Settai Review

           When it comes to remake there are many good directors (read CON Review), however there are only a few with great talent because it only takes a great talent to make a sensational hit out of remaking a flop as well as making a fantastic flop out of a box office breaker & those who had seen or even heard of the original would know it!

Here's an attempt to reconstruct what (probably) went in the minds of the producers of this feature film.

1. Buy the rights of the original.
2. Check with Aamir Khan on his budget for producing the original and fix half of it or even less for the remake.
3. Also ask them if they still have the set they used for the original and preserve whatever is left of that and use it.
4. Make sure the movie is made in front of the eyes of the producers (hence shot in Mumbai).
5. Replace just the main cast of the original.
6. Assume that the Tamil audience are grown up 'kids' and henceforth remove the adult-content aspects ( a.k.a the reasons why the original was a resounding success). Its like remaking a Shakila movie and without her so that the movie would henceforth be a 'family entertainer' and of course the CBFC would silence certain mouthing here too.

Bottomline: 

      This movie could have reaped similar resounding success had it retained the selling point of the original. It ends up as a cheap 'adulterated' shitty (literally) movie with Santhanam bringing a little respite here and there.

Chennaiyil Oru Naal Review

                How often do we get to see a Tamil movie where every minute in the movie really counts? Well the last instance I remember seeing something similar was in Unnai Pol Oruvan.  Yet again a Tamil Cinema has bolted such a screenplay as a strong anchor. I must say the movie has lot of positives and a must watch even before I get to the details of what's hot and what's not.

What's HOT

• Firstly the ensemble cast, a great positive from an industry permanently tattooed with heroism and star studded one man shows. A little sad to note that this casting hasn't happened on an original script but only to an award winning remake.
• The movie has all the elements of making it a full course meal (hero, villain, politics, romance, betrayal, rich, poor et al) however the director cooks a perfect one course diet meal sans the unwanted fat, whatsoever.
• I don't know what's with Kollywood, off-late too many attempts (Pizza, Paradesi and this too) at a 2 hour running length however this movie is an example of it in a good way.
• I felt this movie is definitely NOT the kind of remakes where the Find & Replace-Cast alone technique (the one employed in Remake Ravi's movies) is employed.
• If the casting, script and pace of the movie were the three pillars then the fourth one definitely was the screenplay where the open ended threads in the various sub-plots does not leave us in doubts (unlike Paradesi) but gives all that is needed for us to close each of them ourselves mentally.
• Yet another purposeful yet subtle add on here being each of the three roadtrip characters belonging to different religions which in a way made me feel they are all not different and when there is a real need there is just one religion called mankind, just as how humans started!

Quite a few blips in this screenplay too.

What's NOT

• Understandable even the Sundara Pandian (Sarath Kumar) can lose track of his operation once (where the interval comes) but twice (where he calls off the operation, hastily)? I did not expect this from a top cop sitting in a control room with satellite gizmos and with known last point of contact but still unable to fathom the current coordinates of a speeding car. If it took a top cop to realize the car is 8Km ahead in its journey only after hearing from Sathyamoorthi, then I guess not just him but his entire team sitting at the control room are pathetic in their geography.
• Keeping the audience guessing and nail biting was a strong positive in this movie right from the start however it lost its way & literally caved-in in the last 15 minutes. There is a situation of shortage of time and detour was needed. Its announced that only one man can make it happen hassle free. Had that one person was kept under wraps until the end of the detour and revealed later would've sustained the guessing game till the end, which however did not happen & was lost. The Surya cameo in the start phase of it and the boring & not so necessary confidence boosting speech of his that followed thereafter, looked like a take off from his Avan-Ivan cameo with just a different script to jabber.
• Though the pacey song was sort of good, the other two were just establishment fillers & hence the music was disappointment for me, I felt they were either plagiarized err inspired ones,  or I-don't-have-much-bmgs-I-shall-repeat-the-same ones umpteen times.
• The most disappointing and needless thing about this movie is the one that happens during the end credits, its a true face-palm material.

Bottomline:

   This movie is truly worth the money for a big screen experience. Yet another humane gesture showcased. Time & statistics would be the real litmus test for the movie's success in its cause more than just the revenue for the producers of the movie.

Top Five Questions Asked To A Newly Wed Guy

           There are absolutely infinite things to ask a guy who has recently gotten married but guess what, the reality doesn't happen to be that way and all people do is circle around only a selective few in varied forms and manners for reasons unknown. The questions mostly range from totally irrelevant to being unreasonably inquisitive in nature. Here are those that top that list...

• #5 -  How is life treating you 'now'? | As if I have recovered from coma or some deadly disease.
• #4 - You seem to have put on / lost weight, haven't you? | One amongst this is chosen either randomly or maybe in comparison of the questioner.
• #3 -  How were your 'thala' festival(s)? | Once in a lifetime question set in the southern flavor.
• #2 - Where did you go for honeymoon? | Maybe to say same pinch or what?
• #1 - Any good news? | Can never resist asking this, can they?

Its a strong hunch that these exist across the country / region / religions in its respective own ways and that it makes us Indians what we are!!!

Paradesi Review

      First things first and this movie has gained a lot of positives from what was seen as a let down from Bala in his previous attempt Avan-Ivan. There are quite a lot of facets that can be seen as a typical Bala ones in this film as well and some new additions to his skill set too.

The Typical Bala

• A dark subject and storyline.
• Characterization research
• Cast looks and costumes
• No happily-ever-after ending.
• Protagonist not glorified as heroic.
• Female cast having important roles
• First half having comic moments
• Characters having undergone physical overhaul for their roles.
• A song that mostly is unnecessary for the story.

The New Bala

• Firstly, he has stopped spoon feeding the audience with the screenplay to a great extent in this movie.
• Less gory & tragic scenes.
• A making-of-the-movie teaser as a promotional stunt.
• A crisp running length as needed for the movie.
• Bala the producer.

What worked?

• The length of the movie.
• The conviction of the output put forth by the entire cast.
• The music score.
• Screenplay being episodic in nature than being an usual one that lasts the entire lifetime of the protagonist.
• The movie has given popularity to a good extent to the book it was inspired from.

What did not work?

• The crispness in establishment of characters or spaces was a tad too much and been to the extent of not sufficiently believable throughout the entire movie. For eg : A large section of villagers agree to go on a mission to earn a better living, however the showcase of how bad their current lives were were missing. The only person who was convincing in this aspect was the protagonist as showcased aptly.
• On the same lines of the previous one the elements to indicate this being a period film could have been even more extensively showcased.  The village shown in the beginning was believable, which in the latter part of the movie was either missing or wasn't sufficient.
• There were quite a lot of between the lines left to the audience to fathom themselves, which was quite far from being acceptable. Ex: Periappa's demise had a build up to be hidden from Rasa but then what happened thereafter? His body was left to rot in the hut or what? A doctor was brought in to battle the disease, he preached Christianity ok fine, did he do what was called for? as the story immediately moved to 4 years later.

Some smaller pluses and lot of minuses did exist here and there in the movie which I don't want to get into and here I move on to the conclusion. 

Bottomline:

         This movie is neither a National Award material on any front and I would be greatly surprised if it did win nor it is as bad a typical commercial cinema and fares way better than that. Its definitely a good (if not great) attempt by Bala on a period subject. I would however not rate this movie as a best of his, but maybe it could be one of good ones this year! 

Vishwaroopam Review

             And finally after much hiatus Vishwaroopam opened in Tamil Nadu on 7th of Feb, 2013 and thanks to my buddies, I got a chance to see this on the same day. So as I headed to the movie I had this mental checklist of what to expect out of a Kamal movie and sort of put a tick against each of those as and when I experienced it.

• Kamal the protogonist - Checked (obvious)
• Kamal singing songs - Checked
• Kamal the lyricist - Checked
• Kamal and new heroine - Checked
• Lots of characters, though many may less screen presence - Checked
• A typical Kamal praising song - Checked
• A punchline from a past Kamal movie - Checked
• A share of  'let the audience figure out how' content - Checked
• A role Kamal hasn't donned before - Checked
• Experiment or bring on something new to local cinema- Checked 
• Controversy involved - Checked (becoming obvious too)
• Costing a fortune to the producer - Checked (Home production in this case)
• Attention to detail (in all aspects) - Checked

    Now some things that did not feature in the checklist but impressed me.

• The idea of choosing a story that would appeal to global audience than just the local or national ones.
• No fancy & disconnected between-the-scenes dream songs.
• In the world ample with showcasing the terror humans, this has something to offer about humane terrorists for a change.

   And those that failed to impress me

• Probably my expectation of a performance on par or bettering சலங்கை ஒளி made me feel disappointed in this Kathak piece.
• Flash back and forth placements.
• The extent of 'let the audience figure out how' quotient.
• Is that all needed to, not just get inducted into Al-Qaeda team but be looked upon as trustworthy as well, or did Kamal leave it to the audience to fathom themselves on how that could be possible?
• I would have taken lesser notice of the logical flaws in first fight sequence had it not been played again in slow motion, well sorry Kamal my bar is certainly very high for a perfectionist.
• Understandably a high budget one for an Indian movie, however still the movie couldn't seamlessly superimpose the different layers of real footage and surreal CG, imperfect still.
• Most fans as well as fanatics play the "I've never seen an Indian movie so good before, only Kamal can do" card. Well it implies that the fan is either an English movie frequent and hence is able to compare the finesse or a normal guy unexposed to worldly cinema and is all awe by this never seen before visuals. Come on guys stop the apples and oranges comparison.

   Lastly, on the controversial protests and cuts

• If muting / cutting those little scenes has upheld the sanctity of the religion then looks like we're heading to old-age future (in terms of freedom of speech and expression)
• The instances of jabbing at Hinduism or a specific caste and no protests or censor cuts has raised interesting questions.
• Are those belonging to it understood that it does not affect what they are or where they belong to?
• As it has been proved time and again across various movies 'these' people could be taken for a ride, for whatever reasons?

Bottomline: 

               Vishwaroopam is a high budget Kamal roopam and may NOT go into the book of movie classics for Indian Cinema, to those with the love for cinema its watchable once, to the cheque and MO sending ones nothing needs to be said & the maddening history repeats itself.

Top 5 Qualities that Defines Most Indians

      Sparing an opening note for the first timers and for the record, India is a land of diverse elements, be it the climatic variances across the lengths and breadths of the sub-continent to the language localization within the country. In-spite of this plethora of diversities there still exists certain characteristics that uniquely identifies a true Indian be it (sampled) from any part of the globe. There were quite a lot of inputs (though mostly derogatory), the following are my compilation of the top 5 qualities that defines most Indians, in no specific order.

• Judgmental & Blamer

              For non-Indians these might be two totally different characteristics a person might possess but for an Indian these go hand in hand just like politics and corruption. When you find a person who talks to you, say for a few minutes and if you're sure he's an Indian then most likely that he has already judged you. Few instances to give a hang of the lovely judgmental qualities we Indians possess and use in conversations....

• A bearded guy has failed in love (excluding the ones who have it for religious reasons).
• All flashy dressed women are allegedly hookers.
• Those who 'obey' parents are the best kids on earth.
• All those who study abroad are exceptionally brilliant.

Coming to the blamer quality, its deeply embossed in the DNA of all of us. The last thing on earth we can do is to accept our fault without throwing the blame on others. The fact that the present day reality shows having taken the western world concept to the next level is one stamping proof. Here again a few instances to show case the typical blame-games...

• At road accidents be it small or big, we are always right and the others involved are always wrong.
• When it comes to punctuality be it at work or even for meet up with friends or family, the whole world is at mistake for our miss and mess up of the timeline.
• Even our clothes & shoes take the blame for getting 'smaller' rather attributing to the fact of us becoming 'bigger'.

• Spice Foodie

            This part of the world has people whose spice levels in their food could touch alarming levels (according to a non-Indian) and still remain fit and healthy. As the saying goes 'Variety is the spice of life' we Indians have a variety of spices to heat up our lively taste buds and its diversity can only be experienced by travelling across to different parts of our '!ncredible !ndia'

• God Fearing

               If there is something that defies the law (Indian Penal Code, Constitution etc...) and procreates a belief that is widely accepted and nurtured as the law of the land then it is the belief in God or the Almighty or in whichever term the wide-spread religious establishments across the country call it. As much to the delight of countless Indians on earth, there exists equally countless ways, situations, opportunities etc for the implementation of these God-Fearing beliefs cutting across regions, religions & languages. Also comes truck loads of superstitions as a freebie with this trait. 

• Coitus as sex               

               Being a country that is one of the top on the table in terms of population or in terms of the number affected by STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) & for historical reasons too (Kamasutra), our country is ample with theory of Coitus in its artistic illustrations which are looked up and held in high esteem by the outsiders as an art. However ironically most in this country don't even know the term by its former name and refer it as the latter and mold it to the extent that compels kids to believe that any form of even knowledge-based exposure or discussion based on it elevates one to a 'bad' societal status. Hence it results in the obvious inquisitive trait (in secrecy) and the internet boom, crimes, fetishes and what not, the rest is history. Due to this genetic degeneration of coitus what is left is just the physical eroticism, population explosion and growth of porn industry as a grey shade.

• Nomadic or Adjustable 

                It's a grounding fact that a major chuck of earning Indians are salaried, which in simple layman terms translates to "I shall be ready to do anything that my boss orders me to, and remain grumbling behind their backs forever". We're probably the largest class of people in the world to be proud to trade our families for lucrative donkey jobs anywhere on the globe. We learn the global business language (English), foreign languages and most importantly unlearn our local language to not become literary experts or for the love of the language but just to earn money. If the 'brain-drainers' are so, the locals aren't amateurs either. Its just the economics of it, the locals do the same adjustments in their lives for up to 5 digit salaries while the NRIs do for a 7 digit onward perk.

Some of the qualities that almost made it

Gossiping

Casteism 

Timelessness

Who Am I? #11

Series Synopsis - Blog Link / FB Link

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I'm known to be responsible for conditions

 unknown to the medical world.

Successes or failures fetch me my due credits.

Being apple of their eyes

some call me blessed

while to some others I am the oppressed.

Neither I care for the lewd tag.

Nor do I take credits for being the spine.

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Series Synopsis - Blog Link / FB Link