INAM

INAM – The bigger picture lost in the visuals!

Cast: - S.Karan, Saritha, Karunas, Sugandha Garg, Shyam Sundar

& Crew: - Producers’- Mubina Rattonsey, N.Subash Chandrabose, Santosh Sivan, Director-Santosh Sivan, Screenplay- Santosh Sivan, Sharanya Rajagopal, Zazy – Music- Vishal Chandrashekar, Edit- T.S.Suresh – Studio- Santosh Sivan Films

Duration: - 2hrs02mins.

Track list: - N.A

The story, backdrop and setting (Screen play), It’s all about a small community of adults and children led by Saritha living somewhere in the war torn area of Ceylon. Saritha is living off the land left by her father and benefactor. She has a motley group of adults, an English teacher (Karunas) his wife Stella, Ragini and Arvind, a few kids among others. Ragini stumbles upon Nandan who is mysteriously washed ashore with a knife in hand. Saritha and co. discover that Nandan is a mentally challenged child. Nandan discloses that he and his brother Jeeva got separated during the war between the army and revolutionists. Saritha decides to grant him asylum till such time they are able to verify his background. The community continues to live on a hand to mouth existence on the fruits of the land and by small scale coal mining. With the cries of war nearing them Ragini and Arvind fall in love. Suddenly Arvind decides to leave the community and join the revolution leaving behind a heartbroken Ragini. When the war finally catches up with the (inam) community it leaves them shattered and bloody. What follows is a trail of death and tragedy and finally Ragini is forced to choose an unlikely lover, hero and suitor in Nandan. The rest of the story is about the fate of the remaining members who are now on the run and literally can be termed as refugees, their attempt to leave the island and seek a safer haven in a neighboring country. In this supposedly heroic struggle of theirs many of them die and some of them get separated from their loved ones.

& the Climax one is rather disappointed about the lack of a solid script, a loosely woven screenplay and finally a very dull and predictable climax!

Acting: - S.Karan as Nandan has done a wonderful job and in all probability is truly a mentally challenged boy. He has played his role to the tee and is a natural to the role he has been picked to play. I wish some of our more senior and seasoned actors emulate him if they are ever picked to act the part of a mentally challenged person or for that matter learn to be the character you are picked for and not act or over act as they most often end up doing!

Sugandha Ram as Rajini has played her role well! She looks the part and has blended with the premise of this film. She has talent but will probably end up not being picked for any credible performance oriented roles as Tamil cinema has very little scope for such actors especially those from the fairer sex.

Karunas as Stanley, I wonder what the actor’s true role is in this film, to teach English, make a few last minute appearances or simply try to rescue damsels in distress. Any other character could have done this role for e.g. even Tailor Sami!

Saritha as Tsunami Akka is like an aging matron trying really hard to make something out of her rather insipid and bland role. In fact her last preachy dialogue highlighting the horrors of war and its after math fails to bring out even marginally any kind of rage or emotion from within!

The rest contribute to the overall bland and confused premise and screenplay.

Camera: - The Cinematography of Santosh Sivan is simply stunning! The close ups and lighting should be seen to be believed. Frame to frame it was a visual delight whether it was the sea shore and all those tiny creatures that live in it or those of the humans who live by it! From the simple act of pouring a ladle of ‘dosai mauvu’ on the hot pan and spreading it around  to a more depressing war ravaged area only a master like Santosh could have wielded the camera to such perfection. Every frame has been conceived and shot to visual perfection. The entire 2 hours is filled with outstanding visuals which any connoisseur of photography and lighting should necessarily watch especially on the big screen

Music: - Nothing much to talk about. A few half-songs (if one could call it that) and one which sounded like an old Chandra Babu number. The B.G score could definitely have been better and at places the sound effects kills the necessity of a B.G score.

Art: - Worth a mention. The art director has done a fairly decent job and has added authenticity to certain scenes.

Edit: - T.S Suresh has done a good job in editing the footage which probably resulted in the film duration being around 2 hours. Portions of this film tend to drag overly due to an abundance of visual content and repeated symbolism.  The editor has used certain innovations and tools which have resulted in erasing this visual lag from the viewers mind!

The ones that worked: - 1) The characterization of some of the actors is to be appreciated especially those of female protagonist Rajini (her attraction to the hero physically and emotionally) and the mentally challenged boy Nandan (especially his innocence as he counts the number of bodies) 2) An eye for detail like the cyanide capsule around Arvind’s neck 3) No visuals of Arvind Swami while questioning Rajini (the table fan in the background). 4) The strip search of the women worked to a certain extent but the clichéd aftermath was not that convincing. 5) Not revealing visually Jeeva’s identity (Nandan’s brother) till the end.

The ones that bombed:-  1) The lack of a credible premise 2) The loosely crafted screenplay 3) A plethora of symbolism ( like the bayonet knife in the hands of Nandan, the garland of red chilies, the human skull referred to as Mr. Friend by Nandan, fishes in a plastic bag, a dollar bill on a tortoise, the sudden appearance of a Buddhist monk, the killing of the revolutions chief with his eyes open, Women and children involved in the fighting , the fleeing of the white men and women,  Rajini cleaning herself after being ravaged by the soldiers (most archaic) Bust of Buddha on the sea shore 4) The hospital appearing out of nowhere (how very convenient) 5) The military junta communicates using mobile phones! (who ever thought of that) 6) In the middle of nowhere a scooter zips past in the background 7) London Mama, the paralytic lecher, totally out of sync with the premise 8) The tailor Sami serves no real purpose 9) Stanley and Stella serve no real purpose in this film 10) The word ‘KISS’ somehow excites not only Nandan but also the director 11) Camera recording the rape scene to be supposedly on YouTube but what about the BG during the scene? 12) The difference between the revolutionists and the army not clear in the visuals 13) Nandan’s sudden fear psychosis at the hospital, alien to his original characterization.  14) The photo of a young girl in the soldiers hand (clichéd) & finally 15) the screen play could have been less of a clutter and the dialogues were a big let down

Finally to sum it all up, a quote: The film was screened at the 18th Busan International Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter in its review wrote, "Romancing in slow-motion; musical numbers ill-fitting the narrative flow; high-octane shootouts laced with the odd comic touch; a highly-strung, tragic final half hour intended to stir emotions -- Santosh Sivan’s latest offering boasts of all the hallmarks of commercial Indian cinema, which should allow the Kerala-born director to continue the fine run he has had in the past few years...but more focus and context would have helped the film live up to its seemingly more historical-epic title of Ceylon".

Left right & Centre: - My friend a critic and a film buff from the U.S.A:- “I will not recommend this film to my friends”. My actor friend: - “I really don’t know what to say about this film! Anyways I am really not clear as to what the director was trying to say?”

Bottom Line: - Is this film a documentary, a docudrama, an art film, an arty commercial film or a warmance (war+romance)? I would like to simply term this film as a “VIWERS NIGHTMARE”!

Until next time,    

Director Haricharan

Chennai

 28/03/2014