Tamizhnaattu coppuda, dharniellam topuda - Osthe Review

Tamizhnaattu coppuda, dharniellam topuda

Osthe is an out and out STR movie. His fans will love to see their fav hero come back as the action start after performance oriented movies such as VTV and Vaanam. The girls and boys go mad when he flaunts his 6 pack. It is very evident that STR has worked hard for that, especially in the Vaadi Vaadi song, you can actually see a difference between the STR before that and after that in the movie.

Action sequences are out of the world in the literal sence, unbelieveable stunts, but then it is a masala movie, what else would suit. STR explodes in the action sequence, dance, no one has to say, he rocks. It is the emotional scenes that carry you away. STR has indeed matured as an actor and displays controlled emotions throughout the movie. The scene he talks to Nassar in the hospital is very well done. An earlier STR, and it would have been more dramatic.

Richa fits the role to a T. Not much emoting, not too much of glamor. Not too many scenes either.
Santhanam's comedy track goes along with the movie and does not stand out as a sore thumb.
VTV Ganesh, Jittan Ramesh (as Simbus brother) are all adequate.
Revathi afer a long time. As good as ever.
Mallika Sherawat disappoints in Kalasala. Munni Malaika was way better.


The movie stays true to the original, DAbaang and Dharani has tweaked it well to suit the TamilNadu locale. What boggles is why is the set for the climax set alone a near replica of the Dabaang set.? Weird. That is soon forgotten with STR flaunting his 6-pack.

For those who have not watched Dabaang. Osthe Velan(STR) is a supercop-thief who loots the corrupt and apparently distributes to the poor, though we never see him doing it or is there any mention of that. All he does is buy himself new Boleros to blow up. His brother from a different father is Jitthan Ramesh who is naive. Velan crosses the path of Boxer Daniel (Sonu Sood) and they clash with each other trying to outwit the other. Daniel uses the enemity between the brothers in the final stages to get rid of all of them. How Velan overcomes that is the climax. In between Velan romances Neduvali (Richa), thrashes up baddies, outsmarts Daniels attempts to get rid or humiliate him.

Sooriya's score - 3.5/5- Can watch once. For STR fans, must watch.

Thala Pola Varuma

Yes, there are inconsitencies. Yes, it seems, feels and looks outlandish at times. If you care, watch Anbe Sivam, not Mankatha. It is pure entertainment and pure thala.
A fitting fiftieth for Thala is how I would call it. My friend says Mankatha is Gilli. However you wanna term it, the movie rocks.
Right from the first frame that Ajit enters, to the last it keeps you engaged. There are some dragging portions, thankfully, they do not drag for a long time and are cut short by Venkats Prabu's good grasp on the flow.
Ajit has done a great job as the ageing police in the movie who does not hide his age, even when confronted by the girl friends father. The drinking binges, the hangovers, the cheating on the girl friend, the swearing to never to drink again. All atypical of men and very well narrated. Be it the scene where Ajit saves the imprisoned Vaibhav and then dumping the chettiar or the scene where Ajit and Prem go drinking, or the scene where he scuttles Lakshmi Rai out when Trisha arrives, Ajit rocks. Fights, dialogue delivery all come so naturally. He sure has put in a lot of effort and it really shows.
Premji as the nerd. As usual, evalavo paathuttom, idha pakka mattoma. Noodles mandaya. Makes you smile, not laugh as he used to in Saroja. But then, this is a Thala movie and you do not want someone stealing the thunder from the thala.
Ashwin as Ganesh, the Dharavi policeman. A meaty role for an upcoming star. Ganesh Venkatram of Unnaipol Oruvan must be cross with  himself for loosing out on this.
The roles of Vaibhav, Anjali, Aravind Aakash, Lakshmi Rai, Mahat all well thought out and brought in to the narrative at a good time and "ending" them at a good time too.
Action King. As ususal, proves that he is a king of action. Stylish in body language, dressing and attitude. 
Thala calling him as action king in a lot of scenes and Arjun calling Ajit as thala at the last, punch lines, but then, not a typical one. Makes the movie bigger than it is.


What the movie achieves in impressing, again, is that how a simple story line can work wonders in the hands of a good director, an ensemble cast and technology.


If I write more, I might spill the beans on the story, which would be a crime against the movie makers and even against the movie goers. Twist and turns are left for us to enjoy on screen and not to read.


Happy watching.

PMP - Ways and Means

A feeling of great exhilration, a sense of achievement and a ireestible need to have a beer, these were the emotions that ran through me at 5:15PM IST on Aug 5 2011. Yes, I had cleared my PMP. That was the reason for all this.


While it still fresh in my memory, I wanted to jot down some quick points that might help others feel the same.


- A few questions on direct formluae usage were there. PERT, EV/AC/TCPI etc.
- A few indirect formulae questions. Eg., 2 variables given, calculate a 3rd and then use that to caluculate a 4th variable.
- Some question quite confusingly states what is the "process" and the options listed out are 3 KA'a and one process. The key is to read the questions properly and keep an eye open for "keywords"
- PSR - If PSR is involved, throw all option out of the window and go with the one that supports PSR
- Remember, in the "fisrt or best" question, the project is always the priority, the PM always has the responsibility. However, in PSR, it is safety, honesty, responsibility, fairness that is main.
- Sometimes a very early question say 10th, might be the answer for a very late question say 130th. So concentrate on your exam.
- Input, Tools & Techniques, outputs (ITTO) are a must to remember. Write them down every single day along with all formulae and the process group to KA mapping. Make your very own "logical flow" that is the best way to remember, rather than just trying to blindly "mug up", as we say.
- QA vs QC. ITTO's and process here are crucial. As they are indeed confusing.
- Risk and procurement are another 2 areas that I felt a little confusing
- Control and Verify scope, QC - Read and understand the relation that these have with the Closing process group.
- Role of PM and PMO. Understand the differences
- Project doc and Project management Plan -What are the contents. Helps to understand the difference and remember these.
- There are many many books on "clearing" PMP exam. Stick to one. The reason is that every author has his/her own way of teaching. If you try and emulate more than one, you are bound to confuse yourself and eventually fail. Stick to one. While you go through a process or knowledge area, refer PMBOK for that section.
- Remember PMBOK is the ultimate reference, but you are bound to fall asleep without a strategy, which is what one of the exam preps help you.
- The last 1/2 weeks try to take atleast 3/4 mock tests every week. I mean the full 200 ones. Not the 50/75. Those have to be done earlier. But always remember to take a test that provides you with
 (a) standard questions - meaning do not go for every/any mock exam. Try some reputed ones.
(b) answers explained - ensure before you take the exams that the answers are explained at the end. Otherwise, it is not much help. The answers and the relevant explanations always increase your understanding of how you need to read, infer and understand a question. Correct understanding of the question is half the battle won.
- The day before the exam sleep well. You need all the concentration. I did not do this and ended up falling asleep for about 2/3 mins actually.
- Wear warm clothes or carry a jacket etc, esepcially in the warmer places, since the testing centers are normally cool and outside temperature being warm and being cool inside the testing center, coupled with the silence. It is like a lullably :-) Read above point.
- Try to get a realy in the day slot. Or a late in the day slot. Never in between. You neither breakfast nor have lunch properly for those inbetwen slots and they do not allow food inside the center. Hunger could kill your concentration. It did to me. I took a 1 PM slot and suffered.
- Take a 2 mins break every 1 hr. It will help your concentration.