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 

THAGARAARU

AARU OF BLOOD - TAHAGARAARU

A film like Thagaraaaru is like Thirunelveli Halwa to a reviewer. It really gives him enough and more ammunition to do a postmortem in the literal sense as to how not to make a film. I really wonder as to why an experienced production house like Cloud Nine so easily falls prey to such blatantly avoidable traps while making a film. When a production house of repute invests millions in making a film they should necessarily have an excellent internal and external team to wet the raw scripts, make necessary changes to cater to the audience they have in mind. Even a ‘Masala’ film like Thagaraaru is no exception to this cardinal rule. Cloud Nine has probably made an emotional issue (Arul Nidhi) to cloud their decision making in making such a mess of a movie!

I would now like to share with you my experience in watching the film THAGARAARU.   

Let me start with the films back story: - The film has been produced by Dayanidhi Azhagiri & Vivek Rathnavel. The man at the helm Ganesh Vinayaac is the director of the film. It has Arulnithi and Poorna playing the lead roles, supported by Jaiprakash, Pawan, Tarun Shatriya, Mayilsamy, Murugadoss, Bava Lakshmanan, Aruldoss etc.  

The story, backdrop and setting (Screen play) The story is the usual Tamil masala set in Madurai (acceding to the producers sentiments). It focuses on the conflict between true love and friendship on one side, revenge and vendetta on the other side. It has the usual “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah”, “Deiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Thookkuda Avanai”, “pottu thalluda ivanai”, “edura avan sangai” (adams apple) etc. The Kollywood Samurai, the legendary ‘Aruval’ (Sickle) is used with aplomb to draw blood from every other person in the film but unlike the Samurai it is never sheathed. The infused bloody twist in the climax is supposedly the highlight of this endless masala caper but the climax is a bloodless coup!

The director is obviously an avid Tamil film buff. The hero of the film, Saravanan, is a replicated mould of the character, Parithiveeran. Arulnithi is the innocent maverick on the inside but crude and tough on the exterior. The heroine is suspense filled milder version of Sriya Sarin in “Thimuru” and Bhavana in “Arya”. The film also has visible shades of Subramaniapuram, Run, and ThoongaNagaram etc to lend more variety. The hero and his friends, all orphans, are engaged in small time thievery. They use all the innovative methods in ‘the book of Chennai thievery’ to rob and steal from locked and vacant houses. They are so daring and impartial that they neither spare the local police nor the local don. The hero then gives one coy look at the heroine (Poorna) and turns into a love sick whimpering pussy cat. The heroine initially thwarts the hero (Run sentiment) but then reciprocates in all earnestness. I will not reveal the rest, not because I don’t want to, but honestly there is nothing more to reveal. Why in god’s name do these villains come one by one to get bashed up by the hero, why does the brave but stupid cop always lands up alone to get bashed up by everyone around, why are there so many baddies loitering all over the place and even the one good man in the film is a baddie. There is so much blood that one day even the Bay of Bengal may red! I implore upon directors and producers to please spare some thought to the average viewer who is paying good money to watch a film!

Acting: - I urge Arulnithi to hereafter prudently choose scripts after careful thought, bearing in mind his clear height advantage and phenomenal screen presence. He should stop shaking his head repeatedly to showcase emotions like coyness and gullibility. His voice modulation should improve as it develops a rather nasal tone when the pitch increases and dangerously borders on femininity.  He has talent and an eagerness to improve as seen from Mouna Guru to Thagaraaru but the scripts he chooses are so stereo typed. Poorna, on the other hand, has done her bit to enhance the shallow story line. She plays a major part in the infused climax which should augur well for her to grab meaty roles in future. The humorous ‘Subramaniapuram’ friends are the serious ‘Thagaraaru’ friends with a major part of their vagabond presence in TASMAC. Jaiprakash has now taken over from Prakash Raj as the official collar flicking don of Tamil cinema. Aruldass is the ugly, bad and the good villain. Poorna’s mother is once again the stereotyped nagging mother. The rest are all the “Deiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, Eiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Edungada Sangai, Pottu Thallungada” Aruval-in-hand-Adiyals who roam all over the hundreds of cinema screens all over Tamilnadu.  Let me now move on to the technicians:-

Technicians:- The DOP Dillraj has used the camera well and in parts even excelled and enhanced the visual quotient of the film without which the film would have catapulted into oblivion. In fact the opening shot of zooming in on the location of the plot created an expectation but the shoddy screen prevents any further showcasing of his talent. In spite of so many characters effecting bloody cuts in the film, the editor Suresh has managed the cuts very well and has effectively decreased the lags which could have made the film a total torture. Dillip Subbarayan has handled the stunts using the typical Kollywood in what I term as the ‘punching bag’ formula – when the hero hits you fly into oblivion only to reappear magically to get hit again and again. The sickles, pipes, sticks, breaking of glass, tables, furniture, windshield etc can be seen to your heart’s content. The hero and the villains can be effectively used to demolish anything in this universe!

Music:-  The music director Dharan Kumar has used all the nuances required to fill in for the lack of story and screen play. The “Nanba Nanba” song to highlight the bonding and friendship blends well with the choreography. The rerecording by Praveen Sathya fills the noise quotient needed for this genre.

Left right & Centre:-

Rather than voicing my opinion I decided to turn to the person on my left and he answered as only an avid, discerning Tamil film viewer can “ Too! Too! lengthy, saar! Dragging, saar! Orey violence, not a family subject”.  I had no one on my right or centre this time to invite further comments.

Pro: - Those who are ardent fans of the genre ‘MASALA’!

Con: - Mediocrity continues to rule Tamil Cinema.

Bottom Line:-  The Hero and the Sickle are seldom separated!

Until next time,

Director Haricharan 

VIDIYUM MUNN

THRILLER OR FILLER! - VIDIYUM MUN

Wikipedia says “It's about four formidable men, who, for three different reasons are chasing after two women in one day…“ The plot is about child sex trafficking and vigilante justice. It is what I call a ‘ding dong’ thriller! It has moments where the debutant director Balaji Kumar does manage to bring you to the edge of your seat but there are moments when he slackens and lets you relax back into the comfort of your seat.

Back Story

Balaji is full of effusive praise for his producer Javed Khayum – ‘My producer is a director’s dream come true’. The producer it appears extended his utmost cooperation and assistance in successfully completing the film in 68 days. He adds that he did not bat an eyelid when the budget exceeded the original estimates. In fact it appears he even opened a state of the art studio just in time to finish the post production of the film. WOW! The film is the first Tamil release of PVR pictures. All this is a definite plus to the debutant director. Has he managed to use all the initial impetus he got to bring out a good product? The director claims that he has achieved nearly 85% in the visual capture of his script. Is that really true? Does it show on screen? Read on!

Technical Presentation

The director and his team it appears burnt the mid night oil for nearly nine months and after 35 rough drafts they finalized the script.

In my opinion the narrative style is definitely different and has some enjoyable and taut moments but it also slackens in pace and tends to lag especially in the first half. I would give it a 55 percentage for script to visual translation. All in all it is very good attempt by a debutant director which has some distinctive narrative points. The screen play peps up the tempo but the dialogues bring it down especially Pooja’s dialogue delivery. The exception to this being John Vijay as Lankesh. He is a class apart! Malavika as Nandhini stands out, Vinoth Krishnan hardly speaks but he shows intensity in the few lines he delivers. The screen play is fairly engaging but could have been better.  For small budget films like this one, most of the roles I’ve mentioned below have to be performed by just one or two people. Therefore, more work is necessary on these basic issues to make the film visually memorable.

Casting

Vidiyum Munn would have been better served if a professional casting director had been in place. The casting director, usually with the input of the producer and director, chooses the actors who will best bring the characters to life - something more than a portrayal of characters.

Acting

Pooja as Rekha plays her role effectively and has really matured as an actor since I last met her. A very pretty and spirited girl with a lot of potential, her biggest minus in this film is her dialogue delivery.

Malavika as Nandhini is definitely a find and has played her part well and if used well will go places.

John Vijay as Lankesh fits this role to the tee! He is a class apart and outscores and outshines everyone else in this film. Kudos to the director for having cast him in this role. His dialogue delivery and voice modulation a big plus indeed.

Vinoth Kishan as Chinniah deserves a mention as he shows the intensity required for the role.

The others I feel can be tolerated and somehow I am unable to digest these Hollywood type of villains who are disfigured, breathe through a mask and speak in and hoarse and  barely decipherable undertones and villains like Chinniah who barely speak but use their eyebrows and eye blinks to communicate their wishes to their ‘Adiyaal’.

Cinematography

Shivakumar Vijayan the D.O.P of the film is a debutant. According to the director the major part of the film was shot in 35mm using an Arriflex camera (first camera was designed in 1937). The director was filled with sadness and his voice cracked when he said that his film will probably be among the last ones to be shot using film as even Kodak a major producer of raw stock has literally closed shop. He also claims that different types of digital cameras including 5D, 7D etc was also in play to shoot a fair amount of footage. Was all the different camera footage properly matched by way of colour etc? Shivakumar has definitely put in his heart and soul in this film and has managed to visually translate the director’s idea to a great extent. The matching and DI work has meshed and matched quite well.

Lighting

The DOP must be commended for using lighting to create natural and pleasing effects which complements the subject of the film

Costume design

Ms.Jayalakshmi the costumer has no major role to play in this film. Though I felt that a little more attention could have given especially in the scene where after a long tiring travel on the floor of a train Pooja’s sari looks new and unsoiled.

The costume designer selects apparel which enhances the director's vision and the actor's characterization, plus reflects time period and situation.

Direction

PROS: The director has definitely scored on certain fronts and found wanting in certain areas. Overall, he should be congratulated for making a decent thriller film which is devoid of the usual Tamil cinemas’ pet themes, love, lust, songs, item numbers, unwarranted comedy track, hero bashing, car chases etc. He has experimented and trusted a new and untested team of technicians with a few experienced artistes. He has also hit upon a novel idea in the portrayal of a ‘vigilante’ Villain! Usage of R.D. Burmans’ classic number at the right place. The action portions especially some of the techniques used by Chinniah were definitely a plus!

CONS: The stereo typed disfigured oxygen sucking (Hollywood) villain and the silent eyebrow raising (Kollywood) villain as depicted in this film is becoming quite repetitive. Lankesh, the third villain was a refreshing change though.  Dialogues and their delivery were not up to the mark.  Absence of humour quotient is a minus. Unnecessary CG work escalating production cost. BG at times mutes the dialogues.  Some of the artiste’s lacked clarity in dialogue delivery. John Vijay and Pooja were somehow well aware of the geography of a place they have never been to. The climax could have been shortened a tad bit. Lack of makeup continuity was visible in parts. The chemistry between Rekha and Malavika could have been portrayed better. Rekha and Devanayagi’s background lacked clarity. The agraharam humor was bland and rather in bad taste.

Editing

Good editing is seamless and unnoticed. Sathyaraj is an upcoming young editor who is presently working on many projects. Vidiyum Mun is his first Tamil film to be released. By the way, Sathya has worked on my Hindi telefilm. He is by nature a very dedicated, innovative and a quick learner. He has a very bright future in Tamil cinema. In this film too he has done a good job but I somehow felt that some of the unwanted scenes were a lag and a tad too long. Was it the directors’ call or a joint call to retain these scenes in their totality I wonder!

Makeup

The famous Anil Da from bollywood did the prosthetic make up. The process involves of taking a mold of a body part (often the face) to use as a base and normally skin safe silicon rubber is used for sculpting the prosthetic. (Dasavatharam)

In this film the prosthetic make up was totally wasted and did not have any major role to play in enhancing the quality of the film.

Music

The Music Director Girishh Gopalakrishnan scored the music and the BG for the film. It appears that a London based Indian singer Ms.Susheela Raman has sung a number and the BBC philharmonic orchestra was also used to infuse life and grandeur to the music for the film. The recording was completed at the A.R.Rehman music studio which is probably one of the best in the country and a tad expensive.

Girishh has again played his part in the composition of music for this film though at times the BG appeared to mute the dialogue making it rather difficult to understand what the actor was conveying. The BBC philharmonic orchestra blended quite well wherever it was used. Ms.Susheela Raman somehow did not live up to the hype created by the director and producer. In fact I felt she was off key in many places in the song she rendered.

Production design

The film was shot mainly in Poonamalee, Mahabalipuram, Sri Rangam and Pondy not necessarily in that order. The director handpicked the locations after an extensive tour of Chennai and other places and was ably assisted by his assistant directors.

The production designer takes the vision of the director and creates an environment. I call this communication the "third character."  Well! The locations served its purpose in this film and nothing more nothing less as they say.

Sound

It appears that Edward & Kailmamamai have infused life to the film by innovative sound recording techniques used 3 mics (i.e.) one for the short range, one for the mid and 1one for long range sound capture.

The sound crew has adequately played their part in capturing the dialogue, mixing the music, sound, sound effects, and additional background sounds to make the production better.

Special effects

The director has used quite of computer graphics which would have escalated production values. He says that extensive roto work was involved at times 15 to 20 layers of roto work was involved, as he claims the night by day shots were for the first time (probably for world cinema) was shot during forenoon.

I somehow felt that the Roto process used in this film was not justified in terms of value for money Vis a Vis the visual effects that it managed to create in the closing scenes of Vidiyum Munn. It appeared painted, muggy and artificial and probably the director could have put in more thought into making the climax scenes even more visually exciting and vibrant. Anyway it is Balaji Kumar’s call and he did what he thought was best. Somehow animation films like Snow White and a few other films were served better with this age old technology.

BOTTOM LINE:  Please watch the movie at least once. It will encourage more directors to make better films.

FOOTNOTE: I would just like to sum it up by stating I will be using this column to air my views as a director/producer but I will never forsake my primary right as an average viewer’s (Rs.120/-) right to like or dislike a film. As a director/producer I will attempt to highlight the technical pros & cons of Tamil cinema in particular and on cinema as a whole. I shall try to do so without any emotional bias or prejudice. My intention is definitely not to hurt the ardent and passionate Tamil cinema fans or for that matter anybody in the film industry. It is basically a miniscule effort on my part to help the average viewer to understand the language of cinema better. In short I will attempt to enhance the viewing pleasure of the interested film buff.

Until next time,

Haricharan 

IRANDAAM ULAGAM

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

MY TAKE ON CINEMA: Chennaiyil Oru Naal!

MY TAKE ON CINEMA: Chennaiyil Oru Naal!: Chennaiyil Oru Naal is supposedly a remake of 'Traffic' a successful Malayalam film! I say 'supposedly' as I have not watch...

Chennaiyil Oru Naal!

Chennaiyil Oru Naal is supposedly a remake of 'Traffic' a successful Malayalam film! I say 'supposedly' as I have not watched Traffic. The film starts with a happy carefree young girl driving a car and suddenly notices a few bike Romeo's following her. The girl panics and drives through a stop sign and accidentally hits a motor bike. The bike's pillion an aspiring radio jockey after obtaining the blessings of his parents and a fond goodbye from his girl friend is on his way to interview the 'supreme star' suffers a fatal head injury while his friend the rider escapes with minor injuries owing to his protective head gear (though due to the impact both of them are tossed up over 10 to 13ft in the air like rag dolls).The junction has a few other characters waiting at the traffic signal. A doctor and his close friend in a car. The doc is driving a new car as a surprise gift to his wife while his friend ( portrayed as a Casanova) is happily coo chi cooing  on the phone to a unseen girl trying desperately to take her to bed asap much to the amusement of his friend (Prassanna). Little does he realize that his buddy is two timing him. At the same time some where in the city a local counselor successfully reinstates a suspended traffic head constable (gets caught accepting a bribe owing to a difficult family situation) using his clout with a minister. At the same time Prakash Raj the busy supreme star of the Tamil film industry is happily studio hopping and thereby has no time for his family- a doting daughter and wife (Radhika).
The main plot

The protagonist the pillion rider is rushed to a big multi national hospital where the doctors somehow come to the conclusion (using rather complicated medical jargon) that the boy will not survive much to the anger and charging of his father (J.P) a leading surgeon and is wife (Lakshmi Ramakrisnan). Suddenly the doting daughter of Prakash Raj is diagnosed with a heart problem and is admitted in Vellore. The proagnist

Paradesi - A directors take!

PARADESI – Is this film a Documentary, a Visual Narrative of sorts, a feature film, an art film,  a docu-drama or a fantasy film conjured by a film director’s futile attempt to promote and show case his talent in film making. Let me take one step at a time in reviewing this film.

1)           The dry landscape of the film sets the tone of the film so much so even the lush green tea gardens of Nilgiris somehow looks dry and parched. Even the water sources seem like puddles and the Lovely queen of hills gives you the feel that the el nino effect was fast transforming  the lush green Nilgiri landscape  into a desert even as far back in 1939. The camera texture, angles, and lighting adds to the rawness of the film. The costumes especially the ikkath and block printed saris worn by the women definitely do not belong to that period. The costumes worn by the male characters were also not convincing enough ( especially the dhotis probably dipped and stained in a cauldron of tea leaves to make them look soiled and dirty failed to convince me of the authenticity of that period). The film maker’s portrayal of our rulers the British was by far the biggest joke of them all! The Euoropean boss man of the tea estate talks better Tamil ( ie. an average Tamil speaking like yours truly can follow) than the Tamil spoken by the Ramanathapuram villagers whose dialect I could not follow most often. I think these days one has to learn all the dialects of Tamil spoken throughout the state to understand the dialogues spoken in Tamil films. Kadal being the most recent example and now Paradesi! The British tea estate owners were at most times portrayed as drunken rapists. In between the lone British lady unconvincingly tries to glorify Gandhiji’s noble traits and ideals.

2)           Next comes the Indo British doctor and his devout white Christian wife’s who desperately try to desperately convert the Hindu (idiot) natives using some amazing at times comical techniques in their conversion methods. In fact their crazy rap like dance steps and Michael Jackson movements are the only lighter and comedy track in the film. One movement even comically depicts the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. That will be my next point in this review.

3)           I wonder how so much of crudity and vulgar dialogues were passed over by the censors and a U certificate was issued by censors when lesser directorial sins were dealt with severely and mercilessly by our censors in the recent past. I suppose national award winning directors get the red carpet treatment and such liberties are condoned and pardoned by the august body.

4)           What was this filmmaker trying to convey, that plantation workers during the pre independence era ie. during the British rule were treated like scum. They were treated as bonded labour/slaves and were repeatedly exploited/vandalized/raped and tortured. But so were indigo planters and millions of other Indian natives and that is why the country under the leadership of Gandhi revolted and fought for their basic human freedom. Now does the director during the course or end of the film ever so much as tries to convey that such practices exist even today. No he does not! So what is the film maker trying to convey – that slavery very much existed in India as it did in the USA and other white dominated countries. Kudos to the film maker for enlightening this point repeatedly in the year 2013. Does this remarkable revelation strike an emotional chord or is one able to empathize and connect with the characters in the film. An empathic No would be my answer. Well that is my next point.

5)           The histrionics ( Many a time termed as over acting when the late Sivaji Ganeshan enacted such scenes more convincingly and with aplomb in the past) than Atharva who plays the main lead in the story. All the torture he endures under his captors, especially the portion where his ankle bone or tendon (don’t really know as the lighting was rather dark) is pinched with pliers to restrict his movements still fails to evince even an iota of empathy or sympathy from yours truly. Atharva’s Tamil diction and pronunciation while dubbing seems rather forced and put on. His delivery was for most part not in sync with the lingo of that period as played out by the film maker. The first female lead Vedika plays her part more convincingly in parts but even her acting powers failed to enhance her part in the film. Her makeup turns from dark to dusky to fair as the film progresses. The child she gives birth to seems to have inherited her skin pigmentation from someone else other than her parents (which is off course genetically possible). The second lead in the film Dhansika is the only stand out performance in this film. She surpasses herself in the role given to her and has naturally essayed herself into the role she plays. She reminds one of Nandita Dass at her best. This damsel will go a long way if she gets the right breaks. Other than her the character who plays the native slave master has played his part to the tee and deserves applause. There were other minor characters like the hunch backed old grandmother, the native quack doctor (whose one lens spectacle baffled me since the doctor seems to be earning quite a bit and could easily afford a decent pair of spectacles) and the slave master’s wife have also played their respective parts reasonably well.

6)           Finally let me sum up the review. Director Bala has not done enough research on the subject of the film. He has failed to bring out anything out of the ordinary with respect to the performance of the actors. The actors over act and react most often times. The re recording score is jarring most times. On the whole the music acts as a deterrent to the subject. The songs do not stick and the music director has failed to understand the subject. Less said about the costumes the better. On the whole director Bala is on a solo trip and one gets the feeling that he cares two hoots about what the viewers feels about this film. Yours truly while watching the film under great duress wanted to SCREAM every now and then “WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TURN THE LIGHTS I CANNOT SEE ANYTHING”  but better sense prevailed in the end, hence this REVIEW.

Yours truly,

hC