I hope Agnihotri reads it, but don’t bet your bottom dollar on his “getting” it. I have a feeling he’d think you’re paying him a compliment.

No offense (to non-Tamilians), but this “needle and the banana” thing seems to me to be an exclusively-Tamil talent, that is if a two-in-a-row encounter with it not flying with ROI (Rest of India, but, ahem, I actually mean WOI) counts as a solid-enough stat. Well, one is the hypothetical Agnihotri situation I state above and the other (now this one trumped me) was when an otherwise intelligent-sounding Padawan queried you on this closing line from your Sivaji music review: “With the indefatigable energy he still brings to his singing, he convinces you that the way to immeasurable greatness is to begin your day with a plateful of bondas.” C’mon, what is NOT to get here? After Maine Pyar Kiya and HAHK, isn’t SPB a household name thru India? Maybe some folks are unfamiliar with “bonda”? Now that I can accomodate (but only sort of)from a benefit-of-the-doubt standpoint — Now use “pakoras” or “jalebis” or even “vadas” instead and you’d COMPLETELY miss the point, although a non-Tamilian could argue that the aforementioned items are all calorific equivalents of the “bonda”. But the point is…phew. The tedium. Having to explain a joke, and that too, self-effacingly (like you always do) to someone who doesn’t get it. Now that would make me want to blow my brains out. But only coz I’m like that mustard seed that’s just landed in a pan of boiling oil (yup, I choose to use another Tamil expression)…I can’t just sit there and be patient and explain…I MUST explode! But you…you certainly don’t have the luxury of exploding; after all, you have an obligation to “hear” audiences gagging into their pre-exploded granular-yellow-cinemahall-junk-food and caution your loyalists lest a similar situation befall us. And for such selfless service, we continue to owe you thanks!

rajfan: Err… okay.

Ron: NP hasn’t made it here, but I don’t have a problem with subtitled films at all. I guess you’re referring to that discussion on Manichitrathazhu, where I said I woudn’t want to watch a film in a language I didn’t understand *without* subs. Now that’s painful, because you merely come away with a “general sense” of the film, without any of th details in, say, dialogue or performance. But with subtitles, hell yeah!

Abbaaa! Your PJs are rising to a different level The waiting-for-the-PJ is almost as nerve wracking as the waiting-for-the-review.

Did you hear about the one according to which the good people of Madras thought that the latest Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie is an action flick because it was titled “Will You Die?”!

baradwaj, has adoor’s ‘naalu pennungal’ surfaced in chennai? yeah, i know the whole subtitle block but would love to have your take on it.