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Rabble Rousing Random Ramblings by S Jagadish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
"K TV" telecast 'Mouna Ragam' last week. I love watching it every time it shows up on TV, but unlike some of my other favourites, I don't actually watch it to discover something new all the time. I always do that with say 'Michael Madana Kama Rajan' because I'm absolutely sure that despite having watched it more than 50 times, I will still find something new to laugh about.
I watch 'Mouna Ragam' because I can track a sort of metamorphosis in me.
I may have first seen it when I was 11 or 12 years old, around 6-8 months after it was released in 1986. Despite liking movies, our parents weren't the sort of people who would make it a point to catch all the new movies that showed up in the theatres.
So it is quite possible that we saw it on video tape or when Doordarshan showed it on TV around a year later. Contrast this to today's TV channels that scream out "திரைக்கு வந்து சில மாதங்களே ஆன புத்தம் புதிய திரை படம்" warning viewers that they would be telecasting a movie that 100% of the Tamil movie watching public was blissfully unaware of.
As far as I can remember, the first aspects of 'Mouna Ragam' that blew me away were the frivolous and fun-filled nature of the Karthik-Revathi romance scenes. For evidence, see these clips.
Over the next few years, whenever I saw the movie, I went 'wow!' at Karthik's wooing style and Revathi's cuteness. "If ever there was a way to fall in love and express it, this was it."
I suspect a lot of the [then] young boys and girls who saw it also felt the same way.
Sooner rather than later, the focus gradually shifted from 'falling in love' to the music.
'Mandram vandha thendralukku' and 'Pani vizhum iravu' blew me away, especially the usage of the violin, guitar, flute, trumpet & drums in 'Mandram vandha' and 'Pani vizhum iravu'.
Finally, I settled on the background score, and am tempted to call it the most awesome one ever.
Labels: film music, ilayaraja, mani ratnam, metamorphosis, mouna ragam, movies, tamil
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AR Rahman claimed by all and their slumdogs
After winning two Academy Awards, for Original Score & Song, AR Rahman is now the darling of India. However, just like his music, the list of people associating themselves with him also have a global reach.
Among those claiming him as one of their own ilk are (in no particular order): Hindus, Muslims, the world school drop-outs association, the world religious converts association, alumni of the Padma Seshadri group of institutions in Madras, alumni of the Trinity college of music, the Tamil ad film industry, the Kannada film industry, the silent movie industry (sole member being Mani Ratnam), the Tamil film industry, the betel nut industry (spearheaded by ARR Sugandha paaku), the Hindi film industry and the Indian film music listeners association.
Perhaps, on any other day, Gulzar (lest we forget, he was a joint-winner!) and Resul Pookutty would have been the darlings of India. It was their misfortune that AR Rahman hogged the limelight :)
While I haven't heard all the songs from the movie, I don't think they'd be superior to some of the other stuff he's dished out over the last 16-17 years!
To ensure there was a social responsibility angle for the Indian media's coverage of the Academy Awards, a short-form documentary about a girl in Uttar Pradesh with a cleft-lip won an award.
Labels: academy awards, india, movies, music, oscars, rahman
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Less than a month after I wrote about Apoorva Sahodarargal, the superb actor Nagesh died a couple of days ago.
I can never forget his ability to have the audience in so many moods perhaps in the same scene. He could make you laugh (several!), cry (Edhir Neechal), enjoy (his dancing) and reflect ('Server' Sundaram).
I guess an indication of how enthralling I found him is that he's one of the few actors in Indian cinema whose scenes I stop & watch, dropping just about anything I'm doing. This, mind you, is even if I've seen the same scene dozens or hundreds of times before!
There are probably around a dozen other Indian movie actors who make me stop & watch them in action (listed in ascending order of first name) - Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan (1970s-1980s), Kamal Haasan, Manorama, Mohanlal, MR Radha, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Paresh Rawal, Savitri, Sivaji Ganesan, Smita Patil & Utpal Dutt.
I'd say Nagesh is no less than any of the other names on that list!
Labels: death, movies, nagesh, tamil
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Re-viewing Apoorva Sahodarargal
I just finished watching Apoorva Sahodarargal on TV. Twenty years have passed, but it remains such an entertaining movie, although some of the stunts do look tacky now. Hackneyed plot, but superbly executed thanks to the director (Singeetham Srinivasa Rao), writer ('Crazy' Mohan), the actors (Kamal, Srividya, Manorama, Gautami, Janakaraj, Nasser, Nagesh, 'Delhi' Ganesh, Jaishankar etc.) and great music (Ilayaraja).
I guess it was one of the earliest movies featuring the Mohan-Kamal-Rao combination which also gave us other brilliant stuff like MMKR and Magalir Mattum (maybe I left out some other movies). I've seen this movie so many times, and but as it happens with the Kamal-Mohan combination, I still found a new wisecrack/pun to laugh at. A few months ago, I'd bought the MMKR VCD and I discovered new things to laugh at - this when I thought I knew every dialogue!
As for Apoorva Sahodarargal, it was the first time I realized that the one commonality to the deaths of 'Delhi' Ganesh, Nasser, Jaishankar & Nagesh is that there was no evidence in the form of finger-prints.
Labels: kamal haasan, movies, review, tamil
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With Tata Motors announcing that it would be relocating its Nano car project from Singur despite the attempts of the Bengal government, a lot of states have now jumped into the fray to get Tata Motors to move the project to their state.
The list of states vying for the project is pretty impressive, but Tamil Nadu's absence is a little odd, given that so many of the world's leading automobile manufacturers have plants in the state.
The jostling for the project though reminds me of a scene in the 1992 Tamil movie Singaravelan (Kamal, Khushboo, etc.). Kamal goes to Madras from his village and is immediately surrounded by dozens of auto-rickshaw drivers, each of who wants Kamal to be his savaari (customer). Ultimately, one of them throws down his trump card, and claims that Kamal is his maamool savaari (regular customer). The scene, and the movie in general, is an absolute riot!
See the video (piracy alert!). If your browser (or feed reader) can render the embedded image, you can also see the video below. The scene begins around the 24th minute.
Labels: comedy, kamal haasan, movies, singur, tamil
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"No more remakes", swear Tamil and Kannada film makers
The following happened today, triggered by an event around noon.
Offices, shops, schools etc. shut down very early, in the afternoon in fact. There were incidents of stone throwing, tyre burning, dharnas etc. despite the presence of policemen. Tamil channels went off the air on cable television because the cable operators' association was also protesting.
No, these didn't happen because Rajkumar died again or because there was yet another bandh in support of Karnataka's claims over Belgaum.
All that happened following the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal's ruling today. The overall perception in Karnataka is that the decision favours Tamil Nadu. There're accusations of Karunanidhi (ab)using his Lok Sabha seats to get the decision in his favour. This obviously indicates that had the Congress (I) administrators in Karnataka done their job in the previous election (In 2004, the Congress (I) won 8 seats in Karnataka while the DMK won 16 from Tamil Nadu in 2004) as well as when HD Kumaraswamy hoodwinked them last year to become CM, the decision on the river waters would have been in Karnataka's favour. I find that line of reasoning hard to accept.
Buses from/to Tamil Nadu were also affected. I'm unsure about the status of trains. I'm not going to take my TN registered (and lifetime Karnataka state tax paid for, by the way) two-wheeler out for a few days because of the thugs terrorists prowling the streets!
In fact, I'm fairly sure that the situation would have been similar in Tamil Nadu had the verdict been different. If anything, Tamil Nadu protests in an even more macabre manner, like ... umm ... by burning a bus with college students in it.
Yet, some good may come out of all this. Sources in the Kannada and Tamil film industries close to me revealed that they were actively considering stopping remakes. It is no secret that a lot of Kannada movies/film songs are heavily inspired blatant remakes of Tamil movies. It is also no secret that most Vijay movies in Tamil are remakes of Mahesh Babu's movies in Telugu.
Hence, film makers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have apparently agreed that Kannada movie makers will cease to remake Tamil movies until the Cauvery dispute is settled. At the same time, since Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have still not sorted out the Krishna river water sharing, Tamil film makers, especially those who cast Vijay, will not do a copy-paste job from Mahesh Babu movies.
It is my wish that this would revive the Kannada film industry and also provoke Vijay into exploring other types of roles as well.
Labels: cauvery, chauvinism, dispute, kannada, karnataka, kaveri, movies, tamil nadu, water
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I watched Shah Rukh Khan on KBC for the first time today. I've been distinctly unimpressed with him for the past decade-and-a-half (well nearly, exclude the TV serials please!). I think he overdoes his acting, his dialogue delivery, his mannerisms etc. I use a Tamil term to describe the way I think he appears/speaks/acts on screen/TV etc. - "Adhiga prasangi". I find it tough to explain what the term means. It's used to refer to someone who comes across as a very arrogant/cocksure person.
I only perhaps caught around 20 minutes of the show today. But it was quite ok. I think there's a difference in the way he deals with the contestants (and vice versa) compared with the Big B. With Amitabh, the contestants were in awe of him "Shit! I'm sitting opposite Amitabh Bachchan saahab!" and he'd go out of his way to be polite (Allahabadi tehzeeb?) etc. With Shah Rukh, it's a little different. I suspect the contestants feel a lot more at home. He acts a lot more casually with the contestants (even if the high-fives do look a little too childish). Maybe he's just a lot more comfortable with the small screen (even after all these years). That's where he came into our TV sets from anyway (Abhimanyu Rai, anyone?)
Labels: amitabh bachchan, hindi, kbc, movies, shah rukh khan
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Apparently the recently released Tamil movie Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi (Search for it: Google & Yahoo!) greatly affects the sentiments of Kannadigas.
That's why a bunch of Kannada activists chauvinists, wielding swords (or at any rate, they looked like swords), have protested the screening of the movie. They were unhappy with the title, which translates (approximately) to "Royal pain in the a@se, Pulikesi the 23rd". Their contention is that the title demeans Pulikesi, who ruled over what constitutes modern day Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Hence they want the screening of the movie in Karnataka to be banned.
Haven't these jokers heard of satire, for that is exactly what the movie is meant to be? So far, the government hasn't stepped in. But I'd not be surprised if the movie ban was supported by the government. After all, Kannada pride plays a huge role in politics here, especially since son-of-the-soil Deve Gowda's son is the Chief Minister. Given the history of militant linguistic & religious organizations acting as super-censors and governments too willing to accede to their demands, I'm fairly sure this movie won't be seen in movie theatres in Karnataka.
Language chauvinism in Karnataka is nothing new. In fact, I've blogged about it a few times. In 2004, film producers & distributors sought a two month moratorium on the screening of new Tamil movies after their release. The government stepped in and made it a three week delayed screening process, which was ridiculous anyway.
Last year, on a visit to Hyderabad, I compared signs on buses, shops etc. there with those in Bangalore.
Last week, I noticed several boards along Old Madras Road which had been blackened out with some writing in Kannada. The only thing common to all those boards was that they had been written completely in English, without any Kannada on them.
Mind you, these so-called Kannada language protectors would in all possibility be sending their daughters & sons to English medium schools, possibly not even in Karnataka.
Labels: chauvinism, kannada, karnataka, movies
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Common thread in Mani Ratnam movies
We watched some parts of Kannathil Muthamittal when it was shown on TV last weekend. While seeing the movie, I was struck by how there was some sort of a common thread running across quite a few movies by Mani Ratnam. The nature of birth of the protagonist is sort of a raison d’etre for why the movie was made.
In Agni Nakshatiram, Karthik was the 'illegitimate' son of Vijay Kumar while Prabhu was the 'legitimate' son. There were repeated clashes between the two with the illegitimacy of Karthik as the centre-stone.
In Anjali, Shamilee turns out to be Revathi & Raghuvaran's daughter, who was born autistic and grew up for a couple of years in a special children's home.
In Dalapathi, Rajinikanth is scarred by the fact that he was dumped by his mother Srividya, who gave birth to him as an unmarried woman and cast him away on Bhogi Pongal.
In Kannathil Muthamittal, Keerthana's life undergoes a churning when she is told by Madhavan that she is an adopted child and that her real mother, who was originally a refugee in Rameswaram, now lives in Sri Lanka.
I know there're many other Mani Ratnam movies where the birth of the main character doesn't have any impact on the story, but hey, there is some commonality across a few of his movies. Obviously this seems to be one theme on which he bases his movies. The other is patriotism/terrorism, as is evident from Roja, Bombay and Dil Se. Interestingly enough, Kannathil Muthamittal neatly fits into both categories!
Labels: movies
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While on the way to and from my classes at IIM last week, I was listening to an audio tape of Shankarabharanam. I hadn't heard the songs for quite a while and I was really blown away by two factors: KV Mahadevan's music and SP Balasubramaniam's singing.
I won't bore you about the story by K Vishwanath. You could head off to Wikipedia or the IMDB to know more.
What was amazing is the fact that SPB, who was 33 in 1979 when the movie released, managed to sound like a sixty year old Carnatic music singer played by the late Somayajulu. Imagine the voice modulation and changes he would have imposed upon his voice in order to sound 27 years older!
All this in addition to the fact that he didn't really have any sort of background as a Carnatic music singer, having only kelvi gyaanam. Of course, he would have prepared himself for the songs by going through training before the songs recording started, but I remember an interview he gave sometime in the 1990s about how he was astounded by the way K Vishwanath was able to extract Carnatic music out of him, who had never had any formal training in the art.
Sankarabharanam is indeed a treat to the ears. When I listened to the songs after 3-4 years, they enthralled me to no end.
His versatility is amazing. He has been around in the industry for 26 years now and right from his rendition of "Aayiram nilave vaa" for MGR in Adimai Penn to "Sakkarai inikira sakkarai" for SJ Surya in New (the part where he begins with 'eh hey hey hey hey hey'), he has astounded me. The high pitch he reached in 'Azhagana rakshasiye' when singing "Killiye, aalangilliye" was superb. Only he could have done it. Although he has denied it in a few interviews, he obviously sounds different when he sings for different actors. You can more or less make out the difference between the way he renders a song for Kamal from one for Rajini to one for Vijay/Surya/Ajit etc. I guess as far as Tamil film songs are concerned, only TM Soundararajan used to do that, when he sung for MGR, Sivaji, 'Gemini' etc.
Actually I have always been more of a Yesudas fan. I've never quite liked SPB's pronunciation. It isn't as clear as Yesudas or 'Malaysia' Vasudevan's. He tends to make it appear as though he is "swallowing" some words, mazhuppardhu as I'd put it in Tamil. But SPB beats them for longevity in the industry. In a sense, he is like Asha Bhonsle, ever in sync with the times ... and almost never jarring to the ear!
Labels: movies
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We saw Cheran's "Thavamai Thavamirundhu" a few months after its release. It took us three sittings at night to watch the entire movie, because of its length and since we could only have watched it peacefully after Jaagruthi had slept, close to midnight typically!
Ganesh briefly reviewed it a couple of weeks ago. My attempt here is not to review the movie per se.
Cheran's earlier movie 'Autograph', reviewed here two years ago certainly has a massive influence on the movie making style he chooses for this one. His earlier movies like Bharathi Kannamma, Vettri Kodikattu, Porkaalam and Paandavar Bhoomi didn't rely as heavily on flashbacks as Autograph and Thavamai Thavamirundhu have.
Raj Kiran is best known for prompting the question "Raj Kiran-ukku veshti thevaya?" thanks to his numerous thigh exposures in the 1980s and 1990s. I had never seen a shred of evidence that he could actually act and emote. For Cheran to make him act the way did is, in my opinion, even superior to Mani Ratnam getting Rajinikanth to emote in Dalapathi.
I always felt that Rajini had, in his early movies, shown a potential to act capably. Unfortunately superstardom meant that he started belting out masala movies by the half-dozen every year and his acting ability was completely overshadowed by the theatrics of popping the cigarette into his mouth, catching live grenades while diving through the air, mouthing meaningless punch dialogues etc.
If Cheran made Raj Kiran's acting memorable in the movie, it is full credit to both of them. Perhaps Raj Kiran is a director's actor after all.
While it was plainly obvious that Raj Kiran would eventually die in hospital, the timing was wonderful. All he wanted from his son was a confirmation that he hadn't erred in bringing them up the way he did and his sacrifices had not been in vain.
What did puzzle Krithi and me was why Cheran chose this theme. We had three answers. Take your pick:
- His father is/was very similar to the one portrayed in the movie.
- His father is/was the total antithesis of the one in the movie.
- He possibly missed out on having the canopy of a father-figure in his childhood, for various reasons. So he tried to fantasize about how he'd have loved his father to have been.
As an aside, is there any site which replicates IMDB for Indian movies exclusively?
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Chandramukhi: A review from someone who isn't a Rajini 'rasigan'
Statutory warning: If you are a Rajini rasigan, you may not like what follows.
Ok here's the first disclaimer: I am not, by any stretch of imagination, a fan of Rajinikanth. Well at least not the Rajinikanth we've been seeing in the movies for the last fifteen-twenty years. I admit that I liked his characters and his portrayal of those characters when he was new into the industry.
The second disclaimer is that I've watched neither Manichitrathaazhu or Apta Mitra. Chandramukhi is based on both these movies, apparently.
In case you have no clue about what this movies is about, I suggest you search around. I wont go too much into the gory details. Rajini (Saravanan) and Prabhu (Senthilnathan) are childhood friends. We get to understand sometime during the movie, thankfully sans a flashback, that Rajini was brought up and sent to the US by Prabhu's parents. Rajini is a psychiatrist, apparently one of the leading ones of his ilk worldwide. Prabhu has purchased a huge palace to please his wife Jyothika (Ganga). He has however heard stories of some spirits (not of the bottled kind) associated with that mansion. So he gives Rajini a buzz to see if he could help out. Rajini comes and checks out the place and is convinced that something is wrong.
Meanwhile Jyothika becomes too curious when she hears about the ghost of 'Chandramukhi' haunting the place. A local priest tells them all about Chandramukhi, a dancer from what is now Andhra Pradesh, and how she was abducted by the local king. She had already been in love with a dancer and she manages to get that dancer to move into a plot right next to the king's palace so that they could enjoy each other's company. Very convenient, that. The king comes to know of this and kills both of them. Her ghost haunts the palace, determined to seek revenge. Jyothika's curiousity gets the better of her and she provides rent-free accomodation for Chandramukhi's spirit. Strange things start happening and Prabhu is concerned. A long-moustached ghost buster wearing regal robes also tries to drive away the ghost but fails. Rajini steps in and applies his superior intellect and figures out that Jyothika is suffering from schizophrenia. He devises a plan to rescue Jyothika and to ensure that Chandramukhi's spirit is killed forever.
There're two redeeming factors in this movie: the comedy and the climax. Rajini and Vadivelu have a few nice scenes. The least they could have done was to not directly copy the famous horror story-telling scene between Nagesh and Balayya in Kadhalikka Neramillai. While the combination does raise a few laughs, it does have its fair share of unnecessary double-entendre. The climax is quite interesting and gripping.
The first three-quarters of the movie is pretty much junk. There're a few totally needless songs where Nayantara flits in and flits out, as Rajini's lover. Of course, there is the mandatory "thatthuvam" song where Rajini extolls the virtues of how no occupation is undignified etc. The other songs shamelessly praise Rajini, one of them even has kites formed to say "SUPERSTAR"! Thankfully he spares us of his sermonizing dialogues he has given us over the last few years where he often talks about how a woman should be modest, be true to her culture, not become too greedy and general sh!t like that. Rajini's young look in the movie is credited to his make-up. However the enormous number of white patches makes the make-up look so bloody obvious.
I have no idea why Rajini is playing such a role. It does not suit him at all. He certainly appears like a fish out of water. I would rather see him wear glasses without frames and slug it out with Raghuvaran, even if that was 10 years ago. At least he would look more comfortable doing that kind of role. You could have picked any one of around 300 actors in Tamil cinema and they could have played the role. The movie is bound to be a hit, after all Rajini's fans will ensure it. But that does not mean the movie is good. I think the best performance in the movie came from the chap who stands next to Akilandeswari and shows off his six-pack abs. The second best performance came from the huge snake which makes its appearance ever so often.
Including this one, Rajini's last two or three movies have all had a sort of sequence in them. They have either been based on the occult (Baba) or they have involved him controlling and overpowering a female character with a name bearing a lot of mystique, such as umm ... Neelambari and Chandramukhi. Besides, the names of female characters in his movies are also really strange: Chamundeswari (Manisha Koirala) and Akilandeswari (some relative of Prabhu in 'Chandramukhi').
Perhaps there's a pattern in there. Perhaps Rajini movies only do well when there's a strong female character in them and he shows his manhood in overpowering it ...
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Popular film actor "Gemini" Ganesan passed away this morning. He had been ill for quite a while. He was possibly the original romantic hero in Tamil films and was called "Kaadhal mannan" (the king of love) by fans. Most of the movies he acted in centred around that theme and were invariably family entertainers/tear-jerkers. Once he started getting on in age, he moved on to portray the father and grandfather role in several movies, such as Unnal Mudiyum Thambi and Avvai Shanmugi.
Oh, and one of his daughters, Bhanurekha Ganesan, reigned supreme over Hindi mainstream cinema for nearly a decade. Some of her most ardent fans believe she still is!
Labels: movies
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Amrish Puri, possibly the most famous movie baddie of the last 15 years, passed away this morning of a brain haemorrhage at the age of 72. Obviously he is best remembered for his performance as Mogambo in Shekhar Kapoor's Mr. India. What a booming voice. Coincidentally, one other chap with a great voice made his movie debut in the same movie Amrish Puri debuted and he didnt do too badly either, did he?
Of course, there was also his tryst with Hollywood as Mola Ram. He also acted in Attenborough's Gandhi, although I cant seem to recall what his role was. It wasnt just mainstream Hindi cinema that he was comfortable with. He also had superb roles in three of Shyam Benegal's movies - Nishaanth, Manthan and Bhumika. His screen roles did mellow with age and he played several dad characters, the most popular among them being Kajol's father in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge.
Truly a superb actor and he will be greatly missed.
Labels: movies
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Mrinal Sen gets Dadasaheb Phalke award
Noted movie director Mrinal Sen will be the recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke award for 2003 (!) for his outstanding contribution to Indian cinema. Obviously he is much better known as a Bengali movie director but he has also made a few Hindi movies. He however doesnt seem terribly thrilled and feels that the award is overdue. It always is, Mrinal da.
Labels: movies
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The high farce in the Kannada movie industry continues with its ostrich-like stand since the ridiculous decision in August to impose a moratorium on non-Kannada movies such that they could be released in theatres only three weeks after they opened in their places of origin. Several Kannada film artistes had called for a state-wide bandh against theatres screening movies overriding the imposed moratorium. The bandh currently seems to have been called off.
As argued earlier in this forum, it just smacks of intolerance and lack of respect for people's right to see the movies they want rather than have something shoved down their throats or being forced to not see movies of their choice. Of course, the ban just means great business for those who deal in pirated CDs and that ends up affecting the cinema industry in other states. Do these self-styled custodians and preservers of Kannada culture care? Of course not!
Labels: intolerance, movies
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The decision of the Kannada film producers lobby and the Karnataka government to continue with the ban on non-Kannada movies is part of their continued efforts to force people to watch crappy Kannada movies. Those who dont know Kannada shouldnt live in Karnataka, presumably that is their campaign - modelled on the Shiv Sena's "Mumbai for Mumbaikars" 25 year old movement. Ramachandra Guha touches upon this issue briefly in his contribution in last Sunday's magazine supplement of 'The Hindu'.
Labels: chauvinism, kannada, karnataka, movies
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An increasing culture of intolerance and lack of imagination means that movie goers in Bangalore and all over Karnataka will not be able to watch films made in other languages until 2 months after they've been released. I am not sure if this applies to English and Hindi movies, but certainly Tamil films have been affected.
As usual, this move is allegedly to protect Kannada cinema. From who? Better made, bigger profit movies made in other parts of India. So Kannada film producers/directors will continue to shamelessly rip-off movies made in other South Indian (mostly Tamil and Telugu) languages, rehash movie songs to no end. But they will complain when they dont get audiences and takers for their crappily made movies. The truth is perhaps that Kannada movie watchers have already seen the originals of many of these movies and have decided that the remake just was not worth watching.
This is a typically ostrich-like defence mechanism. When you're in trouble, do everything to ensure that the competitor doesn't do well. Your product cannot be to blame, can it?
Labels: chauvinism, intolerance, kannada, karnataka, movies
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I went on a company sponsored movie outing today to watch the movie Troy starring Brad Pitt, Julian Glover & Peter O'Toole among others & directed by Wolfgang Petersen. In case you didnt know, Petersen has quite a few nice/hit movies to his credit: Never Ending Story in the mid 80s, In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, Perfect Storm etc.
The movie is only loosely based on the Trojan war as described by Homer & Aeschylus which forms part of the wonderful epic, Iliad, which I must confess I have hardly read properly. I remember reading an abridged version nearly 10-15 years ago. Clearly there's no way justice will be done in a scenario where a 10 year war is abridged into a couple of hours. The movie goes far away from the original story on a number of occasions.
Menelaus is shown as being killed by Hector when he tries to kill Paris in a one-on-one battle while the truth is that Menelaus survived the war and let Helen live, smitten by her beauty.
Achilles is shown as being in the Trojan horse which was sent as a 'gift' to Troy by the Greeks who were withdrawing the siege. The reality is that Achilles wasn't there. Why? Because he was already dead. Paris does kill Achilles, but it is before Troy is destroyed, not after.
Samanth condescendingly writes that Petersen's Helen isn't even beautiful enough to launch a dinghy, let alone a thousand ships. I wondered about that too! Surely they could have found someone really stunning to play that role. It doesnt involve any acting anyway!
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We saw the new Mani Ratnam movie Aayitha Ezhuthu last weekend. For various reasons, we ended up watching it on a pirated CD rather than in the theatre, which is where we'd ideally have preferred watching it.
The movie is about the lives of Inba (Madhavan), Michael (Surya) & Arjun (Siddarth) and how their lives change after an event on Napier Bridge. [correct me if I'm wrong, arent Hamilton bridge and Napier bridge the same?]
Inba is a rowdy and he frequently gets to count the bars on account of his various misdeeds. His brother works for the local MLA as a henchman. Inba wants to have a lot of power, like an MLA or any other politician. He beats his wife (Meera Jasmine) and yet she flies home the moment he asks her to come back after any quarrel.
Michael is a sort of genius, a born leader and revolutionary. Even though he has an opportunity to go to the US for higher studies, he refuses the offer. Instead, he wants to clean up the political system by ensuring that the youth get into it. He is prepared to fight well entrenched politicians and their goondas to achieve his goal. Esha Deol plays his love angle and has little to do.
Arjun is a yuppie and has a couple of ambitions - have lots of girlfriends and study & settle in the USA. He is perfectly happy chasing these two dreams. Trisha is the girl he really falls in love with.
When Michael meddles around with things like local elections by visiting a nearby locality and getting one of the women in the area to nominate herself, he makes himself a target of the political establishment. He is firmly a marked man when the woman wins. Movie director Bharathiraja plays the local MLA (or well, some elected representative!). He even tries to meddle around with the college elections but is thwarted by Michael and his supporters. Bharathiraja then gets his henchman's brother Inba to eliminate Michael.
The movie goes into flashback from the moment Inba shoots Michael, describing the events which culminated in the shooting.
Where does Arjun fit into this? What happens to Michael? What about Inba? Does Michael achieve his goal of winning a few seats in the election?
Overall the movie is quite good. The timing of the release could make an impact, with elections just over and quite a few 20-30 somethings having entered Parliament. The basic theme of the movie is to instigate the youth (which is why the movie has also been made in Hindi as Yuva) to enter the political system to clean it up from inside rather than adopt a policy of laissez faire. Surya and Madhavan have done a very good job. Surya has, of late, been doing different types of roles so this movie will be a good addition to his resume. Madhavan's last couple of movies have seen him as a ruffian, so maybe he's getting stereotyped? Siddarth really has nothing to do. Bharathiraja as the villain is reasonably adequate. Watch out for him getting more such roles in future.
You could get confused when the first flashback gets over. We wondered about if the CD had got stuck and it had started playing the movie all over again. Then a few seconds later, having watched so many movies, we figured out that this was the end of the flashback.
Unfortunately, since we saw it on a pirated CD, there were quite a few cuts, including two songs. So remember to watch it on the big screen!
Mani Ratnam is possibly experimenting with a new genre of film making now and could be picking more such themes. In the 1990s he made Roja and Bombay and Kannathil Mutthamitaal a couple of years ago. Obviously he has exhausted conflict & terror related themes.
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