After the disappointing “Calcutta News”, Blessy bounces back into some semblance of form with “Bhramaram”. Although “Bhramaram” is certainly not up to the high standards set by the director’s own “Kazhcha” and “Thanmatra”, it is nevertheless an interesting watch ably shouldered by a burly Mohanlal.
From the time Mohanlal (Jose albeit Sivankutty) lands up at stockbroker Unni’s doorstep at Coimbatore, there is an air of foreboding about “Bhramaram”. Lal’s furtive glances and expressions add to the suspense. The movie proceeds on more or less a familiar path, until that stage of the film which reveals that Unni is about to embark upon the journey of his life with Sivankutty – not exactly the most amenable of companions. It is post-intermission that the movie comes on to its own, and hurtles toward the inevitable tragic climax.
*** Spoilers ahead ***
“Bhramaram” falters mainly in its pace. For one, character development is long drawn, and not particularly effective. For instance, Blessy hammers in again and again the fact that Sivankutty loves kids (as if Mohanlal would play a paedophile in a mainstream Malayalam film). In a similar fashion, there is a completely unnecessary sequence involving a run-in with truck drivers – that whole segment ought to have been edited out. The first half of the film totters about with no real aim (except maybe to “tell” the audience again and again that Mohanlal is playing an eccentric, unpredictable character) while the second half is fairly eventful. Worst of all, the sudden “guilt-attack” and subsequent confession looks awfully forced and hurried – almost as if the producer cracked the whip or something! My gut tells me that “Bhamaram” would have worked awfully better as a true road move, with a firm editor holding the scissors. Bharathan’s “Thazhvarom” is an excellent example of a film in a similar genre being handled in a much more controlled manner.
In the end, it is once again Mohanlal who hoists the film to a different level altogether. His burly demeanor, furtive body language, and expressive eyes convey a lot more than most of his dialogues, making them redundant. Mohanlal gets completely into the skin of the eccentric Sivankutty, except during the silly flashback where everybody hams (especially the irritating kid). Suresh Menon does a good job – a very effective foil to Mohanlal.
Verdict: Mohanlal makes this a must-watch, especially as interesting movies from him seem to be becoming extinct.
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Film Review: Anjaathey
Whenever I champion the quality of cinema being produced from the youth brigade of Tamil and Hindi cinema, I am greeted with incredulous, disbelieving, and even contempous expressions. But its true - while Tamil cinema can boast of Kaathal, Paruthiveeran, Veyyil, Kathrathu Thamizh and even Pithaamagan in the last few years, while Hindi cinema has an eclectic oeuvre in Black Friday, Bheja Fry, Maqbool, Ek Chalis Ki Last Local, Johnny Gaddar, Omkara, Mithya, and The Blue Umbrella in recent years, Malayalam cinema has little to boast of, at least from its youth brigade, if one exists (we have a grandfathers' brigade for sure, though!) Myskin's Anjaathey is a worthy addition to the list of Tamil films quoted above.
Take the whole opening sequence, for instance. Its just another stunt scene, really. But the director places a camera on the ground, and instead of moving the camera moving around to cover the characters, has the characters move in and around the camera. The only parallel I can think of is in Kamal Hasan's Apoorva Sahodarangal, where a camera is placed in a trench, and we see a car stopping, and people (their feet, rather) getting out. Its slightly gimmicky, certainly, but an effective way of raising curiosity, one has to admit.
The tale is but a variant of the ages-old story of two friends, one a cop, and the other a goonda. But the whole role-reversal thing out here (you see, Narain is the goonda who later becomes the righteous cop, and Ajmal the self-righteous hero-type who later turns amoral due to a perceived failure in life) makes for a nice twist. And of course, the casting of the hitherto soft-spoken Prasanna as the scenerey-chewing serial rapist makes for a decidedly wicked turn of casting. As with all other good movies, there's a whole bunch of other characters who could have been merely incidental in other movies, but are more than relevant to the proceedings here. Fo instance, there's the one-handed gullible friend Kuruvi, Ajmal's sister who has a crush on Narain (which is brought out ever-so subtly), the old flower-seller, the father of the kidnapped girl - in fact, almost too many to count - and each one of these characters is given at least one crucial scene (its almost as if the director told these actors while casting them, 'hey, you have one scene to yourself, so make the most of it').
What I liked here was that the director had a clear vision. He takes almost every single cliche in the book - the two-friends saga, son redeeming himself in father's eyes, friendship, sacrifice of the friend, cops versus villains - and re-works them, until they take on a decidedly different form. Most of the time, the hero is merely incidental to the proceedings, and is forced to the sidelines while all these catastrophic events take place around him.
Performances are uniformly good. Prasanna, despite being burdened with a weird wig, underplays his character, and in a marked departure from his usual chocolate-boy roles, manages to be a menacing villain. Ajmal makes a neat debut. Narain is a little rough around the edges, but its also that kind of role - a rookie cop in a tough investigation - and he makes no glaring mistakes. However, at the end of the movie, its undoubtedly the director's vision that makes Anjathey a treat to watch. Full marks to Myskin.
Verdict: Extremely good, falls just short of greatness.
Take the whole opening sequence, for instance. Its just another stunt scene, really. But the director places a camera on the ground, and instead of moving the camera moving around to cover the characters, has the characters move in and around the camera. The only parallel I can think of is in Kamal Hasan's Apoorva Sahodarangal, where a camera is placed in a trench, and we see a car stopping, and people (their feet, rather) getting out. Its slightly gimmicky, certainly, but an effective way of raising curiosity, one has to admit.
The tale is but a variant of the ages-old story of two friends, one a cop, and the other a goonda. But the whole role-reversal thing out here (you see, Narain is the goonda who later becomes the righteous cop, and Ajmal the self-righteous hero-type who later turns amoral due to a perceived failure in life) makes for a nice twist. And of course, the casting of the hitherto soft-spoken Prasanna as the scenerey-chewing serial rapist makes for a decidedly wicked turn of casting. As with all other good movies, there's a whole bunch of other characters who could have been merely incidental in other movies, but are more than relevant to the proceedings here. Fo instance, there's the one-handed gullible friend Kuruvi, Ajmal's sister who has a crush on Narain (which is brought out ever-so subtly), the old flower-seller, the father of the kidnapped girl - in fact, almost too many to count - and each one of these characters is given at least one crucial scene (its almost as if the director told these actors while casting them, 'hey, you have one scene to yourself, so make the most of it').
What I liked here was that the director had a clear vision. He takes almost every single cliche in the book - the two-friends saga, son redeeming himself in father's eyes, friendship, sacrifice of the friend, cops versus villains - and re-works them, until they take on a decidedly different form. Most of the time, the hero is merely incidental to the proceedings, and is forced to the sidelines while all these catastrophic events take place around him.
Performances are uniformly good. Prasanna, despite being burdened with a weird wig, underplays his character, and in a marked departure from his usual chocolate-boy roles, manages to be a menacing villain. Ajmal makes a neat debut. Narain is a little rough around the edges, but its also that kind of role - a rookie cop in a tough investigation - and he makes no glaring mistakes. However, at the end of the movie, its undoubtedly the director's vision that makes Anjathey a treat to watch. Full marks to Myskin.
Verdict: Extremely good, falls just short of greatness.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Review: The Namesake
Filming a good novel is more often than not an extremely tough act. For one, you've got to decide what parts of the book you're gonna keep, and what parts you're gonna omit - this is a really tough balance to preserve, as upcoming filmmaker Gautham Menon undoubtedly found in his latest outing. And then, you've got to get the right actors for all the parts too; a singular mistake could well ruin the efforts of everybody else.
Mira Nair does a great job of adapting Jhumpa Lahiri's novel to screen. I thought she got both the above aspects right, though she had a bit of luck with the latter. I mean, Nair was originally about to cast Rani and Abhishek, for chrissakes. Thankfully, better sense prevailed, and we have the wonderful pair of Tabu and Irfan instead. And I do mean absolutely, spectacularly, wonderful - both of them, especially Irfan, elevate the movie from a mere realistic NRI diaspora movie to a thoughtful, caring look at the lifespan of a couple. Kal Penn is alright, I guess, he seems to do everything right, but I thought his performance didn't have 'soul', whatever little thing that it is that seperates the truly great actors from the rest.
Mira's not at her best here though - this lacks the languid fluidity of, say, a Salaam Bombay, or even a Monsoon Wedding. I mean, you can feel her trying to tug at your heartstrings in some of the scenes, like the one where Tabu lugs around a bag of laundry in icy Manhattan, or even the one where a stoic Irfan receives the news of the demise of his FIL, and then gently holds Tabu befoe breaking the news to her. However, Irfan and Tabu pull off quite a few splendid scenes, pulling back the move from a 'what-if' to a little gem. For example, there's this friggin' awesome scene, where Irfan tells his son about the origin of his name - his eye actually glistens with a teardrop that threatens to fall, but never does (somehow, this scene so reminded me of Manoj Bajpai's self-directed tirade at Raveena's bedsite, in the much-neglected 'Shool'). There were little snippets everywhere, like Irfan's and Tabu's last scene together at the airport, Tabu trying on his shoes, the entire Taj Mahal routine etc.
Ultimately, IMO, the movie belongs to Irfan. I mean, after watching the movie, he's the most poignant thing you remember about the movie. And this is despite the fact that the two most important roles in the movie belong to Tabu and Kal Penn. Also, this is such a departure from Irfan's regular normal Nana-like, dialogue-spouting venomous characters (like in Haasil, Maqbool etc), that I'm glad he got a chance to do such a role in a mainstream film like this. Hopefully, this should mean that he gets a better variety of roles, and doesn't get stuck in the same rut (like Paresh Rawal has).
Mira Nair does a great job of adapting Jhumpa Lahiri's novel to screen. I thought she got both the above aspects right, though she had a bit of luck with the latter. I mean, Nair was originally about to cast Rani and Abhishek, for chrissakes. Thankfully, better sense prevailed, and we have the wonderful pair of Tabu and Irfan instead. And I do mean absolutely, spectacularly, wonderful - both of them, especially Irfan, elevate the movie from a mere realistic NRI diaspora movie to a thoughtful, caring look at the lifespan of a couple. Kal Penn is alright, I guess, he seems to do everything right, but I thought his performance didn't have 'soul', whatever little thing that it is that seperates the truly great actors from the rest.
Mira's not at her best here though - this lacks the languid fluidity of, say, a Salaam Bombay, or even a Monsoon Wedding. I mean, you can feel her trying to tug at your heartstrings in some of the scenes, like the one where Tabu lugs around a bag of laundry in icy Manhattan, or even the one where a stoic Irfan receives the news of the demise of his FIL, and then gently holds Tabu befoe breaking the news to her. However, Irfan and Tabu pull off quite a few splendid scenes, pulling back the move from a 'what-if' to a little gem. For example, there's this friggin' awesome scene, where Irfan tells his son about the origin of his name - his eye actually glistens with a teardrop that threatens to fall, but never does (somehow, this scene so reminded me of Manoj Bajpai's self-directed tirade at Raveena's bedsite, in the much-neglected 'Shool'). There were little snippets everywhere, like Irfan's and Tabu's last scene together at the airport, Tabu trying on his shoes, the entire Taj Mahal routine etc.
Ultimately, IMO, the movie belongs to Irfan. I mean, after watching the movie, he's the most poignant thing you remember about the movie. And this is despite the fact that the two most important roles in the movie belong to Tabu and Kal Penn. Also, this is such a departure from Irfan's regular normal Nana-like, dialogue-spouting venomous characters (like in Haasil, Maqbool etc), that I'm glad he got a chance to do such a role in a mainstream film like this. Hopefully, this should mean that he gets a better variety of roles, and doesn't get stuck in the same rut (like Paresh Rawal has).
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Apna Sapna Mani Mani
But alas! Mani Ratnam, at least this time round, has compromised his vision to deliver the all-India hit that has proved so elusive in the past - which is not bad, just that its a little sad to see somebody like Mani Ratnam succumb to BO dictates too. He takes bits and pieces from some of his best movies, to tell us the fable of pioneer Gurukant Desai in his latest outing 'Guru'.
Guru, like Anandan of 'Iruvar', is a man of dreams. The difference is that Guru dreams of wealth, while Anandan dreams of politics and power. The similarities don't end here, though. Both Guru and Anandan marry a bold, forthright Aishwarya Rai; neither of them marry for love, at least in the beginning. Neither of them can resist the corrupting allure of power, despite claims to the effect that they do it all 'for the people'.
Guru, like Velu of 'Nayakan', believes that laws are made to be broken, especially if they do not make sense. Neither Guru nor Velu-Nayakan hesitate to intimidate adversaries by barging into their homes uninvited. Both of them stop short, however, from harming an enemy upon the uncomfortable realization that he's married to somebody they love.
Guru and Sujatha, like Shekhar and Shaila from 'Bombay', have twins.
Guru and Manikdas, like Anandan and Selvam from 'Iruvar', split after a clash of ideologies. However, they continue to be respectful of each other, despite being harsh critics of each other too.
Meenu, like Anjali, is expected to die shortly. Yet her enjoyment of life during her brief existence endears herself to everyone around her.
The Mallika number 'Mayya Mayya' serves much the same purpose as 'Nila Athu' from 'Nayakan'.
Despite all this rehashing, the film has some great moments - especially the scenes featuring Abhishek and his dad, Abhishek and Aish (sharing some sort of camaraderie at last, after some 5 films together) after they first come to Bombay, the ones with Abhishek and Mithun together, and of course all the scenes with Madhavan oir Vidya Balan anywhere in the frame.
Aishwarya, easily the weakest link of the cast, manages to hold her end together. Despite retaining her ingratiating voice and style of dialogue delivery, she delivers a competent performance. This is easily her best work after 'Iruvar'.
Mithun is a solid presence in the movie. There's nothing much that stretches the actor in him, really. But its a relief to see him in a normal character role, with a decent part to play (as opposed to stuff like 'Lucky').
Vidya Balan, though saddled with a half-baked role, is very, very competent. So is Madhavan, re-doing his intense act from 'Leysa Leysa'. The proposal scene between him and Vidya Balan was one of the best scenes of the movie.
In the end, this is an out-and-out Abhishek vehicle. I'm no fan of the guy (I didn't like him in 'Yuva', for instance), but here he's outdone himself. Apart from his odd posture at times, he's extremely good here (especially considering the fact that he's barely 20 films old). While it is true that he could have got a lot of the nuances like the accent, for one) correct, his expressions were spot-on. Most importantly, nowhere did it seem that any other contemporary actor might have done a better job.
ARR, surprisingly, disappoints. This is nowhere in the realm of his earlier collaborations with Mani. While 'Jaage', 'Ay Hairathe' and 'Tere Bina' are exquisite, the same cannot be said about the rest of the soundtrack. What's more, Mani disappoints with his picturizations - especially with that of 'Tere Bina', which seems straight out of 'Snehithane' from 'Alaipayuthe'.
In the end, 'Guru' is a disappointment for those who were expecting Mani at his vintage best; I do hope his 'Lajjo' with Aamir and Kareena has a more original screenplay. However - and this holds true especially for those who are not familiar with some of Mani's earlier movies - it most definitely is worth a watch for Abhishek's bravura performance.
Guru, like Anandan of 'Iruvar', is a man of dreams. The difference is that Guru dreams of wealth, while Anandan dreams of politics and power. The similarities don't end here, though. Both Guru and Anandan marry a bold, forthright Aishwarya Rai; neither of them marry for love, at least in the beginning. Neither of them can resist the corrupting allure of power, despite claims to the effect that they do it all 'for the people'.
Guru, like Velu of 'Nayakan', believes that laws are made to be broken, especially if they do not make sense. Neither Guru nor Velu-Nayakan hesitate to intimidate adversaries by barging into their homes uninvited. Both of them stop short, however, from harming an enemy upon the uncomfortable realization that he's married to somebody they love.
Guru and Sujatha, like Shekhar and Shaila from 'Bombay', have twins.
Guru and Manikdas, like Anandan and Selvam from 'Iruvar', split after a clash of ideologies. However, they continue to be respectful of each other, despite being harsh critics of each other too.
Meenu, like Anjali, is expected to die shortly. Yet her enjoyment of life during her brief existence endears herself to everyone around her.
The Mallika number 'Mayya Mayya' serves much the same purpose as 'Nila Athu' from 'Nayakan'.
Despite all this rehashing, the film has some great moments - especially the scenes featuring Abhishek and his dad, Abhishek and Aish (sharing some sort of camaraderie at last, after some 5 films together) after they first come to Bombay, the ones with Abhishek and Mithun together, and of course all the scenes with Madhavan oir Vidya Balan anywhere in the frame.
Aishwarya, easily the weakest link of the cast, manages to hold her end together. Despite retaining her ingratiating voice and style of dialogue delivery, she delivers a competent performance. This is easily her best work after 'Iruvar'.
Mithun is a solid presence in the movie. There's nothing much that stretches the actor in him, really. But its a relief to see him in a normal character role, with a decent part to play (as opposed to stuff like 'Lucky').
Vidya Balan, though saddled with a half-baked role, is very, very competent. So is Madhavan, re-doing his intense act from 'Leysa Leysa'. The proposal scene between him and Vidya Balan was one of the best scenes of the movie.
In the end, this is an out-and-out Abhishek vehicle. I'm no fan of the guy (I didn't like him in 'Yuva', for instance), but here he's outdone himself. Apart from his odd posture at times, he's extremely good here (especially considering the fact that he's barely 20 films old). While it is true that he could have got a lot of the nuances like the accent, for one) correct, his expressions were spot-on. Most importantly, nowhere did it seem that any other contemporary actor might have done a better job.
ARR, surprisingly, disappoints. This is nowhere in the realm of his earlier collaborations with Mani. While 'Jaage', 'Ay Hairathe' and 'Tere Bina' are exquisite, the same cannot be said about the rest of the soundtrack. What's more, Mani disappoints with his picturizations - especially with that of 'Tere Bina', which seems straight out of 'Snehithane' from 'Alaipayuthe'.
In the end, 'Guru' is a disappointment for those who were expecting Mani at his vintage best; I do hope his 'Lajjo' with Aamir and Kareena has a more original screenplay. However - and this holds true especially for those who are not familiar with some of Mani's earlier movies - it most definitely is worth a watch for Abhishek's bravura performance.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Another Look at Virumandi
'Virumandi' is one of Kamal's serious movies that did not impress me much. Upon first viewing, it hardly seemed to be in the class of other gems such as 'Mahanadi', 'Anbae Sivam' and 'Hey Ram'. Granted, the film featured at least a couple of awesome performances (which seems to be a standing feature of most Kamal movies, which is why the standard accusation of onemanship against him is not completely justified IMO) courtesy Pasupathy and Abhirami, as well as an unusual screenplay. But the movie fell well short of my high expectations. Which is when another look at the movie presented itself, I had my eyes out for some redeeming features (I just hate hating the Kamal movies!).
First, the positives:
The relative newcomers, Pasupathy and Abhirami turn in masterly performances. Pasupathy oozes menace and deceit, and Abhirami delivers a knockout of a performance as a vivacious willage lass with a strong mind (a performance largely ignored by most of the awards, strangely). In fact, both of them out-act a strangely out-of-form Kamal, who looks really old and jaded in the flashback portions. Perhaps the onus of being the screenplay-wrier, stunt-director, director, singer and hero got to him! Though Kamal manages to showcase his method-acting skills in a couple of scenes (notice how his fingers twitch when he is nervous), he is listless for the most part - well, as listless as a Kamal perormance can be, I guess. Napolean looks dignified, and deadpans a few lines. Rohini does a neat cameo, in which her confrontation scene with Kamal was just AWESOME.
The screenplay is another laudable aspect about the movie. Opting for a two-pronged narrative adds many a layer to the movie, and each layer unravels only upon the re-telling of the tale. Masterly (though not entirely original)! The manner in which the movie unfolds - like a documentary, thru the eyes of a human activist, portrayed by Rohini - is impressive too.
The village ambience is yet another huge-plus for Virumandi. A typical TN village has been painstakingly recreated, and everything is just apt. Ilayaraja provided some outstanding BGMs as well - some of the more impressive pieces being during Pasupathy's narrative, Kamal's courtship of Abhirami etc.
However.
First of all, the violence: now, I am not exactly squeamish about violent movies; I just loved the 'Kill Bill' series. But certain movies warrant certain kinds of stunt direction. In incorporating the same 'Kill Bill' style of action sequences for 'Virumandi' that he did for 'Aalavandhan', Kamal falters. The sub-standard graphics don't help either. It does seem to me, a keen observer of Kamal's cinema, that Kamal has a fixation for a certain kind of violence on screen - blood spraying, limbs getting chopped etc are getting to be increasingly repetetive.
The implied message - that of capital punishment not suitably deterring crime - also seems half-hearted. Virumandi is not exactly the most innocent guy around; he's just gone around murdering half a dozen people, and stabbing another dozen - not exactly the best candidate for clemency, I'd say. Putting that bit in was Kamal trying to be rather a bit too clever for his own good - attempting to elevate the film from being merely the tale of a happy-go-lucky villager to a socially relevant fable. However, it backfires, making the movie seem half-baked.
All in all, a brave attempt by Kamal to balance the sensibilites of the front-benchers and of his own niche audience - he doesn't entirely succeed, but that won't stop him from trying again, I am sure. And that is exactly what makes me admire the hell out of the man.
First, the positives:
The relative newcomers, Pasupathy and Abhirami turn in masterly performances. Pasupathy oozes menace and deceit, and Abhirami delivers a knockout of a performance as a vivacious willage lass with a strong mind (a performance largely ignored by most of the awards, strangely). In fact, both of them out-act a strangely out-of-form Kamal, who looks really old and jaded in the flashback portions. Perhaps the onus of being the screenplay-wrier, stunt-director, director, singer and hero got to him! Though Kamal manages to showcase his method-acting skills in a couple of scenes (notice how his fingers twitch when he is nervous), he is listless for the most part - well, as listless as a Kamal perormance can be, I guess. Napolean looks dignified, and deadpans a few lines. Rohini does a neat cameo, in which her confrontation scene with Kamal was just AWESOME.
The screenplay is another laudable aspect about the movie. Opting for a two-pronged narrative adds many a layer to the movie, and each layer unravels only upon the re-telling of the tale. Masterly (though not entirely original)! The manner in which the movie unfolds - like a documentary, thru the eyes of a human activist, portrayed by Rohini - is impressive too.
The village ambience is yet another huge-plus for Virumandi. A typical TN village has been painstakingly recreated, and everything is just apt. Ilayaraja provided some outstanding BGMs as well - some of the more impressive pieces being during Pasupathy's narrative, Kamal's courtship of Abhirami etc.
However.
First of all, the violence: now, I am not exactly squeamish about violent movies; I just loved the 'Kill Bill' series. But certain movies warrant certain kinds of stunt direction. In incorporating the same 'Kill Bill' style of action sequences for 'Virumandi' that he did for 'Aalavandhan', Kamal falters. The sub-standard graphics don't help either. It does seem to me, a keen observer of Kamal's cinema, that Kamal has a fixation for a certain kind of violence on screen - blood spraying, limbs getting chopped etc are getting to be increasingly repetetive.
The implied message - that of capital punishment not suitably deterring crime - also seems half-hearted. Virumandi is not exactly the most innocent guy around; he's just gone around murdering half a dozen people, and stabbing another dozen - not exactly the best candidate for clemency, I'd say. Putting that bit in was Kamal trying to be rather a bit too clever for his own good - attempting to elevate the film from being merely the tale of a happy-go-lucky villager to a socially relevant fable. However, it backfires, making the movie seem half-baked.
All in all, a brave attempt by Kamal to balance the sensibilites of the front-benchers and of his own niche audience - he doesn't entirely succeed, but that won't stop him from trying again, I am sure. And that is exactly what makes me admire the hell out of the man.
Monday, September 25, 2006
VV and Keerthi Chakra: Reviews
'Vettayadu Vilayadu' has been a much-awaited film in most of South India. Starring the versatile Kamal Hassan and directed by upcoming director Gautam, the movie promised a lot. Does it deliver? Well, it does - at least partly.
VV is a classic cop-hunts-serial killer tale - nothing more, nothing less. Thankfully, there are none of the usual Kamal-touches in the movie - no smooches, no hints at child abuse, no high-pitched wails of misery, no atheist expositions and what's best, no high-funda makeup. Instead, we have a rather fleshy-looking Kamal - receding hairline and paunch in tow - play his age (well, almost!), and that certainly was the best aspect about the movie for me. Discarding the usual conventions of how a police officer in the movies has to look like, the hero looks like how any middle-aged policeman would look. There's nothing much in the role for an actor of Kamal's stature, and he doesn't disappoint in what he's been given either (would have been a challenge for somebody like Surya or Vikram, though).
The serial killer - played by Daniel Balaji, who was there in Gautam's earlier venture 'Kakka Kakka' was well - hams too much. Though he is menacing alright, he fails to convey the intelligence/cunningness the character seems to possess intuitively. As a foil to Kamal's character, he fails miserably. Thankfully, most of the time the taut screenplay hides his inadequacies. Jyothika is good in her role - Gautham certainly writes interesting characters for her.
The pluses? Well, it is a decent thriller, and has Kamal playing his age. It has a mature romance (which does not mean Bachchan and Hema Malini grooving to 'Chali Chali' for a change!), something that is so rare in Indian cinema. The little touches Kamal and Prakash Raj add to their characters when they meet are wonderful (it is so true that great actors enhance each others' performances). And of course, the technical aspects are superb.
Of course, VV was so amateurish in a lot of ways. First of all, it has the same old cop's-wife-killed-by-goons flashback. When will we stop doing this in our movies? If you have to show it, at least do it decently, like they did in 'Ab Tak Chappan'. The whole flashback portion was the worst aspect of VV. And pray, why did they add that miserable special-effects scene - the one showing Kamal zooming on a bike? The whole 'Raghavan instinct' thing was embarassingly and uncharacteristically voluble. And that bit about Jyothika having a kid - completely irrelevant! To top it all, the movie (especially the climax) had a huge 'Kakka Kakka' hangover.
Like most of Kamal's non-comedic movies, this one too is watchable fare.
VV is a classic cop-hunts-serial killer tale - nothing more, nothing less. Thankfully, there are none of the usual Kamal-touches in the movie - no smooches, no hints at child abuse, no high-pitched wails of misery, no atheist expositions and what's best, no high-funda makeup. Instead, we have a rather fleshy-looking Kamal - receding hairline and paunch in tow - play his age (well, almost!), and that certainly was the best aspect about the movie for me. Discarding the usual conventions of how a police officer in the movies has to look like, the hero looks like how any middle-aged policeman would look. There's nothing much in the role for an actor of Kamal's stature, and he doesn't disappoint in what he's been given either (would have been a challenge for somebody like Surya or Vikram, though).
The serial killer - played by Daniel Balaji, who was there in Gautam's earlier venture 'Kakka Kakka' was well - hams too much. Though he is menacing alright, he fails to convey the intelligence/cunningness the character seems to possess intuitively. As a foil to Kamal's character, he fails miserably. Thankfully, most of the time the taut screenplay hides his inadequacies. Jyothika is good in her role - Gautham certainly writes interesting characters for her.
The pluses? Well, it is a decent thriller, and has Kamal playing his age. It has a mature romance (which does not mean Bachchan and Hema Malini grooving to 'Chali Chali' for a change!), something that is so rare in Indian cinema. The little touches Kamal and Prakash Raj add to their characters when they meet are wonderful (it is so true that great actors enhance each others' performances). And of course, the technical aspects are superb.
Of course, VV was so amateurish in a lot of ways. First of all, it has the same old cop's-wife-killed-by-goons flashback. When will we stop doing this in our movies? If you have to show it, at least do it decently, like they did in 'Ab Tak Chappan'. The whole flashback portion was the worst aspect of VV. And pray, why did they add that miserable special-effects scene - the one showing Kamal zooming on a bike? The whole 'Raghavan instinct' thing was embarassingly and uncharacteristically voluble. And that bit about Jyothika having a kid - completely irrelevant! To top it all, the movie (especially the climax) had a huge 'Kakka Kakka' hangover.
Like most of Kamal's non-comedic movies, this one too is watchable fare.
At the outset: 'Keerthi Chakra' ('Aran' in Tamil) is poorly, poorly directed. In fact, were it not for the sheer presence of Mohan Lal in this amateurish attempt, it could pass for one of those Vijaykanth flicks (substituting Pakistani terrorists with Al-Qaeda would be about the only change required). Mohan Lal must have been sozzled to have accepted this movie.
First of all, there's not much of a story here. Its the usual tale about a bunch of patriotic armymen trying to thwart terrorists from harming the country (male-bonding goes with the territory). Lal leads the pack. Lal, like Kamal in VV, is grim most of the time. Yeah, you guessed right: his wife too was killed by Al-Qaeda. Lal's hawaldar is upcoming Tamil actor Jeeva (who turns in a competent performance). The terrorists are a bunch of perpetually scowling, screaming and ranting Muslims who keep saying 'jihad' that and 'jihad' this. And then there's the 'Indian Muslims are Indian first' moral, shoved into our faces first by a vile rape scene, and then by the lunatic sole surviver screaming curses at the dead bodies of the terrorists.
Lal and Jeeva are about the only positives in this farce. Though Lal is a bit too - (hmm..how shall we put this?) rotund - to essay the role of a commando, he makes no mistakes in the histronics department. Once again, its not much of a role, but Lal stands up and delivers. In fact, he ends up saving the movie from becoming an outright disgrace. Jeeva acquits himself honorably in his scenes with Lal, and that's a fine compliement by itself. The commando scenes are well-shot as well.
The negatives? You must be kidding me. Clueless direction, unimpressive music, listless camera work, terrible acting, a gruesome rape scene, inane & hackneyed dialogue - where do you want me to start? You'd be better off watching a Vijaykanth flick - at least, you can laugh!
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