Velai
Illa Pattathari – unlike Rajini, Dhanush fails both in style & guile!
Cast:-
Dhanush. Amla Paul, Samuthrakani, Vivek, Saranya, Surabhi, Sathish, Amitash,
Hrishikesh, Cell Murugan & others.
&
Crew:- Direction/D.O.P.-Velraj, Music-
Anirudh, and Edit- Rajesh Kumar
Produced
by – Dhanush’s Wunderbar Films
Release
– Escape Artists Motion Pictures
Run
Time:- 2 hrs 13 Mins
Dhanush has
clearly used this film to test his ability to take the baton from the super
star Rajini (his father-in-law). He probably feels that the time is now ripe to
unravel his hidden ambition of being hailed the junior super star of Tamil
cinema! But unfortunately unlike Rajini, Dhanush is simply not capable of
shouldering such a huge responsibility on his rather narrow shoulders at least
as of now! This film simply highlights the fact that Rajini on his own can
simply carry a film to dizzying heights and Dhanush simply cannot! Believe me
Dhanush has tried very hard and has an abundance of raw talent but lacks the
style and guile of the one and only Rajini Kanth. Now let’s move on to the
premise of this film:-
First
Half: - The director has done a neat job and with the use of
effective dialogues and screenplay extracted the best emotional quotient one
can with tested & traditional director Balachander kind of content. The
very simplicity of the story telling keeps the viewer engrossed in this half.
Dhanush is an unemployed young engineer. His father Samuthrakani is a self made
middle class man and mother Saranya Ponvannan is the traditional housewife. He
has a younger brother who is characterized as a gainfully employed geek.
Dhanush is quite frustrated in not securing a job of his liking (ton design and
construct buildings) though for the love of it I simply cannot understand as to
how he can afford to be so choosy with his job preference given the financial
condition of his family which is totally dependent on his younger brothers
earnings. The father though very fond of both his sons is always in the habit
of deliberately demeaning his son Dhanush as a good for nothing guy and constantly
comparing him with his younger brother with a hope that this kind of chiding
will spur his son to become gainfully employed. Unfortunately his constant jibe
has the opposite effect and infuriates Dhanush making him a surly and
rebellious young man. The emotions thus far are well essayed by all the players
concerned. Samudhrakani as the dad plays his role exceedingly well and for a
change Saranya is not constantly whining and looking for a suitor for her boy.
The younger brother too lends a soft and meek touch to the scenario. The
rundown bike or rather “cycle motor” used by Dhanush adds to the emotional
banters and humour. A breezy enjoyable fare thus far. In walks the heroine Amla
Paul who moves in as a neighbor by the way earning 2k/month. Dhanush the good
for nothing drifter watching TV serials every day falls for her. Initially the
director opts for the fight/hate syndromes and later romance blooms. Anirudh
the newfound Tanglish music director pitches in with a couple of ‘Kolaveri’
sounding songs (mix of Tamil and broken English) which is the new found
Dahnush/Anirudh formula. It may work for most but it no longer works for me. I
have had enough of directors and music directors inducing the English/Tamil
caste divide in the guise of making Tamil speaking gents appear equal if not
superior. In fact even in this film the words ‘Amul Baby’ etc is used to
highlight the Fair/dark complexion divide. There are other dialogues which
emphasizes the filthy rich and overly poor divide. If these words of wisdom are
beneficial to society I am all for it but if it is going to create an unhealthy
chasm between the haves and have-nots it may end up doing more damage than
good. But overall this is the basic difference between Rajini and Dhanush –
Rajini will never use such crass or cheap dialogues to highlight differences in
today’s society. Dhanush hits below the belt to achieve results and the cash
register ringing. Anyways coming back to the story Dhanush and Amla after a few
funny ‘lil’ accidents combine very well though Amla Paul plays second fiddle
more like a Pseudo mom/lover combination. Dhanush goes along with a few more
interviews and lands up with a job in a call center. Why? Just to save money to
buy his lady love an I phone for her b’day! And finally ends up giving her a
self made binocular (the director showing off Dhanush’s inventive brain).
Dhanush finally ends up using the money saved to square off his ‘little’ brother’s
loss. Not able to gift the Iphone our frustrated hero resigns his job making
his dad doubly wild. This is followed by a war of words between the father and
son ending up in the mother slapping her son (Dhanush). The reason given by her
for doing so to her husband is not convincing at all. The aftermath of the slap
Dhanush hits the bottle and breaks into a song at the end of which the heroine
preaches to the hero the values of respecting one’s parents. The younger
brother continues to be his spineless self. What follows is inevitable Samuthirakani and his younger son is removed from the scene by the director to
go on an overnight trip to attend a wedding leaving the ‘irresponsible’ Dhanush
in charge. What follows is a stupid sequence of Dhanush driving all over town
with Amla Paul just to know what he blabbered to her while he was drunk the previous
night. At the end of this wasted sojourn Dhanush fails to answer repeated and
frantic calls from his mother. Finally on reaching home he sees (actually a
look of ‘mildly surprised’) a group of sad and somber looking people outside
his home. I am sure you by now you have put two and two together and even if
you have not I shall refrain from revealing anything more. After all in my
opinion the first half is the better half of this film and I wouldn't want to
play a spoiler and dampen your viewing pleasure.
2nd
Half
is a potpourri of sorts as the director probably on the insistence of the hero
redirects the script from a solid team effort to a hero centric one! This
simply puts paid to the viewers belief of watching a well made film after quite
a while. Here Dhanush and family in mourning get a surprise visit from a rich
father (M.J.Sriram) and his pretty daughter (Surabhi). They come to profusely
thank the family for the organ donation (lung donation this time) which
supposedly saves his pretty daughter (By the way is characterized as a past smoker)
from certain death. I think the director is not aware of the fact that the
names of organ donors are kept anonymous and never revealed precisely for this
very reason. Anyways Dhanush being quite a smoker himself is moved to tears and advises the pretty lass (Surabhi) not to smoke and waste the donor’s lung! (I somehow was
reminded of dir Vasanth using an inflated air pillow in one of his films though
I really don’t know why) One thing leads to another and the pretty daughter and
the decent dad insist on Dhanush accepting a job in their own construction
company and as an engineer. How convenient! Enter Vivek the comedy quotient.
For a change the normally ‘preachy’ Vivek has been used by the director
judiciously to evoke a few laughs. Vivek a senior engineer is ignored and asked
to assist the new kid in the block as Dhanush is handed over a plum job of
overseeing a nonprofit slum clearance project by the big boss of course the
pretty daughter does have a subtle say in this matter. Enter the villain – How
a rival company with a ruthless and unscrupulous boss along with his heir
apparent spoiled and ‘fair’ skinned kid on being robbed of the slum contract
decide to reek revenge on the ‘dark’ skinned lower middle class poor and
deprived kid Dhanush forms the rest of the story. Here the director tries to
transform Dahnush into a junior Rajini and in my opinion not only fails but
turns the story into a hero centric tamasha! The gathering of all the jobless
engineering graduates to help complete the work is so clichéd. Having ‘Goonda’s’
bash up all and sundry is another old gimmick. Using face book etc to galvanize
unemployed youth boy it’s getting to be a bore! The director in his effort to
project Dhanush leaves behind the talented duo Samudrakani, Saranya and others
who made the 1st half worth a watch. Even the lead lady Amla Paul
now takes a back seat with the unnecessary introduction of Surabhi as the
second heroine. Finally the director decides to invoke Bruce lee into Dhanush
and makes a hash of the premise bringing in gimmicks to enliven the premise but
ends up with totally confused.
A
word about the director: - 1. He is in love with Dhanush 2. He is
totally in awe of the super star & He is a fan of Bruce Lee and must have
watched ‘Enter the dragon’ a million times!
Dhanush
as 'Raghuvaran': - is an extremely talented actor. His expressions
and body language in this film is above par. He excels in the art of romancing as
portrayed in Tamil cinema. In fact if director Vijay has watched this film he
would have probably blushed a tad bit as a husband but would have been proud of Danush's performance
as an actor. In fact his lengthy delivery of dialogues was well applied to
please the masses. If only Danush had allowed the director to play a more dominant role and
shunned his heroism and not tried to ape Rajini this film would have really worked for
him.
Amla
Paul as Shalini: - Has done a fairly decent job. She enjoys a
good chemistry going with Dhanush though she takes a back seat in the second
half.
Surabhi:- My
lips are sealed. The less said the better.
Samuthirakani:
-
Has performed his role very well. He fits the role to the tee. His attire, make
up, subtle body language and sarcastic quips will please any director. I
thought the ‘death’ scene was probably a bit over dramatic to my liking else
his performance matches and even surpasses Dhanush in certain scenes.
Saranya
Ponvannan: - Looks good in this film. In fact in the
flashback bits you can see shades of ‘Nayagan’ in her. It’s a pity she had to
be sacrificed half way through the film.
Vivek’s performance
is refreshing and devoid of his usual preachy dialogues and does bring out
quite a few laughs among the viewers.
The
brother as the Geek has surprisingly done his bit and has
brought out the meekness in his character quite well.
Amitesh the
villain looks like a rich spoilt puppy dog. Probably cast for his looks and not
for his acting prowess so as not to surpass Dhanush.
My friend M.J
Sriram has done a neat job though I feel his delivery of dialogues needs a
bit of slowing down.
D.O.P.:-
doubling as the director too has helped him visualize the shots well. He has
effectively used the camera to bring out the heroism in Dhanush.
Music
by Anirudh: - I would like to term him the ‘Tanglish’ music
director of Tamil cinema. His mixing of Tamil and English words in his songs is
become rather repetitive and similar sounding. His BG score in this film is fairly
decent and fits the overall premise.
Edit:
-
Couldn’t t have done any better though a 10 min cut in the second half would
have served the film better.
Bottom
line: ‘The director is a huge Super Star fan , totally in love with Dhanush, has
watched Bruce Lee’s film Enter the dragon a million times and has probably
taken a leaf out of Jackie Chan’s crime story too!
Finally a quote: - "There’s many a step to miss between the ‘Super Star’ and a ‘Mere Star’"
My
Rating:- Acting 0.5+Dialogues 1+Screenplay 1st Half 0.25+Cast 0.5 +
Crew 0.5 Overall- 2.75/5
Until
Next Time,
Director
Haricharan
19/7/2014
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