Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Happy Birthday Jo!


[Pics Courtesy RmKV]

Inniku namma Jo birthday… So ellarum JOra oru thadavai kai thattunga! While I take a short stroll down memory lane with the birthday girl…

Jo was first seen as Ajith’s fictional lover in Vaali. She looked cute but it was a miracle I even noticed her since the heroine was Simran! She was expressive and bubbly but the following movies, especially Kushi, took those characteristics to irritating levels. I distinctly remember one particular scene in Kushi (where she apologizes to Vijay) which is probably the scene where she overacted the most in her career. She did tone her expressions down in movies like Mugavari and Dumm Dumm Dumm and gradually began growing on me.

Personally, 12B is the movie where I became Jo's fan. As I said in my review “she has toned down her facial contortions to just the right level and now one can marvel at the wide array of expressions she turns on and off with ease”. But the film itself was a box-office flop and with no hits for almost 2 full years, she was pretty much written off.

But 2003 saw the long-deserved upswing in her fortunes. She opened the year with Dhool; she was gorgeous and earned our sympathy in Kaakka Kaakka (my favorite Jo character so far); and she ended the year with another hit in Thirumalai. She continued the good streak in 2004 with a double role and a Filmfare award for Perazhagan and a hit in Manmadhan. And she can now claim that she played the title role in the biggest hit in Tamil film history! Way to go, Jo!

So here’s a very Happy Birthday to Kollywood’s most loveable heroine...

24 Comments:

At 11:27 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

JO JO JO JOTHIKA...Happy Birthday, JO!

BB, I was recently chatting with a friend of mine...and I was telling her, "Jo was fine in Chandramukhi but nothing beats her elegance and grace in Kaaka Kaaka." Yep, thatz my favorite Jo character..."azhagaana en Maaya...azhagazhagaana en Maaya"-nu sonnaaney andha ulagathukku velicham alikkira Jothi :)

These two photos of the angelic Jo brings to mind those beautiful lines from Kaaka Kaaka:
pudavaiyin thaerndha madippil visiri vaazhaigall..
thoallgallil aadum koondhal karisal kaadugall...

I think her gorgeous eyes, winsome smile and beautiful, thick tresses all put together are A SIGHT(!) for sore eyes ;) [anuba98 ode tag line-a ipdi use pannuven-nu neenge ethir paakale ille!]

seri, will stop my jollukull puyal...

 
At 2:29 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello
Please have a limit on all JOllus!!!

Surya

 
At 3:55 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yucks!!!

 
At 4:37 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

balaji & ram,

neenga rendu perum definite concur aara ore topic idhu dhaan ..

@run

 
At 5:27 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Many many happy birthday wishes to Jo.. (Tenali-yai marandhutteengaley.. selective amnesia-va?) :-)

Maya is my favorite too... "Unga kanngalai parthutte irukkanum.... appuram oru naal sethup poyidanum"

 
At 5:28 AM, Blogger Raju said...

Oops,,, this 'R' was me.. forgot to write my full name.. (Early morning blues..) :-)

 
At 6:21 AM, Blogger Me too said...

'ungalaiyellam Surya kitte pottu kodukanam pola irukku!' (Like 'ungalai nalla ketta vaarthayala thittanam polirukku!' from KB's Manadhil urudhi vendum)
BTW, adhukkudhaan Chennai-le ippo 'Jo'nnu mazhai peiyudha?

 
At 8:07 AM, Blogger mitr_bayarea said...

Balaji: neengo ivolavu big fan of Jo nitu theriyama poche, you should probably shake hands with my husband sometime, cos he is appo appo Jo fan.

Happy Bday to Jo unga punniyathala!

 
At 8:15 AM, Blogger Balaji said...

ram, though she played the title character in CM, that wouldn't figure among my fav jo characters. konjam overacting was there. but admire her hard work in that though...

anon, "quality posts"? uh oh :)

surya, look at those pics. epdi sir limit panradhu?!

@run, LOL. probably true :)

raju, neraiya movies mention pannala. only a few key ones. don't remember anything special about jo in 'tenali'. adhaan mention pannala :)

me too, LOL. quite possible.

mitr, indha postla irukura pics hubbya paakka sollunga. 'appo appo' will change to 'always' :)

 
At 9:46 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

dey bittu (the @run who peter-ifies here),
thought BB and I had similar tastes with respect to figures and feature films...enna BB, neeyum mandaya aatre?!

 
At 9:56 AM, Blogger Vijay Ramamurthi said...

amazing pics...super ones..

happy birthday to u..happy b'day to u dear Jo. Haaaaaaapyyyyyy birthdaaaaaaaay to uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

 
At 10:22 AM, Blogger Munimma said...

ivalo jollu vitta ennathukkaarathu! no wonder, chennaiyil mazhai kaalam ;-)

tenaali = too much makeup, only thing I remember of her.

 
At 10:51 AM, Blogger Balaji said...

ram, idhuvaraikum indha blogla namma conversations vechu paatha @run's conclusion sari thaane! its been rajni vs kamal, nayan vs asin, etc. adhaan mandaiyai aatinen :)

vijay, yep. rmkv photographer sure knows how to photograph jo...

 
At 1:03 PM, Blogger Krish said...

Not a great fan of Jo but good to see that the fan club is strong. Actually I have no one (among the present crop of heroines) that I can say I really like. Give me a Savithri or Madhubala (yesteryear) anyday :-)

 
At 1:28 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

thennavan, ungalukku pidicha era-laendhey oru line adichu vidaren:

Nadakkaravanode Adichuvadugall Pinnoakki Poana, Nadakkaravanum Nadanthavanum Orey Edathula Thaan Irupaan...

konjam DVD era-ku vaange, Sir...Aishwarya Rai, Jothika, Sneha, ille namma BB ode setup, Nayan Moonjiaa...yaaravadhu oruthar...?

 
At 2:53 PM, Blogger Narayanan Venkitu said...

Happy Birthday JO and thanks Balaji for letting us know.

Just like you , I began to like JO only after 12B. IMHO she is a pretty actress with a lot of talent. I won't call her glamorous.! But she has a certain Charm.! I was very impressed with her in Thenali and now Chandramukhi. I haven't watched many of the films you had mentioned. I think I've watched DUM DUM which I liked as well. I wonder how old she is??

 
At 10:24 PM, Blogger Ram C said...

Good recap of her path.. Eventhough I had criticised several of her works and mannerisms, I appreciated her decent portryals several times. One of the best I liked out of hers, was 'Dum Dum Dum'

 
At 10:40 PM, Blogger Balaji said...

thennavan, edho current heroines pudikkala OK. adhukkaaga oredia avlo pastla poganuma? not even sims, shobana, banupriya, gauthami and others in 80s/90s?

narayanan, 'kaakka kaakka' paathutitngala ilaya?

ramc, nanum adhe thaan. i think everyone would've criticized her in 'kushi' and few other movies...

 
At 10:41 PM, Blogger NS said...

ippadi anniyayathukku JO-llu vidareengale!!!! me not a greatfan of Jo, infact liked her only in Kakha Kakha so far... but I really found her charming only in the RMKV ads... when she says 'ella colorum rmkv-la irukku', it was damn cute! she looked gorgeous in that 50k color saree...:D

Chandramukhi-la thalaivar irukkum bodhu ivala yaar paatha?!!

 
At 12:22 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think JO is 28 years old.

 
At 8:54 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

happy birthday to you jo.i wish you a nice and first birthday after your marriage

 
At 4:47 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

hi jo...this is ramya...i am working for a pvt co...during my college days u and surya was very grace to us...v used to discuss a lot about u...v never missed to see u r movie...v have seen dum dum dum so many times... i am very happy when u got married to surya...in our college v have a seperate jo fans club...v have seen u r marriage photo in net and v all saved those pictures in our photo gallery...u recent film mozhi i have seen 20 times....i wish u and surya a very happy married life especially to u r baby.....bye bye

 
At 1:54 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Hi jooo... Happy Birth Day.. missing u a lot in screens..

 
At 8:56 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

hiiiiii very very happy birthday jo ur the best no doubt in tat i don wana tel ur like this like tat coz the whole world knows u very well. be happy always with ur family long live joe 18/10/08 these r my prayers frm my hrt god will keep u always happy ur everloving fan samina firdose even if u ask me after 20yr whose fan iam witout thinking i wud say joe until death...............

 

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