BRAHMAN

BRAHMAN – An embarrassment to the ‘CREATOR’!

Cast & Crew:-  Sasikumar as Shiva, Lavanya Tripathi as Gayathri ,NaveenChandra as Kumar,Santhanam,Soori,Malavika Menon, Vanitha Krishnachandran, Jayaprakash, Padmapriya (Special appearance)

Director - Socrates, Producers - K.Manju & Anto Joseph, Music & BG - Devi Sri Prasad, D.O.P.- Jomon T.John, Studio - K.Manju Cinemas & Anto Joseph Film Company

Track list:-  1) Vodu Vodu – Chinnaponnu,2) Unkannai Penne - Karthik, Manasi,3) Vaanathile - Suraj Santhosh, 4) En Uyirin Uyiraga - Devi Sri Prasad, Anitha, 5) Vaada Vaada - MLR Karthikeyan, Andrea- Total duration of songs: - N.A.

The story, backdrop and setting (Screen play)

First half: - is about our hero (Sashikumar) and his childhood friend (Naveen Chandra) who is ‘deftly’ separated by the ‘creator’ of this film the director when the two are busily playing gilli, goli & bamabaram. As the title song is being played the two children heroically cycle their way to end up successfully stealing cut negatives from a local theatre set in Coimbatore only to sit alone on a hillock and watch the negatives using the setting sun as a back drop. This one sequence alone has been visualized by the ‘creator’ to convey their passion towards cinema. Somehow (Please mark my words) our hero’s undying love for his separated ‘Kindergarten’ friend continues to grow and thrive to become all consuming and in the end grows to schizophrenic proportions. Our noble hero (Sashikumar now a fully grown adult) along with another of his classmate and friend (Santhanam) decides to take on lease a dying theatre and ends up showing re runs. Incidentally he also happens to fall in love with Gayathri (Lavanya) again a case of a ‘rosy’ love at first sight. This love is further cemented by his sister getting engaged to be married to Gayathri’s brother. Finally our hero almost ends up losing his only other love in life, the theatre, to the commercial tax authorities. Shiva our hero then miraculously fishes out a news paper article which happens to jog his memory out of a 20year old amnesia, to remember his long last Kindergarten friend who by now has become a much sought after film director. The hero then in a jiffy decides to travel to Chennai and seek his ‘lokpal’ director friend who he feels is the ONLY cure for all his financial woes!

Second half: - Unable to meet his director friend, he dejectedly seeks the help of an aspiring asst director (Soori) in an attempt to meet his ‘Kindergarten’ friend and director Madan Kumar. Again the director (real one) pulls another rabbit out of his hat! Our hero, in an attempt to meet his friend narrates his life story to a producer and yes! This producer without even batting an eyelid asks him to direct his next film based on the narrated story and miracle of miracles pays our hero the EXACT amount he was looking for to clear his debts! Let me cut this totally crappy, absurd, illogical story by simply saying that after a few more hiccups he finally meets his ‘kindergarten’ friend and for some strange reason only known to the creator (I mean the director) does not reveal his identity thereby once again almost ends up losing all that he ever loved in his life. To end this 141 mins of sheer torture the real ‘creator’ (director) reveals the identity of the ‘Brahman’ (reel creator in the film). Hope I have been able to make some sense to all the absurdity I was forced to watch!

The Climax:-A lame duck climax which has to be watched to be believed!

Acting: - Sasikumar as Shiva - He has one fixed smile and another standard fixed expression which he repeatedly employs throughout this film. He somehow ends up inserting both his hands in his pockets most often than not. He continues to exhibit an air of authority and superiority with his siblings (girls). His dialogue delivery lacks both modulation and intensity. Sasikumar's comedy timing in respect to both Santhanam and Soori is insipid and mediocre. Over all he is a much better director than an actor. He should seriously rethink and rediscover his acting prowess soon or else he will end up nowhere as an actor. On the whole I get the strong feeling that the director lacked both control & capability in extracting work from this artiste.

Lavanya as Gayathri - I really wonder whether she really knew what her role was in this film!

Naveen Chandra as Kumar - Friend has no real role to play in this film. He sports a pair of glasses which is supposed to make him look mature. He walks up and down smoking most of the time. Finally ends up losing everything for no fault of his!

Santhanam as Sasikumar’s friend has very little to do and tries to raise some laughs which are far and few and one tends to forget these quips even before you leave the theatre.

Soori as the assistant director is neither here nor there. I think 2 out of his total 18 lines brought a semblance of a smile and nothing more.

The rest: - Malavika Menon, Vanitha, Jayaprakash, & a Special Appearance by Padmapriya etc remain “et ceteras” till the very end!

D.O.P.:- Jomon - Camerawork and lighting was at best tardy and one got the feeling that the director did not have the knowledge or the wither all to correct the cameraman but to give the D.O.P. the benefit of doubt the script was definitely very confusing and erratic.

Music: - The songs reeked of mediocrity and the re recording continued even after the film had ended.

Art Director: - The backdrops and props used during the ‘shoot’ scenes were just about adequate and fairly realistic.

Edit: - Nothing much to write home about. The highlight if one could call it that is the scene where Soori narrates the story in FF mode!

The one’s that worked: - The basic premise ‘Love, passion & sacrifice is required to succeed in the rough and tough world of cinema.” though the director lacked all the above mentioned traits while making this film.

The one’s I found wanting - 1) A guy’s absurd and illogical obsession and hero worship for a nonexistent friendship 2) smoking without knowing how to 3) One sight (T20) love 4) Suddenly remembering a long lost friend 5) Contrived fight scenes totally irrelevant and unnecessary 6) Song sequences- a lag 7) Examples used to highlight the hero’s devotion to cinema 8) Poor acting 9) Outlandish foreign locations for song sequences a total waste of money 10) Bad screen play 11) High moral values of the hero taken to absurd and unbelievable levels 12) Photographs used to highlight major incidents which have a bearing in the film 13) Below average technical support 14) Mediocre tracks and B.G. 15) One liners to hide dancing and other inadequacies of the lead actor which is becoming a  habit of late 16) A lame duck climax and many more which may require a separate review!

Finally to sum it all up, a quote: “There is a word for this movie, and that word is: Ick.”

Left right & Centre: - I did ask a few about the film but this time around I have deliberately decided to refrain from publishing these comments lest I end up inadvertently ‘creating’ unnecessary curiosity to watch this film!

Bottom Line: -“Brahman” means the ‘creator’ which the director never manages to ‘create’ in the first place!

Until next time,    

Director Haricharan

Chennai

22/2/2014