Mankatha and Ajith!

There are various type of film goers in Tamil. Few for the hype, few for the music, few for the director, few for the genre but mostly for the star cast. And we all know where Mankatha fits in. Being myself a film goer of all the type, I went Mankatha especially for none other than Ajith. So whatever I write here might be biased. Beware! :)

Is it a new trend in Tamil cinema ? First there were heroes, then they did good for the people, then they fought for the good. Next there were anti-heroes. They had a flash back to prove their bad worth and then they turn good. Now is the era, all are bad, they talk bad, they live bad, they end bad. Here comes Aaranya Kaandam and now Mankatha!  If there is anything common in both, its all about bad people and if there is anything that makes a difference and that is none other than Ajith! 

I may not talk about the plot of the movie or its positives-negatives or its music or its cinematography but I may talk about the guy who made a difference. If you had asked me, if I had liked Mankatha without Ajith...well I have to think! I think acting bad is easier than acting good! People have always excelled.  We all knew Sigappu Rojakkal and Endhiran! Ajith holds the film like John Travolta did it in Broken Arrow! Following all his movies including his flops, I cannot resist talking about Ajith here. His screen presence, his costumes, his looks are the USP and that is what that keeps the crowd cheering inside the theatre. He is damn smart in his natural grey hair and rayban coolers. He is open, natural and accepts he is aged forty. I might want to see this film once more for his daring villainous act. One of my favorite scene in the movie would be the chess sequence in the movie.

Well his characterization is of a greedy, selfish guy which is not a sort of a lead role the usual tamil hero plays in. Even if its a thief role, it ought to be a Robin Hood kind of role! But this one had broken all the conventions which is pretty new and welcoming here! It may sound awkward when the lead protagonist talks filthy language in Tamil cinema. Few of his dialogues are muted. Ofcourse we all knew those words and people in the theatre dubbed instead! So is it a question if all the female followers of him would not love this movie because he cheated his girl friend for money? Should an actor of star dom status not talk or act like this? Again all the barriers broken here!

 Well if these kind of films have been tested and received in Hollywood, be it a gangster flick like The Departed or a heist movie like SwordFish, then why not Mankatha in Kollywood? You may want to complain about logic loop holes, lengthy first half, bad content and so on.. but who cares when Venkat Prabhu had used Ajith as the trump card for his game? Mankatha da!

Aaranya Kaandam - A unique chapter in Tamil Cinema!

    
As usual, it was another lazy Saturday afternoon. We had gone to the less publicized Aaranya Kaandam. There was not much a crowd. We were hardly thirty people in the theatre. I didnt mind. I knew that this is an experimental movie and also there were no advertisements in television. However I had been desperately wanting to watch this movie, since its theatrical trailer and teaser had released. By seeing the teasers, I felt this movie could have been inspired from Taratino's movies and my guess was right. This movie is totally unique, stylish, bloody. Yes, its a complete adult movie. Its not a movie where you go with your family, but still this movie is different. I am not sure if such movies will fill the producer's pocket. S.P.B Charan has the guts thought. In fact there are no songs in this whole duration of 150 minutes.

                                                      

Gangster movies are not new to Tamil Cinema. However what is new in this film is the plot is revealed at its own pace by the different characters of the movie and it is the situation which makes the characters good or bad. Its not a racy thriller. Its calm, composed and rises to peak at instances. Debutant director Thiyagarajan Kumararaja seems to have completely inspired with neo noir films like Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs and he has given this product beautifully.
I completely enjoyed! Be it the blood shed scenes, the retro type background score, the ambience, the references to popular stars, its a complete inspiration from western movies. I am liking this trend in Tamil cinema. Even the plot of the movie is similar to Pulp fiction, where there is no story as such, but there are different incidents in which the characters cross each other and their transformation for survival. Every character here is a hero and every character here is a villain.

                                          

It is welcoming that there is no song in this movie. Yuvan's background score is promising. Silent in most places, violin interludes at a few places and Raja sir's songs at some places. Its again inspired from western films especially Tarantino's, where there are musical references like a popular song aired in a radio or television and some places there are references to the retro/pop culture similar to Kill Bill. Though Jackie Shroff's nude appearance doesnt impact or add any significance to the movie, the debutant character Somasundaram as Kaalayan and his son character Kodukkapuli, completely steal the show. An innocent-desperate-angry son and a completely drunk-dont care-attitude foul mouthed father. Their characterisation is laughable, interesting and entirely different.

                 


If I am fascinated with the camera work, lighting, ambience and the apt back ground music, am more amazed with the kind of dialogues that are used in this film. They are raw at some instances, they are filthy in some but everytime they are spontaneous and that is one of the reason, I did find some difficulty in understanding a few dialogues. They were so spontaneous and lowly delivered that there should be pin drop silence to hear it. There are many notable places which will deserve applause especially when Sampath asks the kid whether he likes his father so much and the kid's response is simple and sensible. Another notable place is where the lady describes men and their attitude. I spontaneously laughed and clapped at another scene involving the astrologer.

                                 


I know its not the regular movie which will lure tamil audience and generate revenue. Still, this film will be a milestone in the list of good unique tamil movies. Well...I dont mind watching it again in theatre!

Run Lola Run!

I happened to see this German flick - Run Lola Run!  Life is all about probability based on time. Athletes win the race by milli seconds and nano seconds. And this movie explains it in a very interesting and fast paced manner. Especially with the style and the fast paced background music, this decade old movie seems to be technically brilliant and makes one sit at the seat edge!

Lola has twenty minutes and needs huge amount of money to save her boy friend. She decides to get the money somehow and run to the destination, where her boy friend is actually waiting. This whole movie is split into three different runs by Lola for the same situation, with the first two runs being a failure and the final run becoming successful. There are flash forward sequences shown for each of the people whom Lola encounters during each run. Even the life of the other people whom Lola bumps in take different directions for each run. The director neither says which one of the outcome is actually true nor he wants it to say as he only gives us a thought that only seconds of your time are required to change the direction of your life! Very true!

I sometimes imagine things in real life in a similar way. Sometimes very crucial turns in one's life happens in seconds. Most of the times we will not have control on it. I know we cannot go back and change things, atleast we have the liberty to dream about it. Knowingly or unknowingly, be it the past incidents or the future endeavours we always have a habit of dreaming those things in the present. We all have a wish to do something in life and most of us end up in doing something else. Like it is said in a Tamil movie - Mudhalvan "How good life be if it has an rewind option?" If every single person in this world is blessed with this option, I bet we will never go forward..what say? :)

Aadukalam - The ground set in Madurai Again!

Director Vettrimaran unfolds a story which revolves around the descendants in southern Tamilnadu region who care and care only to win the age old gambling animal sport in southern Tamilnadu – Rooster fight. Rooster fight is an age old game not only in Southern Tamilnadu but all over the world especially in Mexico. Wikipedia says it has reference in Tamil literature which is more than 2000 years old. Such genres are very rare and welcoming to Tamil cinema. This film not only portrays the sport but also reveals its cause and effects over the people who were deeply involved and show us how determined and egoistic are they and how extent they turn villainous for retaining and regaining the pride in winning the blood sport game. For them it’s a life and death scenario.

Definitely the director has taken me to seat edge experiences in a couple of scenes, especially the rooster tournament scene. Be it the history of rooster fight or referring the diminishing Anglo Indian people in Madurai, the director has taken close to real facts and figures and filmed it. More than rooster fight, this movie is full of emotions. Every small character marks their presence and show justification to their role.

                                     

This movie also evolves a mind game filled with loyalty, trust, betrayal, cunningness between the mentor and his beloved student and when the student outsmarts his mentor, the director has cleverly handled the characters and reveal how trust turns betrayal, and betrayal seeks guilty. It is hard to say who the bad guy in this movie is. If you think one person to be the baddie in the beginning, you are probably wrong. There is no good or bad but the situation and circumstances is when good turn bad and bad turn ugly. What is something unique is the ending. It’s not about the stunts but the emotions between people that talks more.

Madurai based theme seems to be the genre these days. Most of the movies seem to be exaggerated and over shadowed creating a misinterpretation for how Madurai and Madurai people are. Well I think I have seen Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal more in movies than in person! Tamil cinema needs a destination change! Though this movie is also set in a Madurai backdrop, people shouldn’t care as the characters and the story outplay altogether.

The White Balloon

When we were a kid, do we ever remember how we nagged our mom for a chocolate or a toy car or for that matter any thing we wanted at that moment? We were so adamant on that and we would either cry or be silent or shout until we get what we wanted. Did we ever care why our mom scolded us for not obeying her?

When we were a kid, did we ever know what is good and what is bad? We always believed whatever our teachers, our friends or anybody said is true and we follow it blindly.

When we were a kid, little we had known about the value of money and we were so determined about the small small things which would shower happiness. We didnt even know how long would that happiness last long! May be it would have lasted till our mind gets distracted to some other things we see. Have we ever remembered to talking to strangers? If so how did we do? Were we afraid? I dont recollect!


What if we had a chance now to see that cute little face of young times, when we showed all kinds of expressions through our little face - happiness, curiosity, anger, sorrow, fear, respect, loneliness, restless, adamance and so on...

It was a few days back, I came across this Iranian movie - "The White Balloon". I saw this movie, of course with subtitles and I could not say exactly why I liked the movie. The movie is about a seven year old cute litte girl who is desperate to buy a fat gold fish for the new year which is approximately 75 minutes far and this movie is narrated in a very ordinary, yet beautiful way from the little girl's perspective. Some movies are inspiring, some are fun, some are romantic, some are interesting, some are boring, some are bloody, some are crap. I felt "The White Balloon" is a feel-light-good-movie.

Be it the determined, yet sad face when her mother denies to buy her the fish or be it the change of her expression when her brother actually convices her mom or be it the way she builds confidence over the guy in the fish store or be it the affection she shows for her brother, when he is beaten by another guy or be it the determination and expression of hope she shows when she finds a way to take the money out or be it the way she tries to protect the money from the Iranian soldier or be it the courageous, yet fearsome talk she makes to the snake charmers to get back her money, or any other expression she had to make, one has to watch the movie to feel it!
 
 

 
So did I....Better late than never!

Endhiran - An Experience!

I have to admit that Endhiran is an experience! For me, it didnt start from the title cards. Rather I would say it started from its audio release! From then, every single bit of news about the movie spiced up my expectations.  With the teasers released during the audio launch or the theatrical trailer released a couple of weeks back, one could not wait for the actual movie and I am no exception. Moreover it became a day to day activilty for me to do a google search with the key word "endhiran". I bet there is nothing unusual in it. Savvy? 

So where is the difference? What creates all the hype and fun? The only name is Rajnikanth! Its like you are waiting to have your favourite ice cream and what will you do when you hear that it would be topped by hot chocolate, crispy nuts, raisins and berries giving the final touch. Dont you go berserk? So Rajni-Shankar-ARR-Ash combo delight dons the magic here!

So why Rajnikanth? Why are his movies have a cult following in the South? I have always wondered. Atleast to my knowledge from seeing his films, he is the only man in the industry whose films can be watched along with family..along with friends..along with cousins...at least alone! He is a mass entertainer! Be it any film..Baasha, Annamalai, Padayappa or Sivaji for that matter. Ironically he is the best villain than being the hero! If you think Karunas and Santhanam are for comedy..then what is Rajni for...Media portrays Rajni as a God in the South! Director Shankar has transformed this vision in a scene in this movie which is enjoyable. One must watch Endhiran for it! All you see in each and every frame of the movie is Rajni..Rajni..Rajni.. 

Shankar is the man of execution of one's own thoughts! You may drink a coke and thrash the tin...Shankar would use it in a song in Boys! He is an out of box creator who can make an aam aadmi to virtually experience the exotic locations! Watch the picturesqueness in Kilimanjaro and Kadhal Anukkal!  However I felt the screenplay / plot in the second half could have been a little crisp. But who would think there would be hundreds of Rajni transforming to whatsoever objects we cannot think of! Visual treat! So any flaws in the story or script is covered here! Watch Endhiran second time for it!  There are a quiet bit of social awareness too, may be its not told but thats what i understood. One is such a scene which shows a humongous dumpyard symbolising the environment pollution. When the Robot asks "Did I ask you to create me?", it was touching and also strikes a chord!

                                     

ARR songs have already been chartbusters! His songs are apt  for the sci-fi-masala theme of the movie. So its doesnt make a point to compare with any of his other works! Its commercial, robotic, hypnotic, metallic.  And when you watch it on screen with the visuals, its fantastic. ARR the magician! Its inevitable for people to expect that pinnacle of background score from the Grammy winner for Endhiran, so even the better background score doesn't leave an impact at the first time!

I think i haven't talked about the gorgeous lead actress Aishwarya Rai. Full credit to Superstar for grabbing my attention in spite of her on screen presence! It was very clear what to expect and what not to expect from the proven masters in their respective field! Thanks to Shankar for giving a new genre for the Indian audience and also making us to understand it as well. I thoroughly had a very good experience watching the movie in theatre.

Endhiran is an agmark Indian recipe with all the native masala ingredients topped with spices imported from foreign soil DOT.

Unnai Pol Oruvan - Kamal's flavour of the original !

I had not scribbled anything on “A Wednesday”, but some how wanted to for this tamil version. May be, because it’s a dual Padma shri movie, may be I saw the original version a couple of months later its release or may be this is something new to the “Tamil” audience.

This movie should be enjoyed in theatres as I did. This movie which has been released with hardly any hype unlike the previous venture “Dasavatharam”, is a fast paced political thriller involving five to six characters with absolutely no songs and the total duration winding up in less than 2 hours. It’s also very un-common in Tamil cinema to flash the hero’s name without a title, and this movie is one such. There is no “Ulaga Nayagan”. There is no “Padma Shri”. Of course there is no publicity required for this proven star. The whole movie is about a series of incidents happening in 3-4 hours duration of time and Kamal Haasan raises question on every one's mind about his portrayal of character in this movie until a few minutes before the end credits. His only company being a set of hi-tech gadgets which includes laptop to routers to cell phones and others. He has only phone conversations with two characters, except for the climax scene. Neither his name nor his religion is revealed in this movie though he gives hints in a few scenes. It’s always difficult for me to understand his dialogues which most of the time has an inner meaning. I saw Dasavatharam twice to grasp some. I think I should do the same here too.

Padma Shri Mohan Lal is the serious and responsible commissioner of Chennai, who speaks Tamil in his own Malayalam accent. His character just shows how, who and what kind of decisions will be taken at the time of an emergency situation and its impact. No doubts to his performance. He has done this role like a cake walk. The other guy, worth to mention was the clean-shaved-smart-rough cop. The interrogation scene is one of the scenes which just shows the attitude and power of that particular character with less action and dialogue. They have showed the female press reporter as a smoker in this movie. To avoid controversies, they never show the lady smoking. I am still not very clear on the point of such a characterization. Is it the job that is stressful or I don’t know why?

I enjoyed the dialogues in this movie. In fact the dialogues play a prominent role in this movie. It had a good number of sarcasms and revolves about the current affairs, especially the conversations between the both legendary actors. Unlike “A Wednesday” the character of Lakshmi was an addition in the Tamil version and was interesting too, especially her political heated arguments with Mohan Lal.

Shruthi Haasan’s background score was apt. I liked the song “Unnai Pol Oruvan” which was played at the background during the end credits. It remembered the end credits of ‘The Matrix’, when this song started with the lines from the holy “Bhagavad Gita”.

Finally, I felt it’s a welcoming movie for the Tamil audience and I do like to watch more such fast pace movies with no songs. It’s just like the T20 version of Cricket from the conventional 50 over ODI. It’s more thrilling and exciting you see!

Conjeevaram - More than a movie!

Last week, I happened to watch this movie in one of the Tamil Satellite channels "STAR Vijay". It's really a nice experience watching this movie. The movie is setback in the period of 1940's. Personally I am excited when i see movies which are of unusual genre and this is one. You get to know lot of information about the past. May be its true or not, its told and we see it.

Conjeevaram, as Kanchipuram is originally spelled before independence is famous for its silk sarees. Saree is a traditional costume wore by married woman in our parts of the state. And Silk sarees are so special and are considered to be of a superior value, which is usually wore by Indian women on any important occasion or festivals. The other fact is this silk saree is hand woven by the people who have been in this place for centuries.


This movie talks about one such person, who weaves one of the finest Silk sarees. Though he weaves silk sarees, he could not own one such saree or even see a person wearing it. And this is the case for all the weavers in the place. After all they are just labours and the zamindars take credit and do the business. In this movie, the weaver dreams and promises a silk saree for his daughter at the time of her wedding. The movie takes through his journey on how he manages to weave and own a silk saree and was he able to succeed?

There are other aspects which is shown in this movie. It shows how communism had its roots in Indian soil and how it emerged. It shows how important a government job was when a constable feels restless when he finds his hat missing the government emblem. It shows how the present Co-operative society for the weavers in Kanchipuram had formed. It shows how the English were fascinated with hand woven silk sarees. It shows how the labours were charged in return for their marvellous work. It shows the Zamindari system that prevailed then. And there are more! I just watched and admired!

Admired the way it is filmed by Priyadharshan with Prakashraj in the lead role. Its not a movie and its more than that, may be awareness or education!

Pasanga - Not only for kids!

I was waiting to watch this Tamil movie in a theatre but unfortunately it didn’t get released in Bangalore even after a month. Finally managed to see this in a DVD. It’s been a good experience watching this movie. Almost every one of us would have experienced in our life. It’s been a very long time, there had been a movie where kids do the lead roles. A daring attempt by debutant director Pandiraj, who had surprised not only the kids but guys like me too. The back ground score just suits the the movie. One of the melody “Oru Vetkam” composed by James Vasanthan is very pleasant and gentle.

Right from the beginning till the end, they talk about positive thinking, dreaming a vision, aiming higher. But not as an advice! They have said it with neat incidents and lots of humor. They also talk about how parents and teachers play a role in motivating a student.

There are many scenes which I could personally relate to my own. One of the scenes where in, the class leader writes the names of the students who are talking. The students show gestures and signs instead of talking. I myself had been a class leader during 6th or 7th standard. The other scene in which the hobby of collecting stamps is shown. My father had a stamp collection album which he gave it to me. I used to trade stamps with my neighboring friends. Good Old memories... hmm! The other scene where in a student does Karate ‘Katas’. We were also taught those Karate steps in school. Those were funny.. :)

Most of the time during this movie, I was taken back to my school days. Its definitely a movie to watch!

Dhaam Dhoom - Only once!

Amidst the continuous rain in Bangalore, I went and watched the matinee show of this movie on Saturday. This is cinematographer turned director Jeeva’s last movie. I liked his Ullam Ketkume and Unnale Unnale and that had driven me to watch this movie. If it was romance in his earlier movies, it is a action thriller in this movie. The movie is about how an Indian doctor on a visit to Russia for a conference, a week before his marriage, gets trapped in a murder case and how he escapes to prove his innocence in the murder case.

The movie is a mixture of romance and action. And it is not the conventional Tamil action movie where in the hero hits ten to twenty people. It is one of the occasional action sequels in Tamil cinema, in which the hero is being chased by the Russian police force and how he esacpes from them and solves the murder case. Probably director Jeeva would have been influenced by the “The Bourne Trilogy” series and wanted to treat the Tamil audience in a similar way. Certain chase sequences in this movie had similarities with the English flick. Even one of the back ground scores reminds the background score of the Bourne Series.

Nowadays, it has been a trend in movies to involve the current sequel and flashback sequel in a mixed fashion. In this movie, the Russian episode of the hero Jeyam Ravi is frequently intervened by his love memories with Kangna Ranaut in India. In the consequence, the love sequel misses all the logical essence.

Some of the things I personally liked in this movie is the murder plot in Russia, the characterisation of Jeyam Ravi and the chase sequels (usually he does a romance cast), the place Russia which is probably a rare destination for Tamil audience and needless to say, the cinematography. Be it the city of Moscow or the hotel room where the hero stayed or the lawyer’s residence or the village backdrop in India, it was definitely a visual treat. The lighting effect was so natural. This movie also speaks about the Russian nation and its challenges to deal the prevailing crime threats in their country.

The movie would have been better if any one of the sequels alone is told - Either the murder case in Russia or the love story in India and I prefer if only the action sequel is told. The script is so racy and I feel the sequels in India and a couple of songs were the unnecessary speed-brakers. At least in future can I expect a quality action-thriller Tamil movie which has no song interventions?

Subramaniapuram - A Betrayal Drama!

Finally, I saw this movie yesterday. Depicting the darker sides of the unemployed youth in the 80’s in 2008 is a new flavour to Tamil Cinema. It’s really encouraging for the audience, for the variety of quality films that the new upcoming directors give.

The plot of the movie is how two friends decide their destiny and fall prey to the betrayal act of their most trusted set of people.

Debutant director Sasikumar is another feather in the crown of Tamil Cinema industry. I never expected a movie in the time lines of 80’s now. The last half an hour of the movie was fabulous and unexpected, with each and every character showing their true colours, giving shock to the audience. Debutant music director James Vasanthan has given an excellent effort in re-recording. The back ground score is in lines with the movie. Well it’s not like a debutants venture.

I enjoyed the movie very much. The first half of the movie is balanced with the romance sequences while the second half of the movie is where the theme of the movie lies in. The Television set, the heroine’s house, the telephone, the Ambassador car, the tricycle which is used for announcing film releases, the kind of advertisements they do in the walls of the houses, the PRC bus, the central theatre in Madurai and lots more which show the 80’s just bring a nostalgic feeling for my parents, if not for me. Kudos to the team. We had the old model telephone and the Dynora TV set till the 90’s. Well now it had got changed. Actually it was a nice feeling watching a movie which is backdated. It is backdated not too much that it is not history and elder people now can definitely rewind 28 years in their mind.

This movie shows three types of people.

The first is the set of people, who do anything for the other person, whom they feel trustworthy. In this film the two heroes kill a person for the most trusted person. In return they get nothing but ruin their lives.

The second set of people, who are like the cunning fox. They show case themselves as the most trusted person and trap the innocent people to almost do everything for them. In this movie, the ex-councillor’s brother convinces two of his faithful persons to do a murder for his benefit and ignore them totally after the execution. A perfect act of betrayal! Also this kind of people has a unique talent to convince people or create faith in them. In one scene, the ex-councillor’s brother brain washes the heroine’s mind which leads to the barbaric killing of her lover before her.

The third set of people, who are fond of money and can do anything for it. In the climax, the hero’s friend betrays him for money. Atlast the betrayer himself was betrayed by the ex-councillor and sent to jail.

Subramaniapuram – A Betrayal Drama enacted in the stage which is more than 25 years old.

Dasavatharam - My scribbles about it !

This is not really a review and more over you would not need it as it’s almost a month since the movie got released. When I read reviews in Orkut or in other blogs, I feel every other person gives their own views on each and every sequel of the movie. One thing is clear from this is that Kamal has left it to the viewer to take the message from the movie on their own.

I feel the whole concept of narrating a four day incident in three hours is itself new to Tamil cinema. Well only people who know this language will understand the movie better.

I enjoyed this movie the most, when I watched it for the second time. Most of us would have enjoyed Balram Naidu’s character in the movie. Another humour character whose attention was grabbed other than Kamal is M.S.Baskar. I enjoyed this character only when I saw it for the second time as I could pay more attention to his Tamil-to-English translation dialogues. There must be Crazy Mohan’s contribution to these two characters I guess. Without him those dialogues will definitely lack the essential sense of humour. Yes I noticed his name when the credits were screened at the end of the movie. I should also bring light to Late Sujatha’s contribution to other notable dialogues in the movie. Though the dialogues were written by Kamal himself, these two persons contribution added more flavour.

Some characters of Kamal were made to feel unnecessary in this racy script. But it was inevitable because that is the main selling strategy of the movie and he has mostly managed to relate them.

Many people give multiple views on the movie that it’s about Theism or Atheism or Science or Environment and again this is also left to the viewer to decide. I personally feel in this movie he has tried to show Agnosticism*, basically trying to express both spiritual and non spiritual aspects of life and nature. Whatever the view may be, one thing everybody who watched this movie must agree - it’s definitely an entertainer for all people.

Dasavatharam – Kamal’s show case of ten avatars with various makeup ingredients including Chaos Theory, Butterfly Effect, Atheism, Global Warming, Bio-Threat, Environmental pollution, Terrorism and the list goes on.

*Agnosticism - It is the position of believing that knowledge of the existence or non-existence of God is impossible. It is often put forth as a middle ground between theism and atheism.