Vinnaithandi Varuvaya Review

Will you cross the skies for me?

That is what the title means. This is a rather unique love story between Karthik (played by Simbhu) and Jessie (Trisha). Its been like 5 months since the movie was released, much delayed, but I feel this movie truly deserves and appreciation in the form of review.

An aspiring film maker, Karthik, falls in love at first sight with his neighbour Jessie, who eventually turns out to be not only older than him, but also from a different religion. Typical formula for a Indian romance movie, you'd think... the mixture of conventional and non-conventional romance story is what makes the movie work.

While in the midst of bulding his career in the film industry, Karthik takes up all opportunities to pursue Jessie, be it even following her to her hometown to just meet and spend time with her. Jessie is shown aloof and not interested in Karthik from the beginning, but there is a twist that totally changes everything. Yet, as the story progresses, you'd notice there's more to it, and till the end, our prediction does not work. The ending can be somewhat confusing for some, but for me, it was shown from the eyes of the film maker in the film, Karthik, when he directs a movie about his love story with Jessie.

Throughout the movie, Karthik speaks and explains of the girl he loves, Jessie, but many times we ask, why Jessie? That is the beauty of love, not everything has a logical explanation.

My favourite scene is the confrontation scene in a cafe (which seems more of a overseas shot rather than Indian locale), where Karthik is trying to get Jessie to admit her attraction to him, in one quick scene we are shown a wide shot of the cafe, with Karthik sitting alone on the right side, and Karthik romancing Jessie on the left, this scene just got me goosebumps, and somewhat showed how much of chemistry and attraction between the two characters. And I also love the film references and little jokes made at the movie making front, the director was somewhat taking mild potshots at the industry, very ironical and cute!

Simbhu was excellent as Karthik, the simple boy in love, and Trisha was perfectly dressed with plain sarees, yet so sensual, with her crimped hairstyle. They both share a great chemistry from the beginning till the end. The music is phenomenal, AR Rahman comes with a fresh new theme for the movie songs, and all songs are shot in Karthik's point of view, with a set of 5-6 dancers that look young Spanish kids, work out well with the music and tempo. Be it the title song, or Hosanna, it is sure to get you humming along. So totally evergreen!

There is so much more that I could talk about the film, just goes to show how much I enjoyed and loved it, truly one of the best romance films out there. And who says all love stories need to have a happy ending? I have perhaps given away from hints of the ending, but you would still wonder, why Jessie?

Cooking For Love - Cinnamon-ed Applesauce

I have started preparing purees for my baby, with http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ being my bible (do I sound too holy? let me be a techie...), my baby food manual.

Now that he has tried the most of the vegetables/fruits suitable for his age group, I'm now moving on to introducing spices such as cinnamon to his diet, and what better than to include it in the applesauce?

The recipe/method is very simple... Just bake or cook the apples in pan, with enough water to cover the pan and boil the apples with.. say about 10-15 mins, just look out for the apples to become soft. And yeah, don't forget to sprinkle some cinnamon on the apples. Once done, just mash them up, or use the blender to puree.

The lazy me, is only good in taking pics while food are still in the pan.

The sweet aroma of cinnamon got me craving for Saint Cinnamon's. For temporary relief, I made myself & hubby this french toast with cinnamon, and for proper satisfaction, we dropped by at the Saint Cinnamon outlet in Midvalley after the parenthood expo... it was just so sinful!

Gajar Halwa Recipe - Carrot Pudding

This is one traditional Indian pudding that I have absolutely loved, the best I ever had was in India, like in 1996 (yes, thats ages back!). Since then, my various cravings for it has gone unanswered... and now thanks to the google, I was able to recreate it right in my own kitchen!

Another motivation for me to learn up this recipe was the fact that my constant boasting & boosting about the gajar halwa had my hubby frustrated because he didn't even get to try the taste and goodness of this dessert, and he started to doubt if it was any good - come to think of it, it might just have been a very clever tactic to get me producing this dish myself.. hmmm...

One one fateful Saturday, even hubby was away working, I decided to put my skills & taste buds to test. I got the recipe from the below website:

http://festivals.iloveindia.com/diwali/gajar-halwa.html

Gajar Ka Halwa Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 kg Carrots
• 1 litre Milk
• 1 teaspoon Cardamom seeds
• 3/4 cup Water
• 3 tablespoons Ghee
• 2 tablespoons Raisins
• 2 tablespoons Almonds
• 2 tablespoons Pistachios
• 450 grams Sugar

Method

• Wash and grate the carrots. Soak the raisins in water for 30 minutes. Blanch and shred the nuts.
• Put the water to boil, when it starts boiling add the grated carrots. Cook for 5-7 minutes.
• Add the milk. Cook on a low flame for 1 hour stirring occasionally.
• Add sugar, mix well and cook till the sugar has dissolved and all the milk has been absorbed.
• Add ghee and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the slightly crushed cardamoms and the raisins.
• Mix well. Remove from heat and arrange in a serving dish. Garnish with almonds and pistachios. Serve cold, hot or at room temperature.

I adjusted the recipe to fit 300gms of carrot. I only managed to snap the below picture while cooking, the picture after the dish was done was... errr... so delayed that the bowl went empty. The fact is your house will smell so delicious after cooking that you can't keep your hands off it. One warning though, grating 300g of carrots can be very tiring but a good workout considering the calories the halwa is gonna add on.


Now that I am in the 'Cooking For Love' mode (baby foods), I think this will be an excellenet dish in the future for my kid, but with reduced sugar & added cinnamon or something... what say you?