Neeye - A Harmony of Music and Dance

Neeye - A Harmony of Music and Dance

Original YouTube URL: Neeye - YouTube URL

It is a always beautiful to see two people enjoying, forgetting all things around them. When Music and Dance become the main part of their enjoyment, it is even better. That is what this amazing little video is about. Is there a big and long story behind it? May be, may be not. All we are presented with is just two beautiful people, a boy and a girl, harmonizing themselves into dance, music and to each other.

The video starts with two young people trying to rehearse their dance performance with a beautiful background song and somehow they are missing their steps and synchronization. Someone, who seems like their instructor intervenes and tells them to simply look at each other more and increase the proximity. The magic starts from there! I feel like it is actually a message to us to look at each other more.

 

Then they continue their practice which no longer looks like a practice at all. The dance. music and them becomes united as if they are the notations in the staff on a sheet of melody. They move to another abandoned building roof top and the scenes over there are also beautiful. One thing I really liked is how they rode their motorcycle. Thankfully they both were wearing helmets which is not a common site in shows and movies. The background and scenes changes to an amusement park for a short while. It actually adds a balance to the overall video which shows how the togetherness or proximity as mentioned by their instructor earlier helps them to become more connected, fluid and become "one".

First of all kudos to the dancers and musicians behind this great work. You all did an amazing job! Special mention to Shreya Deshpande and Niranjan Harish who take us with them to another world. Music Composer Phani Kalyan and Choreographer Vishwakiran Nambi have also done a beautiful work which gel together well. All went fine in the hands of Gomtesh Upadhye who is the writer and Director. I should also congratulate  the photography, editing, sound engineering and other supportive crew for this wonderful creation.

Thanks to Nikon for helping with photography, I am a Nikon user myself :).
Some more screenshots and images.

I will be waiting more from this team. Give us more, either in the music or dance form or something like this which brigs the best of two. Efforts like these remind me we still have beautiful people around us who love art, love and life which make us human beings.

Setup used for review:

TV – Samsung 55JS8500 55” SUHD 4K HDR TV.

PC – Dell Precision Custom PC with i7 and Nvidia GeForce 950 Graphics with JRiver Media Server.
4K Blu-Ray – Oppo UDP-203 UHD/HDR Disc Player, CD/SACD – Denon 1940CI Disc Player.
DAC – Teac UD-301 DSD DAC. 

AVR – Marantz SR6011 Dolby Atmos/ DTS:x  11.2 channels in 5.2.4 setup.

Amp – Rogue Audio Sphinx V2 Integrated Amp w/ Northern Electric Tubes for fronts/Music.

Tower Speakers – Monitor Audio Silver 6.
Center Speaker– Monitor Audio SLCR, Surround Speakers – NHT SuperZero Book Shelf Speakers.

Height channel Speakers - PSB Imagine XA x 4 Atmos modules.

Subwoofers – Outlaw Audio LFM-1 and SVS Sound SB-1000.

Audioquest, Mogami and Bluejean cables.

O Kadhal Kanmani

Telling romance in a romantic way, who else can do this better than Mani Ratnam? I wanted to watch this movie but I wanted it in a legit, good quality way. So I waited till it showed up in a quality online streaming site and finally here it is on Netflix (yes Netflix US has this movie now!). It is good to see both Netflix and Amazon bringing more Indian movies to the US cloud. This was a sweet addition.

O Kadhal Kanmani is all about romance and it is told with a brilliant touch of photography, music and sound. That is what all you want in a Sunday evening when it is cold outside and you want to spend couple of hours watching a flick! The first thing came in my mind was it's resemblance with another MR hit Alaipayuthey. The movie starts in a Railway station, a techie boy and an academic girl, boy is much more poorer than the girl, an older couple who stands as a symbol of eternal love..(the list can go on). Nevertheless I enjoyed the movie anyway.



Though there are few scenes and occasions where you feel like it "happens only in movies" (isn't it obvious?) there are lot of moments and scenes which are very realistic as well as romantically energizing. The director has used his skills to shift us to our own imaginary worlds about love, romance and companionship.

Alrighty folks, more than the story and quality of the overall movie, I am here to talk about how well it is packed. The photography is well done. The balance of the colors, lights and tones are very well taken care of, so is the editing. The scenes really made canvas like images in my 55" SUHD screen. I wish I could get  a 4K Blu-Ray disc version of this movie! The songs are also light and sweet. One thing I really want to mention about is the background score and sound effects.

While the background score is beautiful and uses some very unique bits and instruments, the sound effect is amazing. The last main sequence in the market in heavy rain was really an experience. Though the movie is not in Dolby Atmos (at least not in Netflix where it gives a regular Dolby 5.1 output), my Marantz AVR up-mixed it to full surround and it was really cool! With the height channels mostly playing the rain, it really felt like we were in the market and walking along with the characters.

If you want to spend two hours watching a feel good romantic movie, this is a good choice with added benefits of great photography, music and overall visual / audio experience. Try to watch it in a moderately good to well entertainment system to get fully involved with it. After all a good comeback for Mani Ratnam.

Setup used for review:

TV – Samsung 55JS8500 55” SUHD 4K HDR TV.

PC – Dell Precision Custom PC with i7 and Nvidia GeForce 950 Graphics with JRiver Media Server.
4K Blu-Ray – Oppo UDP-203 UHD/HDR Disc Player, CD/SACD – Denon 1940CI Disc Player.
DAC – Teac UD-301 DSD DAC. 

AVR – Marantz SR6011 Dolby Atmos/ DTS:x  11.2 channels in 5.2.4 setup.

Amp – Rogue Audio Sphinx V2 Integrated Amp w/ Northern Electric Tubes for fronts/Music.

Tower Speakers – Monitor Audio Silver 6.
Center Speaker– Monitor Audio SLCR, Surround Speakers – NHT SuperZero Book Shelf Speakers.

Height channel Speakers - PSB Imagine XA x 4 Atmos modules.

Subwoofers – Outlaw Audio LFM-1 and SVS Sound SB-1000.

Audioquest, Mogami and Bluejean cables.

Reelmonk - a Monk I have been waiting for.

Ever since I moved to US one thing which always made me disappointed was the lack of good quality and genuine resources to watch movies from our land. I hate piracy, I don't like to search websites for free pirated movie uploads. I feel sad for producers and studios when their movies are illegally uploaded to these sites and people watch them without any shame. I admit I have done this couple of times, but I only did so when I wanted to watch some particular titles desperately for some reason and there was no other way around. Other than the lack of content one another big factor is the lack of Quality. Yes, Quality is much more important than quantity. This piracy has made quality the least considerable one. People got used to watch sub-par prints online and they are happy with it. We do not care how the director really wanted to present the scenes with its clarity, colors, contrast, dynamic range and vividness. We do not care how the music director wants the audience hear the voices and each instrument playing its part with its depth and soundstage. We are just used to it. We just want to see it or listen to it. Take my word; there is a big difference in watching a movie or listening to a song in good quality versus below average quality. You will feel it when you see it.

Here comes a new kid in the block. Actually not in the block of what we have there already, but a new kid and a new block in fact. The Reelmonk.com. I first heard about it when one of my friends, who is a good film critic and an amazing writer (thanks to Jigish), re-posted the article in FB about the “Kuttippuram Palam” movie’s online release in Reelmonk. Once I reached home that evening after work, this was my main job, to setup Reelmonk. I have not connected my HTPC to my AVR in a while since all of my shows with Multi Channel sound can be watched with my TV itself, Blu Ray player or Cable box. I use my HTPC usually for two channel music whether it is files or streaming and of course for browsing web as well as all sort of music through web. I connected the DP to HDMI cable between my PC and AVR, configured the AVR again as my 5.1 sound device and tested it. Finally opened the Chrome and opened the Reelmonk.com site.

A screenshot from Kuttippuram Palam movie

Reelmonk is a site and an app. In the site you can register and buy credits. You need to download and install the player app. Once you open the site you can see movies listed. When you buy a movie, you spend your credits and you get a code in your registered mobile phone. Once you apply the code, you can start downloading and (simultaneously) playing the movie in the app. The process is very easy and user friendly. My international card was accepted instantly and I was able to buy credits in few seconds and buy my first movie. The only problem I faced initially was the resolution and scaling. But it was my fault actually (I use a 4K UHD TV and many apps need custom scaling to fit in). As soon as I hit the play button, it started the stream flawlessly. What a relief! After so many years of waiting I am watching a Malayalam movie online, streaming, legally, in good quality from a team of enthusiasts of our own land! The few movies I have watched so far hold really good picture and audio quality. True HD looks like True HD. Audio is smooth and flawless. More than anything you are watching a fully legal copy!

A screenshot of site and app

The player app is very simple and minimalistic. I haven’t experienced any major problems with the player during playback. Beware when you drag the slider for fast forward or rewind as it can get jerky. But it catches up soon. As far as what I would like to see in the player is the support for true surround formats. At this point I am not sure whether it is the player app or the movie files itself which doesn’t support the true Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1 or any higher formats, all I can listen is the Dolby Prologic or PL II which just upmixes  5.1 channels from the two channel cues. It is still not bad, you can listen to all 5.1 speakers and a good AVR can span the appropriate audio to surround / center with proper depth. But I would like a built in control panel for the app where I can tweak the Audio filters and settings and use the full capabilities of surround formats which is supported by your Hardware, like MPC-HC. I also would envision more higher resolution formats coming in the future. I am not trying to compare it with some other giants like Amazon or Netflix at this point. But the Reelmonk looks promising for a startup service and has the right features as a base layer now from which it can be expanded to something great.

A screenshot from Aadupuliyattam movie

Reelmonk needs the files in the same folder where you configure the path in the player. Also, you will find that its just a 'file' without any extension. Reelmonk have some custom encoding mechanism to make the file only readable in Reelmonk player, from the same folder and with in the same PC and user credentials. It is to prevent copying and piracy. But you can backup the files to your external storage when you have more movies in the default location. You can always copy them back and play them again whenever you want. Good job there! I have chatted with couple of Reelmonk support guys. They are very friendly and enthusiastic. They have helped me with so many questions. Please go to the site, www.reelmonk.com and take a look. I am sure you will not be disappointed, but rather would be amazed to see what is there and how cool it is!

Setup used for review:

TV – Samsung 55JS8500 55” SUHD 4K HDR TV.

PC – Dell Precision Custom PC with i7 and Nvidia GeForce 950 Graphics with JRiver Media Server.
4K Blu-Ray – Oppo UDP-203 UHD/HDR Disc Player, CD/SACD – Denon 1940CI Disc Player.
DAC – Teac UD-301 DSD DAC. 

AVR – Marantz SR6011 Dolby Atmos/ DTS:x  11.2 channels in 5.2.4 setup.

Amp – Rogue Audio Sphinx V2 Integrated Amp w/ Northern Electric Tubes for fronts/Music.

Tower Speakers – Monitor Audio Silver 6.
Center Speaker– Monitor Audio SLCR, Surround Speakers – NHT SuperZero Book Shelf Speakers.

Height channel Speakers - PSB Imagine XA x 4 Atmos modules.

Subwoofers – Outlaw Audio LFM-1 and SVS Sound SB-1000.

Audioquest, Mogami and Bluejean cables.