Al pacino, Godfather of Hollywood

“I am going to make him an offer that he cannot refuse!!”.

This is a dialogue that explicitly shows the character of the “Godfather”. A wonderful story with a Sicilian forefront written my Mario Puzo, runs around a character called Don vito corleone. It is still one of the extraordinary crime novels of all time. Mario Puzo, an American by birth brought in this novel the dry pastoral beauty of Sicily and contrastingly different mafia kingdom developing in the period of 1945 -1955.

The first time I saw Al pacino was in this movie where he takes the role of Michael Coreleone, Son of Vito corleone. I am not a big critic of movies, but the moment I saw him in this movie there was an inherent attraction for me to watch more of his acting. There was a real charisma in his acting even as he donned the serious role of a head of a mafia family.

Alfred James Pacino, had a unsuccessful career in the 1960s but still he was under the tutoring of some age old actors of Hollywood. Francis ford Cappola, the Director of the Godfather trilogy realized his talent in the 1971 movie of “The panic in the Needle Park” where Al pacino’s acting as a heroin addict was impeccable. This movie earned him an academy award nomination. Godfather II and III were released in 1974 and 1990 repectively. The second part gained him an Oscar for a Best actor and was also a box office hit. The third part made a moderate fortune in the box office too.

Apart from the Godfather series, the other movies that gained him fame were

a. Dog day afternoon
b. Scarface
c. ..And Justice for All
d. Dick Tracy
e. Glengarry Glen Ross
f. Scent of a Woman
g. Angels in America


In one of the interviews of his costars, I have seen them telling that while he acts he tells many dialogues that might not be present in the script. Perhaps this might be the common attribute between the acting marvels like Al pacino, Kamalhaasan, SivajiGanesan, Nagesh who have defined a new trend of acting in the world of cinema.

Osc AR rahman..

An old wish was fulfilled by the “Mozart of Madras” on 22nd February, 2009. An Indian musician receiving the Oscar(s) in the Kodak theatre was the first in the history of India.

The movie Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle bagged 8 oscars out of its 10 nominations for the day. The word “Phenomenal” would be apt for such a performance. AR Rahman received 2 oscars for Best original musical score and Best song for “Jai Ho” along with Mr.Gulzar. Every fan of ARR knows that Slumdog’s music was not his best. A tag of “HOLLYWOOD” is needed to move into the oscar race since for other national movies there are no category open other than “Best foreign language film”. I am an ardent fan of his music and I liked atleast one song in all of his movies. I cannot list out everything but these are some his grand masterpieces to the Tamil cinema

a. Roja – Tamizha tamizha, Pudhu vellai mazhai
b. Kaadhalan – Ennavale adi ennavale
c. Jeans – Kannodu kaanbathellam
d. Iruvar – Narumugaiye
e. Thriuda thiruda – Rasathy, Thee thee, chandralekha
f. Vandicholai chinnarasu – Senthamizh
g. Pavithra – Uyirum neeye
h. May maadham – Enmel Vizhuntha
i. Karuthamma – Thenkizhakku seemaiyile
j. Duet – All songs
k. Bombay – Humma humma, Uyire
l. Indian – Thada,
m. Padayappa - vetri kodi kattu
n. Alaipayuthey – Endrendrum punnagai, Snsgithane
o. Kandukonden kandukonden – Kannamoochi, Yenna solla pogirai
p. Paarthale paravasam – Azhage sugama
q. Boys – All songs
r. New – Kaalaiyil thinamum, Aaraikodi
s. Sivaji – Sahana


The list does not complete here. Bollywood has also been lucky enough to have his music which includes Ashutosh Gowariker, Aamir Khan, Subhash Ghai, notable film makers as big fans of AR Rahman. These film makers book him for every movie they make and of course ARR doesn’t disappoint them.