IRANDAAM ULAGAM
I have always been an avid viewer of cinema and have been
watching films in Tamil, Hindi, and English among other languages for over 40
years, which by itself is a record of sorts. My biggest accolade which bears
testimony to this feat of mine came from none other than the veteran actor
Sri.Shivakumar who watched my film ‘Thoovaanam’ along with his better half
Smt.Lakshmi and during the interval said “I thought you only watched a great
number of movies and will mess it up when you shoot your own film but I was
wrong you have passed the test in flying colours”. Incidentally, my film later
went on to win a State award! Before I
graduated to become a director my friends after watching a film would normally
ask “Ennamaa Padam Epidi” today they ask “Director Saar! Padam eppidi” Earlier
I used to watch a film solely for its sheer entertainment value and emotional
attachment to my heroes and heartthrobs. Even now I watch films with the same
passion but have shed a lot of emotional baggage and have added more technical
expertise which has helped me enjoy films in Toto! Now I would like to share
with you my experience in watching directors Selavaraghavasn’s magnum opus ‘Irandaam Ulagam’.
Let me start with the
films back story: -
The film has been produced by PVP cinemas on a mega (by Indian standards)
budget of 50 crores. The film directed by Selvaraghavan has Arya & Anushka
in the lead, Harris Jayaraj as the music director, Anirudh has scored the BG
and Kola Bhaskar has edited the film. The film was started in 2006, stopped,
restarted in 2008, stopped and restarted again in 2009 and once again abandoned
and finally restarted in 2010 and released after nearly 3 years. The film was
shot in exotic locations like Rio-di-janerio, Rain forests of Brazil, Georgia,
Nallamella forest and Goa. Was the film worth all this heart burn and effort
forms the next part of my review:-
The story, backdrop and
setting (Screen play)
The story revolves mainly around two characters Arya & Anushka (a doctor)
and their undying and unending love which starts from one dimension (earth) and
moves on to another world (Irandam Ulagam) the directors’ creation, a figment
of his ‘fertile’ imagination ( Avatar style). Does he succeed or does he fail
is the question at this point. In my opinion the director barely keeps his nose
out of water in the first of first half where Arya and Anushka take turns and go
back and forth vying for each other’s love. Here the humour quotient and light
hearted screen play helps to move the story just a bit. Subsequently, Arya’ s
father, being an invalid, is revealed as the cause of refusal of Anushka’s
overbearing show of love and Arya’s compulsion to take care of his father is
mildly touching. Here again how Arya assumes that Anushka will not take equal
care of his father after their wedding is left unanswered by the director. The
heroine finally reveals that she cannot wed the hero as her parents have
arranged her alliance to someone else. Her parting with the hero fails to evoke
even an iota of sympathy. The ridiculously absurd humour of the hero making the
heroine and everyone else believe that he is passionately in love with the
senior lady doctor (Anushka’s boss) just falls flat after a few minutes. Let me
at this point try to explain this complex and most confusing part of the story.
If I succeed in doing so I can confer the title ‘genius’ on myself without any
compunction.
The film now moves to two other characters in another world
(fantasy) with Arya 2 (Maravan) a six pack hulk but a dud (even Hulk can be
termed as more intelligent) and Anushka 2(Verna) an orphan, a warrior and a commoner.
She runs around with a sword and a tea pickers basket slung around her back. These
two live in this world ruled by a ‘Rajah’ and his senapathi whose son is
Maravan. The fantasy world is also guarded by a ‘White’ goddess who is referred
to as ‘Amma’. Maravan is hopelessly in
love with Verna, who being the tigress she is, repeatedly spurns him away. In
this ‘Irandam Ulagam’ if you like a woman and she happens to be single you can
just pick her up and use her as a play thing. No questions asked! But even with
this distinct advantage of man over woman Verna bashes up Maravan to a pulp
every time he tries to make advances to her. The ‘White man’ Rajah who has a
‘white’ army decides to forcibly add Anushka his harem. Arya2 (Maravan) decides
to win her back by killing a mythological creature referred as Singam by the
rajah and bring the skin back to the rajah. The ‘Mudal ulagam’ story continues
and finally after nearly one hour or so Arya and Anushka decide to get married
when the director decides to startle the viewer. At this point whatever is left
of this ridiculous story collapses and meanders into oblivion. How they together
fight the evil rajah and his white army forms the rest of the story. I have
honestly tried my best to explain this highly confusing and complicated story
to the best of my ability. If I try to add anything more than what I have I
will end up in a loony bin! I would like to go now to the next part of my
review:-
Acting: - I was really disappointed in the
performances of both Arya and Anushka. The much hyped chemistry was seen in
parts and was randomly visible. The lip lock scenes looked more like groping
rather than kissing! The action scenes especially with Arya and the little
creature and with the mythological lion looked fake, jerky and laughable. In
the present world of advanced computer graphics the CG work in this film is far
below standards. At the rate of Rs. 20,000/- a sec what a colossal waste of
good money. All the white men and people in the fantasy world speak
‘Nochikuppam’ Tamil which at times is totally out of place and at most times
hilarious! Dialogue delivery by Arya
leaves much to be desired. His voice is a minus his modulation and delivery is
very bad. Anushka fares better in most departments but her action scenes are
very mediocre and disappointing. Let me
now move on to the technicians:-
Technicians:- Camera work was overall plausible.
The colour tones appeared fake. The exotic locations were wasted. The editing was
just about adequate. The art work did not match even normal standards. Imagine,
an LED light is seen strapped around a table. The trees and backgrounds which
were painted look totally fake and out of place. I really do not even want to
venture into the costumes as most of it seemed to have been borrowed from a
1970 Hollywood flick. Need I say more!
Music:- SPB’s song opening number is
refreshingly different. His voice still sounds melodious and haunting though
somehow it took me some time to identify the master singer. Background score by
Anirudh was very repetitive and seemed to have been a rehash of his old songs. Harris
Jayaraj’s music is nothing to write home about. Overall, the music department
fails to enhance the already sagging film. Finally to sum it all up:-
Left right &
Centre:-
Rather than voicing my opinion I decided to turn to the
person on my left and he answered ‘What did I think of the film? Sorry! I could
not understand anything so what can I tell you!’ and he smiled. I turned to my
right ‘I think the director explained the story only to the hero and heroine.
He should have come here and narrated it to us too’ and the person right in
front of me just got up and left before I could ask him!
Pro :- Novel attempts to make Sci-fi
films in Tamil should be encouraged.
Con :- The director’s fetish to make a
‘White’ man and his white subjects rule over even in a fantasy land even after
over 6 decades of freedom!
Bottom Line:- ‘Money could have been better spent’.
Until next time,
Director
Haricharan
Chennai
22/11/2013
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