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Produced by Red Giant movies of Udhayanidhi Stalin; Kuruvi, stg. Vijay, Trisha, Manivannan, Suman, Ashish Vidyarthi among others was a highly expected movie because it marked the return of the "Ghilli" combo of Vijay - Trisha - Dharani - Vidyasagar. But sadly, it failed to live up to all the hype generated.

I read most of the reviews before watching the movie and reduced my expectations drastically for the movie. ( This of late has become my life philosophy as well .. Reduce your expectations .. You'll end up being happy when you actually get more or remain satisfied if you touch your expectations .. When you expect too much, very rarely do you touch it .. Even if you do, you just get the satisfaction and not joy .. Overa irukku nnu theriyuthu) ..

Before watching the movie, I felt, if the movie was not good, I'd tear the movie apart in the review. But it ended up being not all that bad except for a few fight sequences.

Introduction of characters - The introduction of the villains was well thought out and well taken by Dharani. Cudappah Raja, Gocha and Konda Reddy spark the screen in the first few minutes. The entry of Vijay as Vetrivel could have been made much better. A Dhoom-2 ish entry from a manhole didn't look great. . Trisha's introduction as a bubbly girl who was unhappy with her fixed marriage seemed cliched.

The first car race was well shot in a typical Dharani way - with a inherent flow of humour throughout. The typical punch dialogues before and after the race and Dharani's title card when Vijay holds the trophy reminds us of Ghilli. The now-typical Vijay intro song followed which was made memorable by Prem Rakshit's choreography.The dance steps were great to watch in "Dandaana Darrrna" and Vijay once again proves that his dancing prowess is unmatched among today's heroes.

The struggles of the family without the father could have been shown in a better way which could have helped the audiences to connect with the hero's anguish. The way the hero gets to Malaysia is funny.Vivek and his typically garnishing one-liners liven up the film in a great way. The comedy department goes along with the story unlike in Thirumalai where the comedy track was separate and had nothing to do with the story. Vivek and Vijay together make the first half of the movie a treat to watch.

The movie moves on to Malaysia and in the little time in Malaysia, it has been well shown. The fight at the Bar was well shot and was quite realistic (when compared to the other fights). The "Mask of Zorro" like romance sequence was also quite enjoyable. The new year party and the song following it "Happpy new year" were all well shot and picturised although the yellowish-flourescent costume worn by Trisha during a part of the song was really garish. In the reast of the song, Trisha was fine.

The return back to India was typically masala.[:p] No qualms about that though. I had a feeling that the Dhoom-2 ish stealing of the diamond could have been avoided. . The search for the diamond in Trisha's bag leading upto the "Pallanadhu" song, which was shot in a grand way, were typical Dharani fare - mixed with a stream of humour throughout.

The pre-interval fight scene was highly unreleastic which spoilt the entire first half as all the audience does during the interval is to talk about Vijay's "long jump" just before the interval.

Post-interval, the movie gains lot of pace and moves like a F-1 car. The confrontations between Vijay and the villains have been well thought out by Dharani. The scenes in the quarry have been shot very well by Gopinath's camera. With the location in Cudappah, the movie starts to have a Telugu movie feel about it from there on. The Telugu dialogues now and then add to it. The climax is quite long but doesn't leave you squirming around like that of "Something Something Unakkum Enakkum". The bonded labour theme that is being showcased has been well shown on screen. Especially the trouble faced by the small boy and the blind girl. Some scenes do touch you a bit.

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Performances -

* Vijay as Vetrivel - Vijay is as usual at his best through-out the movie. He carries the movie on his shoulders totally after the interval and does it quite well. He seems to have worked on his body for the action sequences. He is at his humourous best when along with Vivek and Trisha. His dialogue delivery in the punch dialogues was spewing fire esp. in the climax with Suman where he suddenly changes expressions.


* Trisha as Devi - Trisha was at her bubbly best through out the movie ! One minor mistake she made was with her expression when her fiancee tells that her lover is dead. Other than that she was at her beautiful best through out in the songs and in the scenes as well.

* Vivek as Ops - Vivek's performance is one of the major + points of the movie. His comedy sequences were one of his best of late. His expressions and bit songs through out the first half induced great laughter. He was sorely and surely missed in the second half of the movie.

* Suman, Ashish Vidyarthi, Cudappah Raja - Suman was quite convincing as Gocha. Although he needs to work on his lip sync. He was quite menacing. Ashish Vidyarthi suited the character of Konda Reddy to the "T". His dialogue delivery was awesome. The telugu based character given to him was well delivered by him. Cuddapah Raja was brilliant too. Just that he needs to reduce the shouting a little

* Others - The rest of the cast like Manivannan, the blind girl, Saranya etc well well used by the director. Many minor characters were all well etched out by him and he does deserve credit for that. Most of the characters have delivered what was required of them with good performances.

Graphics - The CG used in the movie was not quite upto the mark although expecting more is not quite acceptable when you consider the bech mark set by Kollywood. EFX has done quite a good job with the available resources.

Director - A Dharani movie itself has become a brand name of its own these days just like a Shankar or a Mani-Ratnam movie. But I sorely missed "his touch" in the second half of the movie. Otherwise, he was quite good as usual especially with his choice of location for the Quarry and for the songs.

V.T.Vijayan - Editing - Has done a good job with his crisp editing in the action sequences and the song sequences although I would have personally loved it if he had trimmed the movie a little more in order to make it more taut.

"Rocky" Rajesh - Most of the fights in the movie except for the one in Malaysia haven't been well choreographed by him.If I've got one guy to blame in the movie, it would be him only ! He has failed badly trying to give a foriegn feel to the stunts.


Vidyasagar - Vidyasagar's fast paced music suits the movie. I've already reviewed the songs here. So, I'll leave that part here. His re-recording was sufficient. Nothing great to speak or rave about. The usage of the Theme music in the bar fight made it better. On the whole, a job well done for him.

Song picturisation - "Dandanna Darrrna" was well picturised although the set with the green background didn't give it a nice look at all. Vijay's steps were awesome and unmatchable. "Happy New year" on the beaches and buildings of Malaysia was pleasant on the eye. "Pallanadhu" suited the occasion and was shot in a very colourful way. The steps were good in that too. "Thaen Thaen" , the typical duet, was also shot beautifully in New Zealand in a simple way. The costumes in the song were awesome. "Mozha Mozhannu" was also shot in a grand and colourful way with some good steps once again although I have no words about the costumes

Gopinath - His camera work was a huge asset for Kuruvi.Songs were all well canned by him. The race sequence stands out. The quarry at Cudappah was also well shown.

Sets - The house by the Kotturpuram MRTS station was well constructed. The sets in the songs were also sufficient.

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Positives -

* The cast performances
* Vijay
* Songs and their picturisation
* Comedy


Negatives -

* Stunts
* Lack of the "Dharani" touch
* Screenplay at certain parts especially between "Thean Thean" and "Mozha Mozhannu" song
* The placing of the "Mozha Mozhannu" song at a crucial part which reduces the pace of the movie suddenly.

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That's it for my review.

Overall - 60/100
Verdict - Not an Airbus A380 .. But atleast a Boeing 737 ..

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