Lets talk some cinema about Vishwaroopam

There have been too many headlines and too much fanfare about Vishwaroopam - Something Kamal fans are simply not used to. Controversy has always been his brother but it has never made his headlines. Neither in the past have people (who have surely not seen some of his finer attempts at cinema) come out dancing and jumping to watch a Kamal movie. Such behavior is usually associated with the films of his (artistically) poorer cousin - Rajnikanth.

There, therefore, is a need to talk some sense and talk some cinema about this movie and to keep apart the one line that almost all Vishwaroopam reviews seem to begin with - "there is nothing anti-Islam here". Yeah, yeah ok. We don't care. If he's decided to ridicule that faith, then so be it. It doesn't change the way one should review a work of creation or thought.

Vishwaroopam is a film that you wish were better made. What makes you wish so is the fact that it is actually a very well made movie and that the maker is capable of way greater heights. However Vishwaroopam's scale seems to be making a statement about the average Indian mind. A movie produced at a cost of Rupees 95 crore in India can not afford to be intelligent. It would leave the producer poorer by at least 50 crore rupees which is not a meager amount for a non-studio production.

That said, for a fleeting period of 30-35 minutes, an indulgent Kamal Haasan takes this thriller deep into Afghanistan and slows it down to a snail's pace, out of choice. That section of the film is an absolute pleasure to watch. As if symbolic of this decision, we have the scene of a young jihaadi suicide bomber wanting to live a lost childhood through a timeless swing. There Kamal scores and touches a raw nerve. Equally well shot is the build up to the arrival of the one and only - Osama Bin Laden. Kamal makes no fuss about declaring that one of (the face-less) Allah's faces is Laden himself and this face is a face of terror, murder, hatred and ill-will.

Vishwaroopam makes for a tremendous theoretical discussion where in we are dealing with the twin concepts of Jihaad and Islaam. Jihaad was born out of Islam. But is what the normal man today knows as terrorism justified to be included in the Jihaad framework? It is a question that Vishwaroopam asks too and almost dispassionately leaves the answer to the viewer - As dispassionate as Wiz/Wisam/Taufeeq - the Hero.

If the Muslims of Vishwaroopam are the ignorant and self proclaimed Jihaadis, the Hindu's are no less. In the tam-brahm heroine, Kamal has found a "back-door" entry into ridiculing the birdbrained practice called Brahminism (from a rationalists point of view, a lot of it is really really dumb) and he pulls it off quite well after his first attempt with Asin in Dashavatharam.

In making both the hero and the villain (played with a great punch by Rahul Bose in an extremely well written negative role - which is always the case with Kamal films) of the same faith, Vishwaroopam also draws upon a theme that Heyram had stressed more on - Muslims are an inseparable and undeniable part of Indian life. The Muslim will be your tailor, your best friend, he will rape and kill your wife, he will also save your life. In Vishwaroopam, its a simpler paradigm - He is the hero and he is the villain (a line Kamal himself says to Pooja Kumar in the movie)

That ways, to answer your question, Vishwaroopam is the hero and Vishwaroopam is the villain!!

PS: Any discussion on a Kamal movie that doesn't talk about Kamal - the actor does disservice to that movie. This performer has consistently managed to outdo himself every time he has been cast on screen. It is a quality very few have. In Vishwaroopam, the "method" is almost obvious. The last time I felt i could literally see a method actor in Kamal was way back in Aalavandhaan. It grew subtler with Heyram, Anbe Sivam and Virumandi but with Vishwanath (Wiz), this seems to have returned. It as usual is a complete pleasure to watch this veteran perform.

The Finer Elements of a Mysskin Movie

To say that Mysskin is not a formula movie maker would be a false statement. For that matter the line wouldn't apply to a certain Quentin Tarantino or one Mr. Mani Ratnam either. Every movie maker has a formula in his heart. The ridiculous ones like tom, dick and Dharani bring it out in the plot. The avderage ones like Shankar show it in issues and themes; and the better ones like Ratnam and Mysskin in ideas, characters and subtle touches that are surely identifiable with the director.

In a short span of 3 odd movies, there already are many Mysskiniatrics. The dancing woman clad in a yellow saree being the most common and ridiculed among them. There are of course subtler touches.

Mysskin's handling of the camera is a unique. More than most of his characters in the film, it is the camera that speaks. Often mounted stationary in remote locations of the shot, the camera observes the action from a single point often giving the viewer the original 3rd person perspective which is often lost otherwise when the camera moves along with the characters. Such scenes available in plenty in both Anjadhey and Yudham Sei and have an air about them that often draws the audience deep into the sequence.

Many of his support/side characters, at least in writing are what you would want to call malapproprisms. The loud Kuruvi, The silent Motta, The shady Tirisangu and the shadier Judas... these people are made to carry with them not just the role but bits of what become the feel of the movie too. Often one finds Mysskins characters working their way up the audience's minds to create what the in other films the story is meant to.

Talking about the Superhero within, both Narain in Anjadhey and Cheran in Yudham Sei are the very real super heroes in that both the protagonists find the strength from within to fight an unknown evil. Watching these two people evolve over the course of a typically three hour Mysskin movie is an enthralling and inspiring experience.

The man is now ready with his own version of "a superhero within". I was happy when I found out that the Mugamudi-man, if you may call the protagonist that, has no super-power so to say. The very prospect of a madman like Mysskin taking up such a concept is very very exciting.

Kashyap/Menon - A Partnership in Review

Late in the 1970's, a relatively young yet already acclaimed film making career had almost come to a halt. Disappointed at the reception of his latest film, a musical, from the same crowd that had hailed his earlier attempts, the director dived deep into cocaine addiction and almost took his life. An actor, a close friend and a constant part of his films, literally dragged the film maker out of this mess and persuaded him to make this one last film based on the life of a boxer. This work is better known as Raging Bull and what these two men created over a period of time are probably the most powerful films made and acted out in the face of this earth.

De Niro and Scorsese....Looking forward to legend

Hardly since, has a director-actor collaboration come out with so much of flair and panache. Unlike Songwriting partnerships, on-screen pairs and even actor-singer camaraderie, raw genius in this species is rare to find. Closer home in India though, two men, every time they've come together, have sparkled with unimaginable brilliance.

Main Khuda... is what Kaykay seems to be saying

It all started with a zoned-out Kay Kay Menon playing his yet to be released, role-of-a-lifetime in Paanch - As noir as Anurag Kashyap has ever got - a thriller about a rock band story that goes very awry.

As a megalomaniac frontman suffering from a tremendous dawn of reality, Kay Kay pulls of one of the more difficult roles written in Hindi Cinema. Though nowhere close to the Kashyap of today, Anurag holds fort in what was to be his debut feature film. In fact many of his tad shadier films today still ooze with the dark blue feel of paanch in them.

Testing noir limits...at Mahakali

Last train to Mahakali followed a few years later. A short made for the television sees Anurag's influence of his own life in his movies slowly making way for issues more mainstream. Menon compliments him well in this film that flows well for most part but ends in a rather unexpected sequence.

Watching Mahakali today, after having seen works such as Black Friday and Gulaal, one feels that the magic was always present. A diligent screen writer and director bringing out his vision, bit-by-bit through his most trusted performer. The one man who could do justice to all those words written and ideas conceived.

By 2004, Kashyap was ready with his most sincere attempt at film making. A brutally honest take on the much more than controversial Mumbai blasts was 'Black Friday'. The movie for all its brilliance finds its centrepiece not with Dawood or Tiger but with the character of DCP Rakesh Maria - The cop who made them talk. The movie's docu feel takes a sudden psychological twist as Kay Kay's Maria gets into the frame and the interrogations begin. With arrested convicts, half the battles are not with the lathi but with the mind and it is but natural that the hunter, in this case the policeman, too starts feeling hunted. Taking cue from Drohkaal, better known for its Tamil Remake by Kamal Haasan, Kashyap takes Maria through a bizarre mind-trip that at various points finds the cop in his rawest of human elements. The chemistry is but natural as director and actor effortlessly carry the film on their shoulders. For the storm that this movie became, there surely was something bigger coming our way...

Burning for pride... Gulaal

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of Bhosadike!, an enraged 'Dukey Bana' is seen shouting in one of the great speech scenes from Gulaal. Widely accepted as Hindi Cinema's best made political film, Gulaal, for me is Anurag Kashyap in the most sublime of his forms and Menon, his most primal self. While Dukey Bana is only one of the many interesting characters and sub plots that this film on a fictitious separatist movement throws up, it is the one that stands out. Creating a revolution while a revolt enrages within his own self, Kay kay manages to let the viewer read between Anurag's lines.

This was as back as 2009. With one busy with more than one Wasseypur and the other gunning for 13 different roles in just one movie, the fantastic duo seem to be going in very different directions, but then as their masterpiece reminds us, 'what is past... is (just) prologue'

Greats and Kamal

Ever since the owner of this blog requested me to write about Kamal Hassan standing up to arguably the 2 greatest of actors of all time, namely - Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, I couldn't help but Chuckle at the very thought of it. I "knew" there wasn't any reason to possibly come to a conclusion that Kamal does stand a chance to overshadow these 2 actors. But private thoughts of just "Knowing" aren't just good enough, Isn't it?

Lets get to the business, Shall we?

So, the first question.

Why?, I will give you my reasons.

First up, to be even compared to these 2 actors, he should come up trumps against actors like Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Marlon Brando, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington and......... the list is endless. In fact, both these actors in question themselves have been overshadowed by the names mentioned above on some instances, Yet....the law of averages has its own advantage and it works heavily in favor of De Niro and Pacino. The comparison, IMO doesn't make sense if we pick up best movies of these actors weigh it up on a scale , and pass a judgement. So, lets us dwelve deep and do a thorough postmortem of sorts just to be sure.

Al Pacino, as we know has done some remarkable films, Some of them which I have seen are Dog Day Afternoon, Devils Advocate, Scent of a women, The God Father, Serpico, Scarface, Heat and Any Given Sunday. These are the films which made Al Pacino into what he is today. In my honest opinion, Al Pacino , in hindsight plays the "Evil" in most of his films. The man has a profound affiliation with evil, he fills the screen with uneasy tension, the self inflicted fatalism is his forte. To me Al Pacino's most enigmatic roles are from the films Dog Day Afternoon and God Father, all other films are derivates of these 2 roles. No matter how many different characters he has played the memory of the man with hand pistol and the guy sitting on the big chair with people kissing his hands linger on my mind. The "Evil" is quite evident form the man's eyes which breathes fire in every frame, Yet....we like it or not he gets stuck with that image in every role of he has portrayed so far.

So, how does Kamal Hassan match up to this line up of brilliant films?

Unlike Al Pacino , Kamal doesn't suffer from what I call the "driven fatalism". Kamal Hassan manages to paint a picture of righteous and the crooked with elan. This is something which we expect Kamal Hassan to do, just like how we expect Al Pacino to stare endlessly at us through the lens. Kamal doesn't even lack as far as creating a euphoria is concerned, Just like Al, Kamal has managed to create an aura around him which has kept him in good stead financially, But what I think puts Al ahead is the fact that Kamal himself has picked up things from Pacino and
innovated on it.

The most prominent of them being the laughter, the famous Kamal laugh. If you had been careful enough to notice the way Al says "Hah", made very popular by him in his master piece classic , "The Scent of a women". The act itself, dates back to time of Dog Day After Noon. Somehow, Kamal's laugh has a distinct similarity to the Al' way of saying " Haah , what now? you going to fuck with me?". Kamal has, IMO, definitely taken the que from Al and improvised on it and made it his own in his unique style. Well, this is what great actors do, improvise, but aren't we talking about who is the best of the best?

Kamal has infact, re invented Marlon Brando in his gangster flick "Nayagan". He reproduced the Brando effect very well, but I guess he went too far in aping Brando. The fact that he chewed tobacco just to do a "Brando" takes a good chunk away from Kamal. (Again, the best of the best?). When you make a film based on arguably the most influential films of last century, you ought to have these "Inspirations". But to be compared to pacino and Deniro and Brando, you are on your own. While brando and Al Pacino are in a war fighting with fucking Mig 319, Kamal
has a hand pistol.

I do have to say that Kamal Hassan definitely stands tall as far as Comedy is concerned but again, I have not followed Al Pacino's career as much as Kamal Hassan. Therefore, I cannot come to a conclusion if Pacino is not as good as Kamal Hassan in Comedy, because to be frank I don't even know if he has acted in a comedy film. I presume the comparison is a nonsense, yet, Let us assume Kamal is the winner there.

When we do consider the intense drama which Kamal is the most famous for, its only fair that Pacino takes the cake.

Next up is my favorite actor, the man who has just amazed me not only by acting but the sheer capacity to push the limit every time. The man, Robert De Niro who just took the world by storm with his act "You talking to me". Any article which even remotely talks about acting or remarkable films isn't complete without the mention of Raging Bull, this film possibly inspired a generation of film makers and actors for years together.

The very visual of Muscular Jake La Motta dancing in his robe at the ring side is riveting to say the least. The scene itself is so famous, that it was literally copied in the film Billa, with Ajith doing the same, this time with a sand bag. No actor in the world has an answer to the kind of work Robert has done in Raging Bull. The guy trained with boxer la Motta, got his 8 pack ab's for the role and the complete transformation can be seen as he slowly gains weight thorough out the film and you can just see his flab getting thicker and thicker. At the end, he appears as a 40 something bloated man with 40 inch paunch. The very thought is out of this world. 8 Packs and 40 inch paunch for a film? and I have not even started talking about his act in the film.

According to De Niro, there is something called "Auditioning for the film and acting in it". Auditioning is something one does to get a role in the film, acting is something one does when he does act in a film.

According to him this is how you act. Martinc Scorcese revealed that Robert Wanted to do this film more than scorcese himself. De Niro had earlier turned a taxi driver literally during the night to study what these drivers are up to, " method acting " took a whole new avatar. From then on, Raging Bull, Good fellas, Cape fear, King of Comedy, Untouchables, Heat, Casino, Awakening, The Mission, Deer Hunter, Mean Streets, GodFather,Newyork Newyork....thats some line up every actor would die to have.

Each one of those films need a write up like the one I am trying to do here, So where does Kamal stand here?

Let us see what Kamal has done that De Niro hasn't done.

Kamal has played a "dwarf", but dwarf's are also normal human beings its just that they end up staying short, and also I don't find anything uniquely intriguing in the role except for the fact that it was very convincing. For example, the way kamal tweaks his Jaws in Anbe Sivam spoke of his injury and damage to his skull is something detailed than a dwarf. I couldn't see or comprehend anything unique to Dwarf's. If they are just normal human beings, then credit should be given to director in Kamal or the art director in Kamal.

The Actor in Kamal, should be credited for his portrayal in Guna, Anbe Sivam or even Aalavandhan. Kamal has played an artist, Be it a classical dancer in Salangai Oli or a western Dance master in Punnagai Mannan, De Niro also has done his share with King of Comedy , where he plays a wanna be Stand up Comedien. He even plays a Stand up comedian in his illustrious Raging Bull.

Casino - seriously I cannot think of a performance close to this film. The arguments and Counter Arguments in the film between Nicky and Sam Rothstein are out of this world. Films where someone contests on equal footing with Kamal are Anbe Sivam and Kurudhipunal and to an extent virumaandi. But Casino wins it by a mile to spare.

Just 2 scenes are enough for me to decide that. The famous desert scene between Joe Pesci and De Niro, and the one between these 2 at Sam Rothstien's house. I.E When Pesci intimidates the officer from the bank. Its not the ease at which De Niro acts, even Kamal is effortless, its the way De Niro takes us into the lives of these men in Las Vegas that pushes it above Anbe Sivam and Kurudhipunal. While Kurudhipunal is more complete, Anbe Sivam is not.

Kamal has played a a gangster, so has De Niro. kamal has played lover boy, De Niro has never played such a role, in this case Kamal knocks De Niro down. For a Nayagan, De Niro hits back with a Good Fellas, When Kamal comes up with Sigappu Rojakkal - De Niro hits back with a Taxi Driver. When Kamal places Guna and Anbe Sivam, De Niro smashes it with his Awakening. When Kamal plays his card called Anbe Sivam and Kurudhipunal, De Niro plays an Ace called "Casino". When Kamal gets pissed off and tries to hit De Niro for a boundary with Mahanadhi and varumaiyin Niram Sigappu, De Niro hits him for a six off a no ball with Deer Hunter and Untouchable and Heat. When Kamal asks De Niro to play his card first this time around, he plays his trump card called the "Raging Bull" and Kamal forfiets after playing half a card
called "Moondram Pirai".

I take offence at people saying De Niro was just at the right place and at the right time, its as if De Niro was just plain lucky, Why couldn't Martin Scorcese do a Raging Bull again with some other actor?. The fact remains that the duo complemented each other and Raging Bull wouldn't be complete without these two.

In Tamil Industry, when Kamal was trying to break away from the main stream cinema after getting bored with it, he was alone. There wasn't one soul who would say, I want to be like Kamal. Every actor wanted to do a Rajinikanth. Everyone wanted to be a Star . This was both a boon and a bane. Boon - Because you would be the only one doing something different, and whatever little you did was deemed a "Different Effort", even a simple change in looks would have been looked upon as pioneering effort.

It was also a bane in the sense that his films could have very well lost in the scores of nonsense going around in early 90's and late eighties. Just like how a cute little Pug would be lost in a herd of pigs, his guna was lost amidst mud,filth and feces. His Hey Ram was lost in the same garbage. As we see, being Kamal in Tamil Cinema was both advantageous and disadvantageous. There is more of a disadvantage when you consider the finance part of it, not so much when you consider the recognition.

What about De Niro? It was just the opposite in Hollywood. Every fucking actor wanted to be either Brando, Pacino or De Niro. They all wanted to do a God Father, a Raging Bull. Hence we have seen some extraordinary talents like Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman,Russel Crowe, Denzel Washington, Di Caprio, Daniel Day lewis, Edward Norton etc.

These guys were constantly pushed, never could they rest on their laurels, they had to churn out a classic after a classic no matter how tired they were. This was a boon and Bane in itself.

Remarkable talents that Pacino and De Niro were, enjoyed the competition, reveled in it, Dug deep and made the place their own, and still came up trumps. The best of the roles weren't confined only to a few, but were distributed to a group of good actors. While an Indian could only be done by Kamal in Thamizh Cinema, it was not the same in Hollywood. De Niro still had to earn the right to play the lead in Casino. Respect had to be earned by whosoever it might be. And they also had the "Casting" director who wouldn't care to hoots while casting fora film , they wouldn't give an inch unless and until they felt so.

So, the whole idea of De Niro or pacino being an automatic choice wasn't on at all. There was a Tom Hanks to do a Terminal and Russel Crowe to do a "Beautiful mind" unlike Tamil Cinema.

Taking into consideration, all the above arguments condensing it, it seems as though Kamal still falls behind these 2 actors. While there are areas were Kamal scores over them, but as I said at the beginning the law of averages is quite arrogant and De Niro and Pacino score heavily in other areas.

A Small Digression, Recently I heard Bullet trains were to be introduced in Chennai- I was just thinking - is it not great to be proud about something we have or going to have in the near future than to think that bullet trains which we are going to have in Chennai is not as good as the latest bullet trains in Europe?

I remember those cheers
They still ring in my ears
And for years they'll remain in my thoughts
Cuz one night I took off my robe
And what'd I do
I forgot to wear shorts.
I recall every fall, every hook, every jab
The worst way a guy could get rid of his flab
As you know, my life was a jab...
Though I'd rather hear you cheer
When I delve into Shakespeare
"A Horse, a Horse, my Kingdom for a Horse,"
I haven't had a winner in six months (he lights his cigar)...
I know I'm no Olivier
But if he fought Sugar Ray
He would say
That the thing ain't the ring
It's the play.
So gimme a stage
Where this bull here can rage
And though I can fight
I'd much rather recite

That's entertainment!
That's entertainment.


I end this debate therefore.


UDHAV NAIG