Sathuranga Vettai – Conned! (150+120)*
Cast:- Dharani,
Ilavarasu, Natraj Subramaniam, Ishra Nayar, & Ponvannan among others
the Crew:- S/SP/Dir – H.Vinoth, D.O.P.- KG Venkatesh, Music – Sean Roldan,
Edit – SP Raja Sethupathy
Produced
by: - Mano Bala/Sanjay Rawal/Subash Chandra Bose
Distributed
by: - Thirupathi Brothers
The Story,
backdrop and setting (Screen play)
Why
does everyone rave about this film – ‘Sathuranga Vettai’? The answer is quite
simple. If the premise deviates from the main stream ‘kollywood’ formula or if
the characterization of the protagonist matches with the mood of the viewer
plus the visualization similes’ are somewhat different the critic’s rate it as
an instant hit! This rating need not necessarily make such films good by way of
content or performances. I don't think that critics praise such films because
it’s a great film but to them it is like a whiff of fresh air which they can
breathe in after watching dozens of mediocre formula films every Friday
24*7*365 days sitting inside a dark theatre devoid of feelings or numbed to
submission by the forced monotony.
If
you have watched the BBC TV serial ‘HUSTLE’ which began in the year 2004 and
continued till about 2012 you will be in total agreement with me as to why a
film like Sathuranga Vettai is a very poorly made film of the ‘con’ genre. Immediately
don’t simply go into the usual ‘desi’ mode – ‘Look! Stop comparing our films
with Hollywood ‘machaan’! Our films have its own unique identity and need to be
enjoyed with that in mind balh, blah, blah etc, etc.” I am only comparing the two on plot content
and characterization. So remove your damn blinkers if you still have them on
and not for god’s sake but your own watch ‘HUSTLER’!
S.V is all about a con man Gandhi Babu (Natraj) and his
schemes to fool the gullible common man. It’s also supposedly based on real
incidents. Agreed! It starts with an apt simile of a Cheetah hunting down an
ostrich and moves on to the protagonist fooling a small time provision shop owner
being taken for a ride by using a live snake (sand boa) professing it’s venom possesses
magical qualities to increase one’s sexual prowess. Moral of this con - The
merchant pays the price for his foolishness. Lack of content forces the
director to prolong this issue beyond reasonable levels. I do admit that there
are many funny moments in this incident that brings a smile. The second act
opens with the infamous ‘MLM’ chain con game. Here again Natraj plays the role
of Gandhi Babu the con man and fools the gullible public to buy worthless water
in this case tap water and makes a fortune. Here the director brings in the female
lead (Ishra Nayar) who initially joins the chain scheme as a promoter and G.B
spotting her innate simplicity and innocence user it as an asset to further his
quick rich scheme though his buddies resent it. Indira taken in by Gandhi Babu’s charisma and gift of the gab hopelessly
falls for him but even though attracted to her simply he uses her to make money.
When the scam is exposed he scoots with the booty leaving her hanging and lost.
Before leaving her G.B explains to her about the ultimate value in life is
money and money alone and the reason why he worships money as the only Supreme
Being in this universe. An animated
flash back in 2D about N’s childhood tragedy etc (very similar to Kamal’s
Indian story) is shown but fails to move you. Here Animation is used to enhance
the viewer’s visual experience an old technique used even in the 90’s like in
films like ‘Run Lola Run’. G.B is
finally nabbed by the police when he attempts to replicate the snake con on a
cop posing as a government employee. Then the cops beat G.B to a pulp in to make
him disclose the location of the swindled money. G.B refuses to open his mouth
in spite of repeated 3rd degree torture methods used by the cops and
portrayed frequently in Tamil cinema (the ice block/cold water routines). Here somehow
G.B’s expressions and body language failed to evoke in me any kind of emotional
reaction. I was going along with the mundane routine orchestrated by the
director with a hope that the story will somehow move forward from the kind of
repetitiveness that had already set in. Finally at the end of it all the infused
seasoned old cop humour too fell flat. Then the usual corruption routine began.
The same old story of corrupt
prosecutors, cops, politicians, government officials etc added up to about 146 ‘Vaidha’s’
in number (frequent requests of postponement of the case by the accused) with frequent
intercuts of flashbacks of the various con scams and G.B’s involvement with
them which failed to speed up the premise. Finally after quite a drag G.B is
released and goes scot free. The stupid cop waiting outside the court house
smiles in admiration* shakes hands with G.B and bids him good bye with a stupid
word of advice that ‘money’ is not everything in life. The director thus sets
the tone of the reformation of the con man G.B! Why admiration* – The cop is
moved by G.B’s impressive punch dialogues like ‘I don't intentionally con anyone. I only con those who simply want to be conned! ‘Wow!
The
2nd half: - Immediately after his release a former victim
of G.B’s ‘EMU’ con (who by the way watches the entire court proceedings) hires
a ‘SenThamizh’ speaking don and his 3 ‘adiyals’ in an attempt to recover his
money from G.B. This happens to be the director’s one and only suspense element
in the film. I really could not fathom the object of this SenThamizh speaking
don. Was it a dig at someone? I hope someone enlightens me on that. Anyway’s
immediately on his release G.B is kidnapped by the don and his hirelings and
taken to a remote warehouse (Binny mills compound for the nth time) and once again
bashed up. True to self G.B once again remains defiant and does not disclose
the place where the loot is hidden. Now the don goes one step better than the
cops in 3rd degree torture methods. He clamps G.B’s head on to a
vice and bellowing a sinister ‘Nambiyar’ like laugh threatens to squeeze his
brains out and lo G.B spills the beans! After all how can a brainless G.B make
money! I wonder why the cops did not think of the vice technique. Probably
Binny mills compound was not made available to them. From here on the director
decides to further hoodwink and con the viewer to such absurd levels of mediocrity
and full marks to him he is absolutely right. The viewer repeatedly falls for
it by watching films like these and praising it to kingdom come for want of
doing anything better! To cut the story shot without much ado G.B arranges for
the repayment of the EMU loot. Then the unexpected happens G.B’s buddies decide
to decamp with the money by double ‘conning’ G.B. As they proclaim “after all
we have been taught by an excellent teacher” (G.B). G.B the brain that he is
then sells the don another con to save himself. Following this in a bizarre
turn of events the ‘dumb’ don kills the EMU ‘con victim’ and joins hands with
G.B in a quest to con more people to make a fortune. What follows is not at all
surprising as G.B once again fools the ‘dimwit’ Don and his brainless ‘adiyals’
and has them all trapped by the police. Suddenly with the ‘cops’ word of advice
still ringing in his ears G.B drifts aimlessly all over Tamilnadu in a quest to
seek obsolesce from humanity for all his sins. He like the proverbial saint
gets decides to get bashed to a pulp by all the victims who seem to instantly
recognize his mug as he drifts aimlessly while travelling in a bus, walking, or
inside the customary tasmac bar etc. The repeated bashing even made my hand to
ache when finally bloody and limping the director allows our hero to collapse
inside a readymade shop situated in some remote corner of Tamilnadu where surprise! Surprise! Indira his long
lost love is now working! Our directors simply think right out of the box to
con us in believing anything and make it sound incredibly credible. Indira then
takes care of poor G.B with the help of an NGO who resembles Mr. Nedumaran (By
the way this NGO has received a contribution from G.B in the past at the
instance of Indira) Wasn't I right about the directors acumen in connecting all the irrelevant issues to make relevant connections. Now things move at an
erratic and bizarre manner the recovered G.B and Indira get married and retire
to a remote mountain side and build their own cute little thatched hut. Then
G.B takes to some real serious farming and even makes money out of selling the
produce. What’s missing in the couple’s
lives? A baby! So the director decides that Indira must now become pregnant.
All’s well until the don and his 'adiyals' finally mange to track down G.B.
How? Not by GPS this time but with the
help of a casual bystander who also happens to know the don and also recognizes
G.B the ace con man after nearly 1 year! Amazing but true! This bystander cum
tracker simply happens to be there when G.B and Indira step out of a local
gynecologist’s clinic! Oh! Oh! It’s ‘G.B’ bashing time again this time by the
don and his 'adiyals'. G.B again sells another con scheme to the by now “don of
the dumbest” in an attempt to save his pregnant wife. G.B leaves with the don
to implement another of his hair brained scheme but this time the dumb don
leaves behind 1 adiyal with the wife as a backup plan in case G.B tries
anything funny. At long last the
director is infusing some intelligence into the don!
Finally G.B conjures the ‘rice pulling’ con on a rich
granite exporter ‘Muvendhar’ (probably another simile to denote that even the
gods can be conned). This time the director is definitely taking a dig at the
‘oil pulling’ advt blitz launched by a leading edible oil company sometime
back. In fact in this film is better served with well thought out similes’
rather than the actual incidents. G.B finally pulls of this con and in the
process battles it out with the don on one side and to save his pregnant wife
about to deliver a child by preventing the ‘dumb’ don from making the one fatal
call which will end the life of his wife and the unborn child. The film then
moves on to a lame duck climax which believe me left me seething with anger and
frustration.
&
the climax: - G.B is left to chose between his wife and a
pile of cash lying in front of him!
The
things which irked me most: - The whole world recognizes G.B,
even a bystander for that matter but the ‘idiot’ policeman fails to recognize
him at all. The wife falls on her stomach from the cycle but nothing happens to
the fetus. The prolonged police lock up & court scenes. The portrayal of
women in this film was in very bad light 1. Dialogue: - “I agree I am a woman
and dumb! You're a male and intelligent how could you be so stupid.” 2. The
heroine a week and meek woman who simply tolerates all the misdeeds of her
lover and husband. No wonder the female ratio is decreasing in the country.
Acting:
- Natraj as G.B – He scored only on underplaying his character
well but there again too much of underplay was also his major failing. Other
than that he had one single expression throughout in the film whether
portraying anger, happiness, sadness, frustration or for that matter any
emotion including love! In my opinion his voice modulation and body language
was well below par.
Ishra
Nayar – As a meek, timid and soft-spoken degree girl she played
her part quite well. The director maintaining her Malayalam accent while
dubbing a plus.
Don
- Nothing
to complain about but the dialogue delivery in SenThamizh slipped to local
Tamil in a number of places.
All
the rest: - Most of them played their parts as required
by the premise and the director. You can’t blame them for the lack of exciting
content.
D.O.P.:-
Camera angle and lighting was adequate and moved with the premise though the
slowness and lack of interesting camera angles especially during the lock up
and court scenes dragged the film.
Music:
-
Adequate at times the lack of intensity and excitement in the B.G score
flattened the visuals.
Edit: - A cut of 30 mins would have helped.
Bottom
Line: - To be or not to be ‘conned’, watch this film and judge for yourself!
Finally
a quote: - “No victim of a con would like to relive his or her nightmare, and
viewers like me wouldn't like to be conned in watching films that only makes us
believe we are intelligent!”
*Wasted
150 mins of my time and 120 Rs on my ticket!
My rating:
- Premise 2/5
Until
Next Time,
Director
Haricharan
23/07/2014
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