NITA'S TALKIE TALK: Pazhassi Raja

Rating: 3/5
Language: Malayalam (Dubbed into Hindi, Tamil, Telugu)
Gener: Historical
Gist: Story of the 18th century popular king, Kerala Varma Pazhassi and his revolt against the British East India Company with the help of his trusted right-hand Edachena Kungan Nair and Kurichiar Tribe.

Director: T. Hariharan
Story: MT Vasudevan
Music: Illayaraja
Produced by: Gokulam Gopalan

Cast: Mammooty, Sharathkumar, Manoj K Jayan, Padmapriya, Kanika Sbramanium, Peter Handley, Harry Key, Linda Arsenio

REVIEW
Highlights:

1. MT Vasudevan's story
2. Good acting by Indian actors. Apart from Mamooty, performaces by Sharathkumar, Padmapriya and Manoj K Jayan were exceptional. Sharathkumar's mouth movements were very good.
3. Well-done publicity. Successful at creating a hype.
4. Locations
5. Informative for those who know nothing about this piece of history.

Drawbacks:

1. Some of the costumes look very synthetic. The British actors' costumes were very bright.
2. The malayalam spoken sounds more 'new age' than it ought to be.
3. Wigs were terrible. It looks more like hair that hasnt been washed in ages!
4. Action - the excessive use of the hung-from-rope action kills the intended effect and it has been executed badly in several places. Sharathkumar out-shines Mamooty in the sword fights- his movements have a better finish. Padmapriya has handled her action scenes very well.
5. Non-Indian actors: Peter Handley plays Major James Gordon. Harry Key plays Assistant Collector Thomas Hervey Baber. Linda Arsenio plays Dora Assistant Collector Baber's fiancée. To sum up their acting abilities - pathetic, below average, too theatrical in some cases. Infact, they look almost comical in several scenes. For example, the final scene after the king is dead and the Asst. Collector talks of how he respects the King dispite him being their enemy, made me laugh for two reasons - one, the dialogue delivery was highly juvenile and two, no where else in the movie did Harry Key's face ever show that he felt any kind of respect for his enemy, the king. (Compare it with the Last Samurai's scene where Ken Watanbe gets killed. You can see the honour that the enemies feel for eachother. Now you get me?!)
6. Narrator - It looks like the narrator is only a last minute addition for the sake of adding a crowd-puller's name in the credits of the movie in the beginning so that the movie finds it easy to warm up to the local crowd. The narrator has just 2-3 lines to say in the beginning of the movie and thats it. You dont hear the narrator ever again.
7. Had this been created some 20-30 years ago, this would have been good enough. But at a day and age where you get to see period movies being created more often and that too with such finesse, it is sin to create a movie which is known as the most expensive Malayalam movie (Rs.2,700,000) and that severely lacks detail and perfection.
8. Somehow the movie fails to anchor your attention and interest.

BOTTOM LINE:

Watch it for the history. It will ride on the waves of celebrity-power and hype. The hype will draw-in the initial crowd, but the loyal fans will keep the moolah flowing.

NITA EATS OUT @ Eurasia, Jayanagar

Vegitarian
Italian (Maj) + Arabic + Mongolian

RATING:
@ THE RESTAURANT
Taste: 4/5
Price: 3/5 - 250-350 per head
Service: 4/5 - quick - I was served within 10 min, the waiters are prompt and polite.
Ambience: 4/5
HOME DELIVERY
Delivery: 4/5 - quicker than I had expected for Italian fare(both home delivery and at the restaurant)
Packing: 4/5

COMMENTS: This is the first time that I have come across an authentic Italian restaurant in this side of Bangalore. And that too a good one. A place worth visiting. I have had food from here both, with friends and alone - and I find the food a little too expensive. It has taken them courage to start a restaurant of such nature in an area famous for its idli-vangi bath diet. They have taken up the challenge beautifully.

PICTURES: http://picasaweb.google.com/nitaarvind/NITAEATSOUTEurasiaOct09#

ADDRESS: #12, 32nd Cross, 7th Block Jayanagar

PHONE: 22452202, 22452203, 22452204

Tandoori Pomodoro Pasta

Ok... that name might suck... but the dish definitely doesnt. Or atleast my family enjoyed it. What lead to this? We had brought home a Tandoori Chicken parcel, but dinner was so good that we hardly had the Tandoori Chicken. Today morning, I walked into the kitchen and then remembered a friend saying that she wanted to try making something Indian in pasta.
Taking cue, I set out to do something, that turned out well.
We had brought the Tandoori Chicken from Imperial on Residency Road (their masala smells great and they dont use artificual colour).
Ingredients:
1 Tandoori Chicken
500gm of pasta/macroni
2 Large tomatoes
2 Medium Onions
2 tsp Ginger Garlic Greenchilli paste
1/2 tsp pepper powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 pinch Garam Masala
1 clove staranise
1/2 inch cinnamon
1 pinch oregano
1 pinch rosemary
Procedure:
1) Cook, drain pasta and keep it aside
2) Chop the tandoori chicken and throw away the bones
3) Heat 1 tbl spn in a vessle (the vessle should be big enough to hold the cooked pasta), add in the staranise and cinnamon.
4) Add the chopped onions and saute till transparent
5) Add the ginger-garlic-green chilli paste till the raw garlic paste disappears
6) Add the pepper powder, chilli powder and saute
7) Add the tomatoes. Add salt to taste. Add the oregano and rosemary after crushing it. Cook the tomatoes till they soften
8) Add the chopped Tandoori Chicken. Mix it well and leave it to cook in the sauce for 3-4 mins
9) Add 1/2 - 3/4 cup water and bring to boil. (Add salt if needed)
10) Add in the pasta and mix it well with the sauce.