Milana – A movie that touched my Heart

Its been a while I have made a post here and I want to blame God for it !! I know its not fair on my part… but I wish there were 48 hours a day, so that I would get ample time for all my activities J and adequate recreation too… For many, life itself is recreation. I remember my mom telling “Having fun should be like having a pickle per meal. We cannot have a plate full of pickle.” I believe so is recreation too.

I am not a person who can stick to a chair and stare at a colourful screen for 3 long hours. A movie once in a couple of months is what seems to be a perfect balance and there are so many other recreational activities to try otherwise. Music is another favourite pass time, I would love a silly nap on my bed with a pleasant music to the rhythm of which my thoughts can dance. Movies are one of my last choices for recreation and until recently Kannada movies were the lastest of the last I could think off. In the past one year, music is what is attracting me to movies. Songs from “Mungaaru MaLe”, “Hudugaata”, “Nenapirali”, “Gaalipata” are some of my hot favourites. However “Milana” is what I liked for something just beyond music.

It was a boring Sunday afternoon and I blasted back at one of my friends who popped up with an Idea of trying out a movie. Just then I started rolling out the news paper to check out some movies in town and see if he was not too bad at his suggestion. “Milana” was celebrating 150 days of show. It was a foolish idea to try out such an old movie, but we decided to go for it and I will never repent for it. I am not a fan of any star and especially I would hate to watch any of Puneeth’s movies and this was the first one I dared to try out. (Sorry if you are one of Puneeth’s fans out there).

Milana was something I would rate 10 times more than Mungaaru MaLe for the story and direction. It’s a different story line. Starts with twists right in the beginning and is very well narrated. Love, Sentiments, Emotions, Relationships and its impact on life is all that the movie revolves around. I had always loved the songs from this movie for the meaning and the touch of emotions that is blend into the lyrics. If you are sensitive to emotions and can understand the gentle binding that emotions can bring to relationships, then this is a movie made for you. Forget just the music and listen to the song “MaLe ninthu hoda mele…” for its lyrics, it just tickles those sensitive emotional buds in your mind. Hats off to the lyricist, Jayanth Kaikini and Shreya, she’s sung it to the best to bring out all the expressions Jayanth has put into the lyrics. Apart from this the naughty little songs “Kaddu kaddu nodo kalla yaaroo…” and “Anthu inthu preethi banthu…” are addictive too and the sweetness in the Kannada language are best exploited. Not to miss out “Ninnindale…” which would have greeted you already as a hello tune on several mobile phones, makes this movie a perfect mix and match for youth today. This is one of the very few movies that I would hit my favourite lists and would love to watch once again. And for now, if you haven’t watched this movie yet, plan for it soon…

Cheers !!
Chethan

Train No. 6517 Mangalore Express

Travelling is such an inevitable part of life on Earth. Imagine life without wheels... Isn't that hard?

Bengalooru and Mangalooru are two of the most important cities in South India and unfortunately were not connected by rail for the past 12 years. Reason being political bureaucracy. Let it aside, the green flag was finally waved in December 2007, for the Mangalore-Bangalore Express train.

Having spent my life in both these cities from birth, i am a regular commuter on the National Highway 48. It was only 12 years back that I did travel by train and of-late I had forgotten even the feel of a train journey. Ever since the train services resumed operations, I was waiting for my first journey after the huge break and the experience was different and quite interesting than the 40 seater bus journey. I usually choose the Rajahamsa/Airavatha class of buses where I see only a decent polished crowd. That's what sounded most different to me, as there are people from all walks of life and all possible social and economic background, rather less polished crowd than you see in the bus. Moreover people sit face to face and easily tend to talk to each other, starting with an introduction the conversations went to all possible aspects of life. Unfortunately there were 4 ladies in the compartment I was traveling and their discussions seemed really weird. Starting with as trivial a topic on how to bathe their kid up to which is the best bank to open a Savings account. And there was no one who agreed upon another's opinion. Very strong ego problems there ! I had to stay all to myself as a silent listener, though pretending to be deeply engrossed in reading a magazine that I had in hand.

I thankfully managed to doze off not more than one hour of getting into the train and woke up to the Mangalore weather the next morning. It was definitely a comfortable journey as compared to the bus but isn't worth spending 12.5 hrs on a 503 km long rail journey while you can reach your destination well within 10 hrs for a 360 km journey on road.