IVAN VERAMADHIRI

INDA ‘REVIEW’ VERA MADHIRI – IVAN VERA MADHIRI

Vikram Prabhu, the male lead in this film, is the son of actor Prabhu. His grandfather was the legendary (late) Chevalier Shivaji Ganesan. Vikram therefore has his job cut out. He necessarily has to live up to a very illustrious and legendary family background which very few have been able to in the past. I rank Sri.Shivaji Ganesan as probably the greatest observer that I have met in the Tamil film industry. I base my conclusion on this incident among others – I had the good fortune of standing next to him in one of the family’s private function. There were a line of people standing to greet him. As they approached him they would respectfully greet them. He would in turn reciprocate with humility and grace with a few words of recognition and by thanking them for gracing the occasion. It would have passed off as a regular feature which happens all the time in these mundane occasions but then it suddenly struck me that the great man was actually practicing the various dialects through his guests! It later dawned on me that I was one of the fortunate few who were privy to a private audition of the legendary actor. I was able to witness his remarkable power of observation. He was using the same tone, accent and dialect of the guest standing before him- be it a Chettiar, Mudaliar, Brahmin, Nadar, Pillai etc. I would like to strive hard to emulate this very quality and share with you through this column my experience in watching and analyzing all the films that I watch.   

Let me start with the film’s back story: - Genre- Tamil romantic thriller film. The filming commenced on September 19, 2012 in Chennai. S/S/D by Director - M. Saravanan.  Producers - UTV Motion Pictures (Mugamoodi, Theeya Velaiseiyanum Kumaru) and Thirupathi Brothers (Vazhakku en and Kumki). The main leads Vikram Prabhu and Surabhi, Support Cast: Ganesh Venkatraman, Vamsi Krishna and Hariraj. D.O.P- Shakthi. The Music and background composed by C. Sathya. Edit cuts by A.Sreekar Prasad

The story, backdrop and setting (Screen play) - The story once again focuses on vigilante justice. Gunashekaran, a VisCom student, is the disillusioned common man who decides to right the wrong by taking the law into his own hands. The corrupt politician (the don) in this case does not have the usual God-fearing, stupid, submissive wife in tow instead he has a brother who is his lead 'Adiyaal' incarnate.  The hero Guna goes about his task with ease taking all the goondas to task and at the same time managing his love life by oozing with the customary charm as only a filmy hero can. After many bloody fights Guna and the Vamsi clash at the climax. This is another ultra typical Chennai Masala flick with fights, car chases and an added separate smart cop (Ganesh Venkatraman) track instead of the usual Santhanam comedy track. I have given below a rather ‘VERAMATHIRI’ take on this film. My review will describe some of the scenes in the film which will be followed by my take. So let’s start

Scene: - The hero Guna is introduced after a bloody battle in a local law college where the students are incited by a corrupt law minister to bash all and sundry. The hero while watching this incident on TV is visibly moved. He then decides to mete out vigilante justice to the corrupt and unlawful elements ruling the land.

My Take: - How can one incident move our hero a sarasari VisCom student to turn into a vigilante and that too, a battle trained special operation black cat commando. In fact it is the villain who trains in a gym and is in peak physical condition but lo and behold! the hero simply blows him away.

Scene: - The heroine Introduction.

Take: - This is definitely a well thought out scene. The hero tries to ease himself into the open and the heroine stops him in his tracks (literally). Finally the hero outsmarts the heroine by letting himself inside her house uninvited and using the bathroom! Full marks to the director for this smart screen play.

Follow up Scene: - Hero meets the heroine in a crowded bus.

Take: - Once again the bus fetish- How many more times should we be forced to watch the hero meeting the love of his life in a BUS! This time however there is a refreshing change as the hero places a plastic bag containing live tropical fish and the comedy of errors which follows is a comic relief but in the end is dragged on longer than necessary.

Scene: - The hero plays the same trick (like the bag with the fishes) by dumping a baby in the heroine’s lap. Both of them finally land up at the cop station once again.

Take: - This scene has again been executed well by the director especially the case of the heroine mistaking the baby to be that of the hero’s.

Scene: - The hero stalks the villain, plans his strategy and finally punishes the villain.

Take: - This is a la ‘ANNIYAN’. The hair is replaced by the monkey cap. The rest is nothing new, ends up in a long drawn out fight. The punishment meted out was rather lame and predictable.

Scene: - Enter the ‘UNNAIPOL ORUVAN’ smart cop to foil the corrupt politician.

Take: - Ganesh Venkatraman appears to have walked straight out of the ‘Unnaipol Oruvan’ set. He has replicated the same angry cop look and mannerism which he had displayed in that film. The director must have strongly believed that the average Tamil cinema viewer would have forgotten Ganesh’s role in that film.

Scene: - Villain held a prisoner in a multistoried construction site.

Take: - Wow! It beats me hollow as to how no one in the area hears the villain’s scream. Amazingly the noise of the sound made by the hero’s boots is as loud if not louder than the agonizing screams of the villain. By the way his voice never goes hoarse after days of screaming. Even the sole watchman mistakes the screams as that of a ‘Kathu Karruppu’. Why does no one come to enquire about the missing watchman? I can go on and on……….

Scene: The car/ motorcycle chase scene.

Take: - This has been picturised well and it visually creates the speed and thrill necessary to complement such a scene. It is straight out of a Hollywood thriller with all the necessary car/jeep crashes etc, but it has far too many contrived inclusions. 1) A.C.P (Ganesh Venkatraman) calling the mobile number in the police station and tracking down the lawyer who by sheer coincidence lands up at that station at the same time. 2) The coincidental ride of the villain as a pillion behind the hero. 3) The locket which miraculously turns around and becomes visible to the villain while on the bike. There are innumerable thrust scenes like these in this film which could have been totally avoided. The clues left all over by the director is so obvious that one does not have to be Sherlock Holmes to find them.

Major Bloopers: - The Styrofoam sticks used at the law college fight, tracking down the bank account number, and getting the copy of the bank remittance slip are some of the major ones.

Acting: - Vikram Prabhu has improved a lot and has played his part adequately except at the climax where he in my opinion faltered. His dancing prowess leaves one wondering as to where his father Prabhu’s dancing genes are hiding. His action scenes are quite intense except the melodrama portions where he tends to overdo it. Probably his eagerness to prove his mettle as an actor!

Surabhi The heroine is the fair doe-eyed maiden from the north of India. In this film she has very little to do except the romantic bit and the part she plays in the ‘Scarecrow’ climax. If she chooses her scripts well she could hold her own in the South.

Vamsi Krishna the man from Telugu land sticks to the demands of the script. He has not tried any innovation or gimmicks that could have given him an exclusive stamp. He has a good physique and seems to be in fine fettle and shape.

Ganesh Venkatraman as the smart cop is straight out of a Hindi or Hollywood flick. He has not exhibited anything novel or new which could have bettered his character as a ‘desi’ cop! For example some local lingo or mannerism could have been borrowed from Vijaykumar IPS (the real desi cop with charisma). I wish our actors spend some time observing real life heroes before playing their respective roles in films.

The less said about other characters in the film the better. Even the corrupt law minister (Hariraj) lacked the intensity required for the role.

Technicians: - The DOP Shakthi has really excelled in this film. He has used the camera to enhance the visual quotient. He has also picturized the action scenes to telling effect.

Stahya’s ‘loveulla’ song is a foot tapping and catchy number and worth a mention. There is nothing unusual in the background score used but it blends well with the visuals. I wish a little more subtlety could be experimented with while composing music for suspense filled scenes.  

Shreekar Prasad is definitely an asset to Indian cinema. His cuts are precise and never superfluous. He fully understands the needs of the visuals and effects smooth cuts and effectively controls the lag in quite a few portions of the film.

The stunt master has again used the ‘punching bag’ formula – when the hero hits, you fly into oblivion, only to reappear magically to get hit again and again. The weapons used in this film are mainly Styrofoam logs and metal pipes, and for a change the ACP fires a gun in the street though four of them never use their guns when they are thrashed by the villain in the hospital.

Choreography: - What’s that?

Left right & Centre:- The person on my left: - Ennakku pudikalai, puriyavum illai Saar! Kadasi 10 nimishum parava illai….. The person on my right had lost his head phones and was quite irritated so I decided not to approach him! So I turned to the person left to left – I liked it, sir. It is a ‘time pass’ padam. Parava illai oru tharam parkallaam! There was no one in the centre as I was occupying the ‘I’ row which happens to be the first row!

Pro: - An attempt to be different.

Con: - Trying too hard to be different.

Bottom Line: - Inspired by ‘Anniyan’ and ‘Unnaipol Oruvan’ but ‘Vera Mathiri’

Until next time,

Director Haricharan