Mausam movie review

Spoiler Alert: This post reveals the story line (?); but don't worry! The director has already done a terrific job spoiling the movie.

Pick up the horrible incidents that happened in the past 2-3 decades; and create characters that connect all these dots. That's what Mausam is all about. Operation blue star, ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri pandits, terrorism in kashmir, Babri masjid, Twin towers, Godhra... You name it! Every notorious tragedy of the past, is a part of the movie. I liked the fact that the director wanted to show how humanity is buried in the name of differences; but when that is not focused on one incident and virtually everything is taken into the scope of a three hour movie, the result is an extremely long, boring movie; and that's exactly what Mausam is. (Aanaalum padam rommmba mosamnga! :D)

The best part of the movie is the heroine and right from scene 1, she faces trouble wherever she goes. Born in Kashmir, victimized by ethnic cleansing, losing her uncle in Mumbai blasts, missing her lover due to Kargil war, discriminated by the US government after the twin tower attack, escaping death in punjab riots... She is more or less the angel of death in the movie. If I were her, I would better stay home and let the world live in peace.

The other funny aspect was the chemistry between the hero and the heroine. Shahid is obviously shorter than Sonam and he looks like her little brother than anything else. And their ridiculously long love story spanning three decades of riots and violence is just intolerable. On top of this, the director apparently forgot that there is an editing department and there are so many scenes after which you scratch your head, thinking "Why have that scene now?". The climax scene was the best of the lot. Every time a bunch of goons (causing riots as usual) walk around or even remotely get mentioned in a statement, the heroine asks "Who are they?" and Shahid says "They are nameless shadows of death" and this statement is repeated like 3 or 4 times to stress the importance of it. Likewise, with his left arm paralyzed by a flight accident, the hero climbs through the arms of a giant wheel to rescue a child and this part alone takes about 15 mins of the movie. As usual, he rescues the child and his arm becomes functional again. Looks like the director forgot the fact that people have been watching so many movies in the past to automagically understand the result of such sequences.

In short, I wasted about 3 hrs of my time, watching a movie that had no traces of continuity or screenplay in it. Yawwwwn!

The Indian "formula"

It's been a pretty hectic schedule at work and I almost forgot that I had a blog. When you are forced to spend a large portion of your day working and your personal life asymptotically tends to zero, you don't get the mood to do anything else with the remaining time. The only activity I've been enjoying these days is playing racquet ball (American version of squash) as it tends to give you the peace of mind that you miss the most. Enough with the off-topic chitchat. Today I was watching the movie "Vivah", a typical formula film that reminded me of Vikraman films; and that combined with the numb philoso-sarcastic (if you will) mood I'm in right now, catalyzed this post. The essential parts of a formula movie...

#1 - A divine protagonist

The hero and/or the heroine of the movie should be too good to be true. So loving, so caring, so selfless, so beautiful/handsome, so forgiving, in short, so unrealistic.

#2 - A cruel antagonist

Antagonists come in two flavors - I'd call them the born-villains and made-villains. Born villain should be soulless, selfish, if it's a male he should booze/smoke/should be the opposite of a teetotaler, kill people like mosquitoes and get away with it; usually starting with a murder in the very first scene of the movie. Made villains are good persons with bad misconceptions. He/she can turn bad even because of the silliest reason one could imagine ex: s/he thought that the world is flat and the protagonist thought otherwise. And just to prove himself/herself, s/he will be behind all insane stuff going on in the movie.

#3 - Sentiment bit

Usually dominated by ladies... Mom, sister, wife, one-side-love, neighbor who has always been sister-like... Someone who eventually gets killed or for whom the protagonist risks his life.

If it's a guy, it's usually the father, a friend or in the worst case a brother; but nothing else. It's hard to believe the protagonist risking life for a distant relative who is a guy (girls are accepted for these roles :D)

#4 - A terrible incident

Something terrible should invariably happen in the movie. Some accident, a betrayal, a murder, sudden poverty, death of the most important family member in the most crucial moment that turned the family to beggars overnight. Usually this happens just before the interval and the second half of the movie will be the phoenix re-incarnation.

#5 - Songs

Whether it's the song that brings out the difficulties of the protagonist or the song that turns the protagonist into a millionaire in minutes, songs are inevitable in a formula movie.

#6 - Villain's expiry

Expiry can be literal expiry or expiry of his/her character. A born villain will usually die and a made villain will transform into a mahatma just a scene before the climax.

How many of these crap movies are we destined to watch? GOK!

Indian Cinema - Any Takers?

I've always been a movie-freak and there was a season when almost every post of mine was a review on some movie! The only change to that in the recent days, is that I've started watching a lot of international movies. and the more I watch them, the more disappointed I get! The reason is pretty simple. Many or almost all good scenes that I've ever enjoyed in an Indian cinema, (Tamizh cinema to be more specific) have been lifted from elsewhere. Sometimes the whole story, sometimes the important scenes, sometimes the concept... One way or the other, we're largely influenced by the works of other film makers and we either copy them or make 'junk' masala movies. I don't say masala movies shouldn't exist! As one big fan of superstar, I will not say that, as most of his movies fall into this category. Entertainment is and should be there in every film industry and one cannot always expect a movie to be dead-serious. But I get really pissed off at the stereotype, unoriginal crap that a lot of actors/directors try to impose on the audience in the name of entertainment. When you look at the parallel line of cinema - the serious/art/impressive movies department; how many great films have we made to show-off to the international audience?

Look at this snapshot from the movie "About Schmidt" for instance.

Absolutely no dialogs from JN. But you could see the aversion, the hatred, the "take your hand off my shoulders" feeling; just by his looks. How many of our actors can enact the same scene; subtly without any exaggeration?

If we look at the stories and their screenplay, we are miles away from international standard. At this juncture, I should appreciate the works of directors like Bala, Manirathnam, Radha Mohan, etc and people like Prakashraj who strive to elevate the levels of our films. The cinematography has also greatly improved in the recent days and I see quite a lot of movies that are just so beautifully presented. The only glitch there is that the audience might not understand a movie like "Naan Kadavul" today; and making a film like that which is very high in standards and very low in collection would only discourage producers from making more films like that. The biggest responsibility of a director today is not just to make a great film; but also to make the audience appreciate a film and bring them along to the world of better movies. Just like any other field, I'm sure that we have a lot of youngsters and talented folks interested in movies, striving to become the best in the department they love. Perhaps they are not getting the opportunity that they deserve or that they are bound into the labyrinth of circumstances and social dignities. I hope and pray that this changes pretty soon; and we get to that golden era of Indian films.

Picchai paatthiram yaendhi vandhen...

A dialog that you often get to listen from ARR fans is "ARR songs will sound very different in the beginning and as you keep listening to it, you'll start liking them". Though I personally feel that this concept is BS (no offense meant Rams;)), I could sense this kind of a growing attachment to the "Picchai paatthiram yaendhi vandhaen" song from the movie "Naan Kadavul". But this time, it's not too much about the tune, but about the meaning, the combination and the feeling as such. The most interesting part is that this is song was penned by IR himself (thanks to Vinu for this info), as opposed to Vali whom I thought was the author of this magical piece.

The music of the other song, Om Sivoham is much more impulsive and IR has literally performed a Rudhra thaandavam (eternal dance) with his music in that song. Further many excrepts are from sanskrit hymns in praise of Lord Shiva, especially Shri Rudram which is known for its vibrations and it is believed that Lord Shiva Himself is excited by chanting Rudhram. In particular, IR/Vali/Bala have been careful enough to choose the most important stanza of Shri Rudhram that ends with - "Namah Shivaaya cha Shivadharaaya cha" which is considered to be an extremely sacred, extremely protected manthra that forms the heart of Vedas. Even in the audio release function, this stanza was used when releasing the CD! :) So that song creating vibrations in us is no big surprise.



But this specific song - Picchai paatthiram, is pretty slow paced and the music pretty much is conventional, except for the strong chords in the background, especially at the start of the song. What is more impacting is the theme of the song, the words used and the suitability of the song to the movie. After "Kurai ondrum illai", I've not seen a song with so much of philosophy and aptness; expressed from the viewpoint of a weak/disabled person. Though the song broadly applies to any human being, applying this to the tormenting handicaps in the movie; and to their conversations about God, this song has so much of a significance in the movie and reality. To call this anything less than a masterpiece from the maestro would be an understatement.

Lyrics for those who can read and understand Tamizh (Best conveys the meaning and the impact):

பிச்சைப்பாத்திரம் ஏந்தி வந்தேன்... அய்யனே என் அய்யனே...
பிண்டம் என்னும், எலும்போடு சதை நரம்புதிரமும் அடங்கிய உடம்பு என்னும் பிச்சைப்பாத்திரம் ஏந்தி வந்தேன்... அய்யனே என் அய்யனே... (Excellent comparison)

அம்மையும் அப்பனும் தந்ததா... இல்லை ஆதியின் வல்வினை சூழ்ந்ததா?இம்மையை நான் அறியாததால் சிறு பொம்மையின் நிலையினில் உண்மையை உணர்ந்திடப்பிச்சைப்பாத்திரம் ஏந்தி வந்தேன் அய்யனே என் அய்யனே... (Helplessness revealed with the best choice of words)

அத்தனை செல்வமும் உன்னிடத்தில் நான் பிச்சைக்கு செல்வது எவ்விடத்தில்?
வெறும் பாத்திரம் உள்ளது என்னிடத்தில் அதன் சூத்திரமோ அது உன்னிடத்தில்... (How true)

ஒரு முறையா... இரு முறையா... பல முறை பல பிறப்பெடுக்க வைத்தாய்...
புது வினையா பழ வினையா கணம் கணம் தினம் என்னை துடிக்க வைத்தாய்...

பொருளுக்கு அலைந்திடும் பொருளற்ற வாழ்க்கையும் துரத்துதே... (My fav line)
உன் அருள் அருள் அருள் என்று அலைகின்ற மனம் இன்று பிதற்றுதே...
அருள் விழியால் நோக்குவாய்... மலர் பதத்தால் தாங்குவாய்...
உன் திருக்கரம் எனை அரவணைத்துனதருள் பெற பிச்சைப்பாத்திரம் ஏந்தி வந்தேன் அய்யனே... என் அய்யனே... (Amazing!)

Lyrics for those who can understand but not read Tamizh:

http://tamilsonglyric.blogspot.com/2009/01/naan-kadavul-songs-and-lyrics.html

The meaning:

I came holding the beggar's bowl...
A bowl made of flesh, bones, blood and nerves called the body.
I came holding the beggar's bowl...

Did my mom and dad gift me with this bowl?
Or is it the product of my past misdeeds?
Clueless on the current birth, in I came like a puppet...
Holding the beggar's bowl...

You own all the riches and I know not where to beg...
I just have the bowl and only you know all its secrets.

Not just once, not just twice...
Many a times, in many forms,
You made me take innumerous births

A consequence of my present misdeeds
Or the past...
You made me suffer every moment I lived...

The meaningless life in search of riches is haunting me...
The mind that begs for your grace is now being senseless...

Look at me with the gracious eyes,
Carry me with those velvet feet
To get your care and then your grace...
I came holding the beggar's bowl!

The post has already grown a bit lengthy... So I don't want to expand on the philosophies of it; and the ways it applies to the dialogs in the movie. Just pay close attentions to the perspective of God among the different characters in the movie, especially the beggars... You will get to know how this song conveys the movie's message in a crux!

Naan Kadavul - Aham Brahmasmi

One line comment would be - A must watch.

But as far as this movie goes, this wasn't anything unexpected. The unexpected part was the comment that I got about the movie - "It is an excellent movie; but it is too raw that one can't watch it the second time". Something that you don't often get to hear about a movie.

The movie does leave a deep impact in you; but I wouldn't agree with the statement above. Put in a nutshell, the movie dwells about the concept of God, and the way He manifests Himself in the life of the poor. Bala has handled the concept so technically that you find it really hard to diagnose whether he is a theist or an atheist. The underlying message is that humans sometimes take up the role of (some aspects of) God which makes a difference in the lives of others who cross lines with those humans. It takes the Advaita concept one step further by assuming the responsibilities of God; in this specific movie, the case in point being Ahoris. A group of poor beggars exploited by a goon live in a South Indian town and an Ahori happens to come to their town. What happens beyond that is the realistic portrayal in Nan Kadavul. The scenes where physically handicapped people are tortured just move your heart; and the impact is left in you for one good hour. It takes a Bala to really combine the philosophies of life and death; with the social issues yet leaving the storyline intact.

Pluses:
Storyline,
Ilayaraja's BGM (simply amazing...),
Cast and their dedication. Arya and Pooja have done a great job; and more importantly there are just a part of the movie. Not a typical Tamizh movie hero or heroine who occupies every frame of the movie.
The natural conversation among the beggars is just amazing... They have their share of fun too; but the topics they discuss would be of their levels and understanding. That was so naturally portrayed. (I specifically loved "Aamaa ivaru periya Ambani... Yaarraa adhu? Adhellaam unakku teriyaadhunne... Cell phone vikkiravainga" :))
Vaali's lines in Picchai paatthiram and the way it has been brought into the movie... Simply mindblowing.

Minuses:
Arya's Sanskrit/Tamizh. Sometimes he talks Tamizh like a Northie and some other times he talks it like a native rural speaker.
Very poor graphics.
Some level of commercialization of the subject (come on... it's a Tamizh movie and without this the movie won't even get to B or C centers),
villain is portrayed like a dumbo. A man with that level of network comes all alone to fight Arya as if he has fixed his appointment for death.
I'm not sure if Pooja's voice was dubbed; but irrespective of who did it, I felt it could've been done better. The same holds good to her acting in the scenes she cries... But for a person who can get Laila to act, getting work done from Pooja should be a cakewalk.

Overall, if you love philosophy and the way philosophy, religion mingles with the routine activities specifically on the darker side, Naan kadavul is just the movie your are looking for.

Copy cat... :)

When it comes to Tamizh music directors, the title 'copy cat' was synonymous to Deva until a few years back. These days, though I hear occasional news about some track being copied, I was under the impression that at least a major portion of the songs were being composed originally. But I was disproved totally today! :) As usual I was spending time on Youtube and on this occasion I was listening to some very old classics like "Ennirandu padhinaaru vayadhu", "Ullatthil nalla ullam" etc; and ended up seeing a related video called 'Copy cat Harris Jeyaraj'. Harris Jeyaraj copying western songs isn't news; but the number of songs he's copied definitely is, at least to me. I mean, almost all his famous songs have been branded as plagiarized. This was disgusting to know and honestly if music composition is only about this, I could become a music director too. I wonder how the producers and directors encourage such things! Below are a few songs I found on Youtube and don't miss the last video that got me ROTFL :)
























The point to be noted is that this guy has not even been for a decade in the industry and the list given here would pretty much cover 10% of his songs! All I could say is EKSI!

It's been movies and work all the way!

For the past few days, work has been real tight and personally I have the habit of taking frequent surfing breaks and that way I didn't miss Orkut or Gmail that much. But blogging on the other hand demands some time and thoughts and I haven't been too successful in finding both along with the mood to write, over the past few days. So apart from work, the only thing I've been doing is watching some movies and fortunately, I got to see some great movies. Let me just summarize them...

Kanchivaram:

Amazing movie. A Prakashraj starrer directed by Priyadharshan. A classic example of beautiful art direction and camera. I initially thought it was a Brahmin bashing communist film from its name; but it actually turned out to be a completely different story. A simple story of how an inidividual weaver's life is affected by the exploitation of silk weavers in the last century; this movie is definitely a must watch for anyone who likes simple, well presented films.

The City of God:

More of a masala movie; but still it's definitely worth a watch especially for the stunning screenplay. Connecting n dimensions together to narrate a plot isn't easy and it has been handled very well in this movie. If you are a lover of gangster movies, this one is a must watch; and even otherwise you will enjoy the movie.

Oldboy:

This one is actually a Korean movie; but for the first time (or at least the first time I remember) I enjoyed a movie made in an unknown language to this extent. The theme is sick and many might shun away from the taboo concept; but the impact this movie creates is mindblowing. It really takes a completely different plane of thoughts to come up with such a story and narrate it in such a striking way.

The curious case of Benjamin Button:

Again a completely different concept; but IMHO not as good as the above three. It's good, pleasant and different. But nothing in it says it is a must watch. The novel plot and the makeup carries the movie apart from a few exceptional dialogs and scenes.

Squeezing in time for these four movies was an achievement. So pretty much that's how I spent the last week... :)

Poo (tamil movie) - The synonym of unconditional love...

People generally get mad when I write stuff on movies (especially reviews) and pretty soon I'm planning to start a dedicated movie review site where the focus would be to review all the movie I've seen and I see, in a detailed way. But this movie, definitely deserves a post for two things - 1. A village subject in this decade that is really natural and unadulterated and 2. The concept. Personally I'm a big hater of Srikanth for his inability to act and that kept me from watching this movie for a quite long time. But I actually feel that I should've seen this movie a long back.

The movie story in one line - "Unconditional love that Maari has for Thanga Raasu"!

Biggest pluses:

The Concept - A heroine centered emotion driven movie that is a rarity in Tamil cinema, especially if the subject is village based.

Camera - Though the camera man tries to overdo things at some places, becoming predictable/wrong (the scene where she comes around the palm tree is a classic example... The lighting conditions between the tree she stands below and the tree that the camera revolves around differ drastically); the overall camera work in the movie is no less than amazing. Whether it is the shot that begins from inside the Hen's cage or the village landscape shots in vivid colors and that special blue effect or the scenes where multiple emotions are captured in a single frame with a higher depth of field, the cameraman has done a great job.

Perfectly natural screenplay - No extra additions, no exaggerations... Very practical and very good screenplay.

The cuts - From present to a flash back, to another flash back and then suddenly back into present; still remaining crystal clear.

The poetic approach - This is one of the biggest pluses actually. Some of the scenes were simply outstanding in the way the happenings are portrayed. Some examples... the scene where the heroine expresses her mixed emotions to her friend when she is questioned whether she is not sad at all about the happenings, the scenes where the heroine's mother comes in... Amazingly subtle portrayal of her grief. The childish things that the heroine does to impress Srikanth. The way metaphors are used in the scenes to convey emotions, as in the scene where she hugs the goat and says "just because it's sold it doesn't mean we need to forget about it". The "Penakkaarar" character and the self respect he wants to command - the climax dialogs about dreams. The words she pens down to express her love...

Minimal role to Srikanth - Though Srikanth could say he is the hero of the movie, he is used very minimally in the movie and the whole court is given to the heroine. It's good in two ways - we don't need to see Srikanth screwing things up and secondly the story is conveyed in the way it is supposed to be conveyed.

Now the negatives...

Cast - Srikanth is an obvious bad choice especially for a village role. I'm not saying this out of personal hatred; but still the director should've got someone else who can mould into a villager. Perhaps he was the only actor who was ready to act for a few thousands! :D The heroine has performed excellently well in some scenes (especially the scene where she talks to her friend about what she has in her for Srikanth) and so artificially in some others (especially when she is supposed to cry). Other than these two characters, since most of them are actual villagers, I don't really think it was too tough to choose people for the roles. I loved the selection for the heroine's brother and mother.

A few overdone things - For instance, the heroine going out at midnight for stupid reasons. I agree that it's a highly important thing from the heroine's perspective; but still a village girl, that too a timid one, frequently going out at midnight doesn't sync in too well.

Comedy - Not too funny! Period... :)

Some silly mistakes - TN 57 (dindugul registration) number plate on a Sivakasi TVS 50 :), the language that is more Tirunelveli and Nagercoil than Madurai/Sivakasi, the periods (from the heroine's young age to the most recent) aren't handled too well and the mother looks the same in both these sequences, the shots about Srikanth's friend's kid (the reason why he is residing out of the village) look like camcorder shots, the hero's dad wearing gold, white and white when he is actually not very happy, etc.

Overall, I'd say this one is a must watch movie despite its flaws purely for the storyline and the way it is handled. If you believe in unconditional love, Poo will definitely touch your heart like the petals of a freshly bloomed flower...

Abhiyum Naanum -- Is Radha Mohan's viewpoint right?

"Everyone is an individual... So just because you are an individual's parent, don't try to control his/her life" -- this is the crux of Abhiyum Naanum and I'm sure this is not a spoiler because Radha Mohan himself has stated this in the press meet. When I saw this movie a couple of days back, the first thing that ran in my mind was to blog about the movie, not in the usual "Wow! Radha Mohan rocks... Hats off to Prakashraj" tone; but to analyze the point he made in the movie.

Well... West believes in this independence of individuals concept and we practically see what is happening with them. I'm not a basher in anyway and with all due respect to their culture and tradition, we see that the western society is just falling apart and a strongly knit family is becoming a rarity here. One simple reason behing that - independence. One of my lecturers at college often uses the sentence "There is a difference between freedom and independence" and when it comes to relationships and family, the latter is diabolic. Mom, dad, brother, sister, husband, wife or any other relationship that man has defined relies on the mutual respect and bond for each other. When the freedom crosses the limit and makes this bond insignificant then there is no point in having that freedom at all. After all, won't a father really understand the needs of his kids? I'm not saying that parents are always right. I'm just saying that they have all the rights on the earth to make sure you are taking the right path. If they are not convinced about your path, either make them understand or don't take that path at all. But I'd never accept the statement that parents are nothing more than two humans who mated and gave birth to somebody; and beyond that point that somebody is a completely different individual. If we are down to that level of practicality in relationships, then we are better off going back to the good old days of nomadic life than being a part of a completely mechanical, loosely knit, baseless society.

Another point made in the movie... Grand weddings alone consume about 2000 crores of money per year in India. If so, then that is the happiest news one can hear because a wedding is not a one man show. Caterers, Maids, Decorators, Photographers, Videographers, Property owners, Car companies, Flower sellers, Fireworks factories, Grocers, Printers, you name it. Almost every segment of the economic society gets benefited in a marriage. What kind of an economic genius (who is close to the PM perhaps because he is a Sardar) will ignore such a huge capital flowing into the society? After all, isn't this consumption driven self-sustained economy the need of the hour?

Third comes the exaggeration part of it. If reality is portrayed as such in a story or a movie, chances are that it doesn't seem too interesting. So friends are turned into lovers, bruises are turned into surgeries and 100s are turned into 100,000s when it comes to movies. That's acceptable. But trying to defend a weak and meek storyline with exaggerations is something I never expected from Radha Mohan. Whether it is the pre-KG interview/admission scene or the 'shouting from the boat at midnight' scene or the scenes where Trisha almost acts like a stranger in her own house, Radha Mohan miserably fails and the worst part comes in the form of Manobala, Thalaivasal Vijay, his wife (I wonder if she has a dialog in the movie) are completely useless in the movie apart from the 'jaalra' scenes where they say the sardarji turned all their lives into beautiful blooming roses.

Except for a very few niche Radha Mohan scenes, Abhiyum Naanum as Srini rightly mentioned could be considered a movie from the director of Ponniyin Selvan and not from the director of Mozhi...

All in all, Abhiyum Naanum was not a bad movie; but it failed to impress me both in terms of the tag line and in terms of a Duet movies -Radha Mohan combo...

Traffic jam!

I'd been going around places over the past few days and too many things caught my attention, resulting in a complete traffic jam on my top floor. Let me try to throw some light on the top 3 topics so that it gets freed up a bit.

Poverty in US:

I'd once blogged about how old people run shops in Florida to win their bread and I've seen drunkards sitting by the roadside with some cardboard that says they need help/they are homeless, etc; but for the first time I saw a kind of poverty that really reminded me of Diwali times in India. Anyone who grew up in India, specifically in Tamilnadu would know how poor families struggle to put up smiling faces on the festive day. When some guys get crackers for about 10 grands, this poor father will be taking his son to the busiest street in the city/town with a few hundred bucks in his pocket and a few tons of heaviness in his heart; and he'll fake a smile and get him loads of cheap stuff that would create an illusion of excess to the kid. I saw the Americanized version of that poverty yesterday when I was renting a car. The African American guy had three daughters and he would be in his middle ages, perhaps 40 if my guess is right; and he had come over with his family for the holidays. He was trying hard to put up a smile but duplicate seals could be seen all over it. The girls were constantly complaining about something and he was telling the rental car agent about the nasty trip they had just to save some money. I was almost done with my paper work and just when I was about to start with the GPS that I had rented along with the car, he rested his glowing eyes on it and asked the agent "Is that a GPS?". The agent promptly tried to make business out of it and asked "Yes. Would you like to get one too?". With a dejected smile, yearning heart and a mind fighting to conceal his emotions, he said "No thanks! We know where we are going" in a shaky voice; and at that moment he almost caught me in tears.

Seven pounds:

After a really long time, a movie that I watched in a theater made me feel happy to have chosen it. Seven pounds is an amazingly simple, yet touching story that really creates an impact in us. Except for the never changing reaction of Will Smith, everything about the movie was awesome; and I'd say it's a must watch movie. The scenes where an old lady explains her sufferings to Will and the scenes where Will uncontrollably falls in love; were simply beautiful. A special mention has to be given to the cameraman who has done an excellent job in composing the shots. The irony is that me and my friend went to the night show around 10 PM and it was funny and interesting to see the restlessness in my friend when trying hard not to sleep :)

It's pay time:

2 months of vacation and almost 2 months of pay-lessness... At last I'm back into a job and I hope and pray this one goes well.

The lengthiest movie I ever watched

I started watching the movie "Aitraaz" (Hindi) sometime in the afternoon yesterday and as with the other movies I watched this week, the source was the DVD collection that I landed upon. But then, as with almost all the DVDs this one hung too; and I had no choice but to continue the movie online. Megavideo has a dvd print of this movie but it has also brought in a stupid rule that one can watch only 72 mins of video consecutively and after that you need to wait 1 full hour (!!!!) to continue watching the rest. So I thought I'd resort to a torrent, download the DVD and then continue... But after trying 7 pages of google results (trust me I tried almost every site) and spending like a few hours on this one, I was almost about to give up when one link said the movie is available online; and guess what? The links given were Youtube links!!!! The print too is pretty decent since the movie is not too new... So effectively, I watched the movie in so many installments over a period of about 12 hrs when I could've just streamed with Youtube. EKSI...

EKSI

People who are from Tamilnadu and chat/Orkut quite often would definitely know the expansion of EKSI - "Enna Koduma Saravanan Idhu?" ("What a cruelty this is" to translate literally :D :D), a dialogue that became so popular after the movie Chandramukhi and I'm sure even the director of the movie wouldn't have known that this dialogue would be such a massive hit when he actually directed the scene! The usage context of this phrase is well demonstrated by the video below :))



You know why I wanted to say EKSI? As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm working on finishing off all the hindi movies in the dvd collection that I discovered (?!) and in the past two days I've watched about 6 movies. But to my surprise, almost every DVD stuck in between or at the end and I had to go online to watch the remaining movie. Trust me even Pardes didn't run fully... Even if I watch the full movie online, I've always got crystal clear prints and uninterrupted streaming for free, especially if the movie is a bit old like the ones I saw yesterday and today. So technically, the guy who spent quite a lot of money in collecting these DVDs couldn't watch the movie one more time (assuming he watched them at least once in that DVD)! EKSI...

Subtitles...

I've been in the company guest house over a month now and only yesterday did I find that someone has left a collection of about 50 Hindi DVDs... Readily available DVDs mean lesser search time, need not worry about the quality of print online (I know Vinayak would be furious to hear this ;) :)), limited options to choose from and quick turn around times :D :D

Fortunately, I'm not a big Hindi movie freak and I'm one of those doubly-refined Madurai products, who never learned Hindi, never had too many Hindi speaking friends and who hardly sees any Hindi movies. These days, I've started watching Hindi movies in equal numbers; but my yet-to-be-seen list includes some of the most famous movies like Hum Aap Ki Hein Kaun; and as a result, out of the 50+ DVDs, there aren't too many previously watched movies. Actually, the week started with latest Hindi movies like Das Vidhaniya, Dostana and A Wednesday; and with this new DVD pack, I believe the 'Zee TV Vaaram' would continue for the next few weeks.

The best part about the whole thing are the subtitles. Given my ghindhi prowess, I always turn on subtitles just so I don't get lost when the characters start using uncommon words to make us believe that they are emotionally affected. Some of these subtitles really get me ROTFL. An example that hit my eyes from "Chori Chori Chupke Chupke" that I watched today...

(In the interest of people who know Hindi, I'll present the conversations in English :D)
Rani Muk: You can think of me as your sister. I'll tell my family about the whole thing and you can stay here.
Preethi: I'm happy to get a sister. But I don't want to share my sister's husband and make my sister feel bad. (Exact words used Behen and Soutan)

Subtitle: I don't want to be your co-wife :D :D

Mood and movies...

2002...
First day matinee show for a Manirathnam movie music directed by ARR... An entire group from my college... It wouldn't be an exaggeration if I say we were the only ones in the balcony of Ambika theater in Madurai. Such a huge gang, packed cinema hall and brimming expectations... Whistles, problems with the theater guards, booing, scolding the poor operator and everything typical of a first day show at Madurai was on, even before the movie started; not to mention the 'We will rock you' beats that our guys generated with alternate taps of their legs followed by a clap... It'd be an understatement if I say we were in the mood to watch a movie... We were actually ecstatically waiting for entertainment. But all the excitement was gone, 20 minutes after the movie started. "Oh my God! We should've planned something else" was the response among most of us and that included me too. Quite naturally, the movie had a very poor response - a commercial flop and an award kid. I believe that everyone who has some idea about Tamil cinema would've guessed that the movie was 'Kannatthil Mutthamittal' starring Madhavan, Simran, Keerthana, Nandita Das, Prakashraj, Pasupathi and others.

Today, I saw the movie again in solitude... This time in a completely different mindset, fully prepared for a deep impact movie. At the end of the movie, Morgan Freeman's words from 'The Shawshank Redemption' echoed in my ears... "A young stupid kid who committed the terrible crime... I want to talk to him... Tell him the way things are!" I still couldn't believe I said this movie wasn't good enough! Nobody would've written a review for a movie released 6 years ago; but if I don't express what I feel now, I'm not sure if I'd be able to sleep peacefully tonight! More than anything else, the movie stressed one important point that is repeated in Management classes - "Pick the right man for the right job and your work would turn out excellently". Sujatha - Manirathnam - ARR - Vairamuthu - Ravi. K. Chandran... Needless to say that the movie will turn out good. The best of the best, I'd say, was Sujatha... Tamil cinema will miss you sir! "...aval vayittril ulagai sandhikka avasarappadum oru kuzhandhai" (she carries a kid that is in a hurry to see this world), "Kannatthai kanneer nanaikka, maarbai thaai paal nanaikka, pirandha udanae kuzhandhayai thurandhu, marandhu, pirindhu pao yenum kodumayai endha kaalakattatthilum gnyaayappaduttha mudiyaadhu" (With tear soaked cheeks and milk soaked breasts, the mother was forced to desert, forget and isolate her new born kid; and this atrocity cannot be justified under any circumstances), "eppaommaa sanda mudiyum (followed by a grave silence)" (when will the war end?") and all the grown ups there stand still unable to answer a kid's question; "ammaa vaammaa namma madras kku paoiralaam... Anga sanda illa... army illa... namma rendu paerum okkaandhu TV paakkalaam... cinema paakkalaam" (Come mother... Let's go to Chennai... There is no war and no army there. We can sit together and watch TV or a movie)... The paradox in the last dialog left me thinking about this genius... How many things has he covered in one shot... It was so typical of a 9 year old kid, it says how TN and Srilanka are worlds different in living standards when they are separated by less than 100 kms, it also says the ignorance and carelessness of a fellow human being towards the other. I was almost caught in tears partly because of the scene and mainly because of the brilliance of the writer. There are just so many dialogs crafted so artistically all through the movie and if I go on at this rate, I'd end up giving the transcript! :D The next place goes to the camera! The range of lenses, the way a shot is quickly converted from a tele to a wide angle, constant movements instead of conventional still frames, the bokeh in a lot of scenes... It was simply mind blowing. ARR deserves the special credit for Vellai pookkal song that soothes our hearts in every pressingly emotional scene, telling us the solution to all these problems. Mani... needless to say! I started watching the movie only as a critic and a learner; but the minor mistakes I found here and there were nothing when compared to the masterpiece he has delivered.

All in all, I feel sorry to have misjudged such a wonderful movie, the first time I saw it! Hats off to the team!!! At the same time, I understand the elements that need to be a part of the movie to make it watchable under all circumstances and moods. I'm not dumb enough to ask for Vadivelu comedy in this movie; but some wit throughout the movie would've helped and in fact that character could be used as a strong junction of myth and reality; as it was handled in 'Life is beautiful'. When the movie is too slow, too firm on its objective and too orthodox in its approach; only people who have the real time, patience and passion for such kind of movies enjoy it and the commoner misses the fun and the point. A lesson learned from someone's failure, often termed as history! :)

Even the great commit mistakes...

A long time since I made consecutive posts in a day... And perhaps this is the first time I'm posting two consecutive posts on diametrically opposite topics.

I was seeing Mouna Ragam earlier today... It's one of my favorite scripts and I couldn't recollect the entire movie sequence. This is not the news! Hold on... I've seen the movie a lot of times before and I don't remember when was the last time I saw the movie in full. Today, I wanted to see how Manirathnam has done his work in a movie that was directed during the early stages of his career. To my surprise, there were quite a few flaws throughout the movie. There were a lot of minor ones like lighting difference in a sequence and costumes; but what caught my eyes were two major ones - some scenes were out of sequence in the Mandram vandha thendralukkuu song and Revathy/Mohan pair walks out in the streets of Delhi; and at a later stage Revathi says they've never been out together. The worst mistake of the lot is the climax scene... Revathi would sit in a compartment that is in the middle of the train and when they get down, they will be in the last but one compartment. When they get down, an engine will be behind the train in the same track. And worst of all when the train moves off, the frame is narrowed to avoid showing that it's a goods train. But a shutter on one of the compartments gives it off... :D

All in all, I learned one good lesson... Even the legends today did make mistakes in their first few steps; and when constant efforts are put forth, perfection can be achieved. That's quite encouraging to me! :))

Vaarnam aayiram review and Abhiyum Naanum expectations...

Before you say, "Oh No! Not a movie review again...", let me tell you this... I'm not going to write a detailed review on Vaaranam Aayiram. I just wanted to tell a few things I felt when I was watching the movie. This one is definitely different from GVM's other movies... This one is more his life than a cinema. Everyone who loves his/her dad as a role model would understand the extent of emotions that would've gone behind making the movie; but if you want me to be the usual stern critic, I should accept that the movie has quite a few unwanted scenes and even the title Vaaranam Aayiram is a reflection of Gautam's fantasy of his dad's heroism. All in all, it was an emotional experience than a movie and as usual GVM has shown his trademark in the narration of love. Whether it is the scene where Surya massages Simran's legs after a short dance or the scene where Surya proposes to Sameera ("Naan idhu varaikkum ippidi nadandhukittadhilla... Yenakku ivlo guts irukkunnae yenakku ippao dhaan teriyum") or the initial sarcastic turndowns by Sameera ("Paiyyan enna padicchurukkaan nu kaeppaaru... Enga vaela paakkuraan nu kaeppaaru"); GVM has proven that he is an excellent story teller when it comes to romance. In the same way, he's also succeeded in showing the bonding between a role model dad and his son... But perhaps he got too involved personally, there were a lot of scenes in the movie which could've been avoided... For instance the whole Armed Forces sequence reflects GVM's personal ambition but it need not have been portrayed on the screen so vividly. Most of the army and the rescue scenes were diverting people from the story. And cinematic exaggerations were also a bit too much in the movie... Dad apologizing for using son's room, Surya going to US when there family just recovered from its economic crisis... A bit too much to take... Logical flaws, quite unusual of GVM, were also spotted here and there in the movie. Surya's sister's classmate is 2 yrs younger than him (which essentially means his sister too is) but in the beginning it is shown that Surya was a 6-7 yr old boy when his sis was born. In the same way, someone who is addicted too much to narcotics and struggling to recover, runs, fights, kills and what not! But beyond all these drawbacks, I'd definitely say it's worth a watch, especially if your dad is so special to you. It's more or less like Autograph... Some people got so involved and were flooding the theater with their tears. Some people (like me) were making fun of those who got too involved; though we enjoyed the movie. This one's pretty much like that but it's definitely worth seeing atleast once.

Coming to the next movie, Abhiyum naanum; I was seriously disappointed when I heard the audio track. Not a single song was too appealing as opposed to Mozhi where the songs were not just lovely but also had a very strong orientation to the theme... "Sollai kadandha pennin mouna koottukkul pala kodi kodi porul kudi irukkum", "Iyarkaiyin mozhigal purindhu vidil manidharin mozhigal thaevaiyillai... idhayatthin mozhigal purindhu vidil manidharkku mozhiyae thaevaiyillai", "Mounam ondrum oonam alla alla... Vaarthayellaam muzhumai alla alla", "Paesaa madandhayae vizhi paesum chitthiramae...", "Kannaal paesum pennae"... Every song in the movie portrayed a physically handicapped girl so respectfully and beautifully; and the trailer, the advertisements, the banners, the captions... Everything was picture perfect and even before I went to the movie a strange sense of 'falling in love' occupied my heart. Needless to say the movie is one of my all time favorites. But with the music track disappointing so badly, I wasn't too sure if Abhiyum Naanum would have the 'Radha Mohan spell'. But looking at the trailer and the press meet where Prakash raj, Radha Mohan (my personal favorites) and specifically Thalaivasal Vijay spoke about the film, I believe the movie would definitely be a treat to watch. Giving a master piece is delighting when everyone talks great about it; but it's a pain when we come up with our next efforts. I'm sure Radha Mohan would've realized it; and I hope and pray that the movie turns out to be the sensation of 2008-2009.

What am I?

The good news is that there isn't much of philosophy about this post though the title tries to threaten you with a question on the word 'I'. In a week of joblessness or perhaps I should call it 'salarylessness', I've been more into movies than anything else. I got to watch some of the best movies I always wanted to watch and some other excellent movies that I accidentally landed upon. One of them has left me thinking for the past couple of days and even though I'm a movie freak and I keep recollecting good scenes (sometimes even have the dialogues by-heart); I never really 'think' after a movie especially if it is not a movie about facts, history or philosophy.

The movie's name is Rounders, more about the game of poker and how it is important to play the player than the cards. There are a lot of interesting scenes in the movie but one of them created an impact so to speak, in me. The crux of the scene is 'We can't run away from what we are. Our destiny chooses us'. Isn't that true?



Now with all the due respect for the authors, I've heard this "You can do it", "Nothing is impossible", "Follow your dreams", "Spot your talent" and all the BS being written to sell a big, fat book to you that doesn't change you a bit except lightening your wallet. But this time, the sentence was different. I mean, after all the rational analysis and logic, one could easily observe that everyone is naturally good at just one thing. Just one thing above everything else... It just happens beyond one's control and there is something with everyone that s/he does better than the (most) others. The fact is no matter how hard we work on things that we are reasonably pretty good at, it's not going to take us to heights. If there is something that could really take us to great heights, it is the purpose of our creation, the best part in us and what destiny chose us for. How many of us (including me) dare pursue it, is the question...

Raman Thediya Seethai

I've been out of movies for quite a while (20 days perhaps but that's too big a duration for me) and Raman Thediya Seethai (RTS as they call it) has been the ice breaker that brought me back into the magical world.

I was under a determination that I should not post many movie reviews in my blog (partly because of the feedback from my friends and partly because it tends to fill the space) but it'd be an injustice if I don't write one for this movie. A meaningful Tamizh movie after a considerably long break, I'd say because Subramaniapuram (the last sane Tamizh movie I saw) was good too but it was more of a character based entertainer than a story-based, theme-driven movie.

A simple story line and a powerful screenplay are the biggest plus points of RTS. Cheran's character and the incidents that happen in his life are so neatly intertwined without the cinematic masala; and the director deserves a special applause for framing such a good sequence of incidents. Pasupathi has also done an excellent job as ever and his body language fits just so neatly into the Nedumaran character. You can never spot a peck of blemish in the way he walks, talks, his sniffing mannerisms, the way he plays a piano or anything he does. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, he is one of the unsung heroes IMHO. Cheran has done a great job too but if you are looking at the film from a reviewer's angle, you could see that his performance has some occasional hiccups. The heroine on contrary has acted so well and it was a pleasant surprise to see a character based heroine role enacted by someone who can really act. :) Another department that deserves a special mention is the camera. The backgrounds, the editing and the frame coloring for the songs as well as the scenes are just so superb. I also enjoyed a few interesting visuals like a girl crossing a depressed Cheran, busily talking over phone while a pair of youngsters are involved in the usual romantic chit-chat when the lyrics read "Ulagam yennai vittu suttrudhae...".

The last 15-20 minutes of the movie were dragging I should say. The unnecessary last song and Cheran's inability to understand a girl's love (when she becomes so dull knowing that Cheran is planning to meet another girl) were all fillers as I'd put it. The moral of the story however seems to be partly true and partly wrong. For an individual who lacks perceptional abilities, 5-10 mins couldn't be of great help in understanding someone. But for a person who can read one's eyes and the body language, it isn't too hard to understand the kind of person he is talking to given 20 mins of conversational freedom.

Overall positives: Story, screenplay, Star performance, Camera
Overall negatives: Slightly lengthy second half, Unnecessary last song and very poor match between the heroine who looks like a stallion and Cheran who is so puny.

I'd say RTS is a must-watch movie though it is not completely picture-perfect.

The unsung heroes...

Quite unusually, this time the topic is pretty straight forward and I'm going to scribble on the literal meaning of the phrase - the unsung heroes of Tamizh cinema.

In the era of a (the?!) superstar, a universal hero, Manirathnam, ARR, P.C. Sriram, Vairamuthu and others, the standard of tamizh cinema is growing better everyday and the industry's popularity is also growing with it. But are we stepping over a lot of talented artists to see the magic created by the cream? Perhaps, yes! We are... Tamizh cinema has seen and is seeing a lot of talented persons whose talents have been commended then and forgotten right there!

The first person who inspired me write this post is Pasupathi. I missed his movie 'Veyil' earlier and a few days back when I saw the movie, I was blown away by his stunning performance. His expressiveness made us see Murugesan alive on the screen! I still remember the encomiums he had after the movie but then what growth did he get after that? Were there any serious movies where he demonstrated his ability? Nope! And for people who say Kuselan, I couldn't give anything more than a smile for a reply. Afterall if you look at the trailer, you don't have many scenes of Pasupathi left in the movie!

The second person I could think of is Sangeetha a.k.a Rasika (and if you wanna question me why I didn't mention heroines in the title, I'd be forced to reply in Vadivelu style - "Kaekkura kaelviya paatthaa reporter maadhiriyae teriyalayae!" in one of his awesome comedies from Pudhumai pitthan). At least to me she is a good looking girl and she has been used in innumerous glamor roles since the late 90s. She proved her acting abilities in Pithamagan, had a lot of coverage in the media and phew... she was gone like a lightning; her presence noticed but long gone. I'm not sure if he did a single Tamizh movie after Pithamagan.

One could easily point a lot of such talents, lost in the maddening crowd while Vijay makes the same movies with different names and Simbhu introduces varieties of smooches into Tamizh movies. I'm not against them; and as long as they have people who admire them, they have all rights to continue what they do. My concern is more on the people who aspire to become actors, sacrifice everything else for this cause and wait through the mental (and physical too for heroines) turmoils to prove their abilities; just to get lost in this culture. A person who never knew light would've learnt to live with darkness forever atleast cursing it every day but a person who saw a streak of light as bright as a parting soul, before being encompassed by darkness would have a deep wound remaining in him/her forever. I hope and pray that we don't leave too many injured souls drop off the industry with heavy hearts!

The CMM level of Indian cinema

Though I said Indian cinema to generalize things and CMM level to remind you that I'm a Software Engineer, the intention was to talk about the improvements in Tamil cinema over years...

Regional language industries like Tamil (Tamizh), Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, etc suffer one huge draw back - the reach... Unlike a hollywood movie that is released worldwide or a bollywood movie that is at least release all over India, a Kollywood (Tamizh) movie is supposes to be restricted to its province; thus shortening the reach, revenue and scope. For a long time, Tamizh industry was stuck to the traditional village stories or love failure stories; offered with varying screenplays and stunning pieces of music from Ilaiyaraja, MSV and others. But not anymore! Tamizh cinema and its reach is improving these days and there are some must-mention personalities who are making this happen.

The first person I'd like to mention here is Superstar Rajinikanth... So called film critics accuse him of taking up the heroism line at the compromise of the story! To me a movie's purpose is entertainment and if it does so, then it serves the purpose. In that sense, superstar's movies exceed the expectations (again in Software jargon). The reason I mention him as the first person in the list is the reach and fan following he has; and the extent to which it has taken Tamizh movies across the world. Japan, South Africa, Malaysia and a lot of other countries where Tamizh is not a common language screened his movie Sivaji without subtitles and still made truckloads of money. Of course I'd be biased if I don't mention Kamal haasan who strives to produce world class movies and improve the standard of Tamizh movies, in terms of the technical departments. A movie like Hey Ram or Anbe Sivam speaks for itself. However I'd still name him second because of his attitude to inject his personal opinions in a movie and a slightly ego-centric approach to film making which often leaves film makers in a huge loss.

Second comes the production department. Ever since Prakashraj started producing films, Tamizh cinema has become more beautiful I'd say. His productions Mozhi, Kanda naal mudhal and azhagiya theeye were exemplar movies to new comers interested in taking non-commercial and lovely movies. Though the credit goes to Radha Mohan and Priya for giving such beautiful movies, it takes a Prakashraj to fund the cause and color the dreams of an artist. Same holds good with mega-budget producers who spend a lot to deliver a rich movie in all aspects.

In the direction department, there are a lot of newcomers with a passion of making lovely movies and some of them indeed craft picture-perfect movies. The person who tops this list in my view is Radha Mohan. One could proudly boast the greatness of Tamizh cinema with his creations. Even in Tollywood (telugu industry) there are a lot of talented newbies coming up, passing fresh blood across the veins of a conventional and sluggish industry. I don't think it requires the mention of legendary directors like Mani Rathnam here; but at the same time directors like Mani speak for themselves while directors like Radha Mohan speak for the industry they represent. The difference is that Mani directs movies in Hindi as well and people in North India know him as a hindi film director than a Tamizh film director; and vice versa. But people like Radha Mohan carry the industry with them and when Mozhi was screened at Cannes film festival, people knew the exact industry he represents and came to know of a language called Tamizh and the classy films that are made in that language, as opposed to viewing it as yet another part of Indian film industry.

The other most important area which actually made me write this post is art direction. Outside religious movies, art direction in Tamizh cinema has always been a debatable topic until the last decade or so. But a movie like Iruvar or Hey Ram or the recent Subramaniapuram have completely renamed art-direction. Manirathnam, Kamal haasan and Shankar take a special reward in this segment to the extent of perfectionism they expect, resulting in world class art-direction. The latest hit song 'Kangal Irandaal' from Subramaniapuram is a standing example of this positive trend in art direction. The amount of care taken to depict Madurai in the 80s is just amazing... Silver colored Pandian Roadways Corporation buses (which have been renamed as TNSTC and colored these days), posters of old films like Kaali (Superstar starrer), Gouravam (a 70s movie starring Sivaji Ganesan) and Oru thalai raagam adorn the background. Not to mention the very small sequence that happens in the Meenakshi temple. I'm sure that temple authorities wouldn't have permitted shooting in the temple and I was literally reminded of the Sundareshwarar shrine (including the dimensions, the lighting, architecture, etc) when I looked at this small sequence in the song.



The only area that is yet to improve a lot is Graphics/Visual effects and this seriously limits the ability of Indian directors to take up fantasy stories like Shrek or The Lord of the Rings. I'm pretty surprised that despite having a large volume of software engineers and multimedia specialists in India, the film industry is still lagging in this area. I hope this turns out to be better in the upcoming days...

Overall, the trend is positive and even though making a movie like Troy or Titanic (in terms of the richness, art direction, etc) is going to be a distant dream for the Indian film industry (given the currency exchange rates and the useless politics in India), I'm sure that the day an Indian movie gets an Oscar is not too far!