Midnight's Mani Ratnam

In their fascination with Madurai and the nearby villages, The good Tamil filmmakers except for seemingly fake over overtures by Gautham Menon, had all but lost out on exploring and re-imagining Chennai, thereby helping Mani Ratnam remain the undefeated king of the Madras genre. In Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum, Mysskin, in the prime of his auteurist prowess, presents a riveting reply.

How do the Chennai streets, where you would otherwise see mass heroes dancing with thousand other men and women or lovers romancing over a coffee, look after midnight? They look brutal and banal. They reflect your true personality, something the daylight is just not capable of doing. And what happens when Mysskin style high drama plays out in these streets with Munnani Isai by the Maestro himself? There is magic, but of a different kind. Magic that is dark and magic that bites your soul into submission.

Once upon a time in a forest, a bear hired a wolf, the most dangerous wolf of all, to hunt down foxes. In one such hunt, the wolf killed a (goat) kid by mistake. Repenting this, the wolf visited the kid's house only to find that the kid had left behind a father goat, a mother goat and a little sister kid, all three of them blind. The wolf gave up hunting and decided to support this deserted goat family. But the bear wouldn't let the wolf be and neither would the tigers roaming around in the forest. They hunted for and haunted the wolf and the goat family till they got the better of them. The wolf was wounded but magically saved by yet another kid. The bear and the tigers however are not taking to this. The hunt continues till no one is sure who is being hunted.

In a theater-style, ultra-noir play-out of this story, we are taken through a varied set of personalities who in uniquely Mysskin fashion, walk in and out of the vantage still camera frame both literally and figuratively. Clearly Mysskin is on top of his skills here. Making use of the technical advantages that a film medium presents and seamlessly seguing it with a script that has been written like a play. Balaji Rangha though is no Mahesh Muthusamy or Sathya in Anjadhey and Yudham Sei respectively where the camera would create shots unimaginable for Tamil Cinema. Compensating the cliched camera here though is some tremendous acting by Sri and Mysskin himself - the latter restrained for most parts except the monologue that is tremendously impacting. Raaja rediscovers background music that so often reminds us of how much his music can become an integral part of the story. Ten of his tracks titled Compassion, Firefly, Growl, The Threshold Guardian, Grim reaper, I killed an Angel, A Fairy tale, Walking through life and death, Redemption and Somebody loves us all tell the story all by themselves.

We see vast, lazily paced, indulgences with Mysskin at times reminding us of the cold blooded gunshot sequences from Gus Vant Sant's Elephant. Watching this in the big screen, I felt this is exactly the kind of cinema I was waiting for all this while. Utterly unpredictable. Not necessarily real but different, different not in the oscar-lusting manner that the Ship and the Lunchbox have brought to the table, but different by the sheer manner in which a film is envisioned and executed. The amount of originality on display shakes you, at least as long as you are unaware of the inspiration (Onaayum is said to be taken from a Portuguese film)

Mysskin movies, like those of Selvaraghavan often come across as dark and serious but the mild tinge of humor in both their styles is unmistakable and is an important fulcrum for the otherwise edge of the seat narratives. In Onaayum, we don't see more than a minute of sunlight and more than five minutes of any other form of lighting. The movie is about the night, the night in all our days and deservedly shot in the night too. Thrillers work most when they have a tearing emotional base and Mysskin manages it with Mani Ratnamesque aplomb. This is Midnight's Mani Ratnam. Probably, the better one.

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.

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'

The Greatest Return in all of Entertainment?

Some of these Hindu Gods can surprise us with fairly weird and psychedelic stories of their lives. It is an underrated trait. Mythology is an underused art form. India is missing out on a truckload of very interesting subplots to engine their dying script industry.It is not surprising though, that the best use of Mythology in Indian Cinema is often found in the works of one hell of an atheist - Kamal Haasan. While many of his references to the holy have been interpreted as immature digs, most are works of ingenious analogies to the stories that we've grown up praying to.

The Guardian deity of the plateau down south found a face and a voice to tell his story in Virumandi. Ram lost his wife and went on a quest to destroy the world in Hey Ram. Murugan takes an avatar too with both his wives in Kaadala  Kaadala. In Guna, a Siva, dark and not blue skinned is dancing in all his vigour waiting for his Abirami . Siva resurfaces in one of his more somber moods in well, Anbe - Sivam. To kind of sum it up, Dasavatharam happened. Coming to look at it, Dasavatharam is more of a statement than a word. It is a picture of the omnipotent all pervading strength and flourish that the almighty inspires in his believers. To believers of acting, the attempt from Kamal was to the same effect.

The question would have come up in someone's mind, and I am guessing it would have been KS Ravikumar, "What is grander than Dasavatharam?" While Dasavatharam is like a collectors edition of everything that Lord Vishnu could transform himself into to save the world, something like a panoramic photograph, this word, Vishwaroopam is one-single shot of all the consuming phenomena that Vishnu is made out to be in mythology. The idea is therefore is to expect nothing short of Kamal Haasan's best possible output in all of his cinema career. The very thought is intellectually orgasmic. Chennai, India and I hear a town in the French Riviera is all geared up for what surely is the greatest return in ALL of entertainment!

Unnai Pol Oruvan is... A wednesday Pol Oruvan

First set first game, Shah to serve – The police station complaint scene – No return from Haasan. Shah leads 1-0. Haasan to serve – The first few rounds of phone calls – Shah breaks serve and wins the next game, leads 3-0. Now, the first half of the soliloquy , about the common man… Its becoming a one man show – Shah leads Haasan 4-0.. Now the second half of the soliloquy, narrating the story, alternating between emotion, pain ,intensity and wit. Haasan serves 12 aces and breaks thrice in 10 minutes. Takes the set 6-4.

The above lines , however are not the complete representation of the show that Unnai Pol Oruvan has been. They just cover the lead. Unnai Pol Oruvan is the remake of a film that was good but not great. To expect greatness from it is madness but to see how much justice is being done to the original essence and to observe how much of it is actually better is the way to go.

Places where Unnai Pol Oruvan is better done than A Wednesday

1) LEAD(Casting+Charecterization+Performances) – It is almost a role reversal of sorts. In a Wednesday, Anupam Kher is stiff throughout and Naseer comes up with wit and sarcasm now and then. Here, Kamal is witty but intensity personified while Mohanlal has plenty of political satire to play with, especially in the scenes involving Lakshmi where they make light conversation of highly complex issues. Kamal is as classy as ever and some of Mohanlal’s reactions leave your jaw open. Both in typical elements rock the screen all the time.

2) The look – I am a layman, I don’t know what to call it. The film looked a lot better than A Wednesday, Maybe thanks to the Red Camera – The resolution and the whole picture was top notch giving it an ultra slick look.

3) The Dialogues – A lot more politics, A lot more satire, A new dimension. If there is one area where A Wednesday is better in dialogues, it’s the tautness and the intensity which seems to be lacking in Unnai Pol Oruvan

4) The Music – Whenever there is Guitar, there is MAGIC. Especially when kamal is first shown on screen working on a drill, with a paper near him flying due to the wind there is complete hysteria as his name appears on the screen. However, his Allah Jaane is an ear-sore.. Rest of it is fine.

Places where Unnai Pol Oruvan just doesn’t come close to A Wednesday

1) The soul – Well the essence is an old helpless common man playing with the entire police force. This is virtually messed up in this remake… One sometimes feels they have missed the point, man.

2) The generalizabilty – No the theme is not universal. Its more mumbaish. No resident of Tamilnadu will feel the emotions of what Kamal describes. There are a few dialogue to rectify this flaw but doesn’t work.

3) Suspense – Its sad but when one remakes a thriller with a twist in the ‘tail’, once cant hope a person who has seen the original will like it… Even otherwise, I did try to view it from the perspective of a newbie to the Wednesday story but some scenes reveal this guy is a common man wanting to kill the terrorists – Especially the scene where he mentions that the addresses belong to the people who died in the blast

A THING THAT I OBSERVED ABOUT THE MONOLOGUE

in in a wednesday naseeruddin shah chooses one really suppa story of some guy he knows from train who died in a blast and does an amazing job narrating it. But namba Kamal has one ultimate emotional story to say and does mega brilliant job at it. It pretty much represents their career doesn't it? Nasser choses really suppa roles and makes them special through his performance... while kamal has to do really special roles and make them even more special.

Overall, a film that tries to be as sincere to the original as possible. Hence doesn’t get better. And since the original is a good but not great film, so is this one. One thing to look out for is the last 10 mins of the Kamal monologue about the 4 month old pregnant girl raped till nudity – A complete master stroke. Also watch out for some super brisk Mohanlal moments

A 3/5 for the slick flick

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

Kieslowskii - Freak who freaks me out! Part I

I was really surprised and flabbergasted to know that some people couldn't comprehend even the simplest of simplest of films, Of course , I don't claim that I can understand every damn frame this film maker throws at me. But how on earth do you want me to believe that you have not understood the simplest of that he non-chalantly shows on screen. Any person with slightest sense of emotion should by general principal understand and comprehend what he shows on screen. I cannot accept "feigning". This write up is a lampooning attempt for a film which I have selected for today is "Krzysztof Kieslowski's: Three Colours: Bleu".

Like all his films, this film deals with distinct human emotions which we all can relate to. Any reasonable human being who claims not to have felt or come across these emotions needs to look at his life seriously.

This write up is not going to explain the plot , instead I will discuss about the brilliance of this genius. The story revolves around Julie who meets with a car accident. The accident kills her only daughter and her husband, who apparently is one of the biggest music composer of all times. The film deals with trials and tribulations of Julie and how she grapples with the sudden spate of changes in her life.

Julie is not the kind of heroine which we are used to seeing in some of the contrived women centric films , She is one among the thousands who is still trying to cope with her husbands death and of course her unfortunate change in fortunes.Now, before going into the details, I would like to state that, I am more concerned about the people who have seen the film and still couldn't understand why Krystoff is called one of the greatest and I would be really itching to call him THE greatest, and still debate on it.

The film is named blue for obvious reasons. The film has blue tone through out, but blue here signifies the memories Julie has about her past. please keep in mind this very interpretation as we move on.

Coming back to Julie, she is not a very headstrong woman who can stand up and come to terms with what has happened. It would be utterly illogical to show her as getting on with life after losing her celebrity husband and her only daughter. She obviously struggle's to come to term's with reality. Do you guys remember the first scene where a boy sits on the side of the road with wooden ball attached to a stick and he tries to fit the ball over the stick. The moment the ball fits the stick the car crashes, I am sure it was meant to be an allegory but I cannot comprehend as to what KK really tried to mean here?, That accidents happen by chance? or does he mean that it was meant to happen only when the ball fits over the stick, which obviously means FATE. It could have been anything and upto us to take it in which ever way we want to.

Coming back to the story, Julie is admitted to the hospital and more than the bodily pain which she suffers, the mental pain and heart ache seems to be getting the better of her. She distracts the Nurse on duty by breaking the glass window pane; As the nurse goes out to check the mess . She slips into the adjacent room(filled with medicines) and tries to consume random tablets in an effort to end her life. The nurse soon finds that out,and on seeing the nurse Julie spits it out. It was obviously the most weirdest situation to be in for Julie. She asks sorry for breaking the glass. Now this obviously should lead anyone to think that Julie thinks that breaking the glass was bigger vice than trying to end her life. Nurse quite quickly replies "the glass can be replaced". Just look at the way dialogues are written, if this is not a punch dialogue then what is?.

So, Julie recovers goes back to her country house with haunted memories (Again we can see shades of Blue). But after coming to a conclusion that ending her life wasn't the right way to go about her life, she becomes convinced that completely cutting her off from everyone and everything would do her more good, because she cannot even think of falling into an maze made of emotional strings. She sells her house, sells her antics except her daughter's Blue wall hanging made of Blue crystals and she wants to go to a place where no one knows her, no one can recognize her. Again her memories haunt her, she is not able to get over her husband and her love for her. What does she do? Calls her friend who apparently fell in love with her and makes love to him. The casual sex doesn't do any good to her rather it only rekindles the memories of her friend and her husband from time to time. She now goes away to Paris takes an apartment where there are no kids, furnishes her house with her daughters antique wall hanging. Every time, Julie has a ridiculous or a negative thought the blue shades turn to black. This cannot be a brain child of an average film maker at all.


Like memories Music too plays a vital part in the film, Since her husband was a famous musician it is obvious that music forms one of the best memories for Julie. She tries to destroy her music as well, throws all her notes she had previously written with her husband into garbage van. If you notice as she picks up the notes , the music is played in the back ground . The moment she throws it into the garbage truck the music fades out.

Well ironically later on in the film, you would find a solitary beggar playing the same tune again, and Julie asks the beggar from where he learnt it. He says that he composed it on his own. This is again a brilliant way of saying or rather a slap in the face of Julie that "You might have destroyed the paper having notes, but you cannot destroy your music". Life beckons her, her memories follow her everywhere she goes, but its Julie who cannot come to terms with her life. Haven't we come across such people?

You cannot even argue that beggar is not needed for the film, he is not the typical character we have most of the films there to fill up the screen space and time, the beggar makes her realize that she is important and so are her memories. The most striking part about the music in the film is as I said is as important as her memories themselves. A self proclaimed fan of Beethoven himself, KK gets in to the head of how a musician thinks about his music, how they write music. In the final sequence when Olivier and Julie try to finish the composition, Julie makes a lot of changes to the notes and she changes the instruments. Every time they run their hand through the notes , there is music in the back ground. Beethoven apparently thought about music as as he lost his hearing capabilities, because he could never hear it. I obviously didn't know it was directed at Beethoven but I am sure we can appreciate at how the music changes when Julie changes the instruments in her notes, from trumpet to piano to flute and so on.

She always prefer's to swim when no one is present, During the course of the journey to her new life in the apartment, she gets acquainted with a prostitute and make friends with her, both begin to share a good amount of closeness and suddenly Julie's heart is looking to confide into someone. One day, the girl sees Julie running off and she goes to the swimming pool to meet her,and she asks her if she was crying. Julie replies "no it was water". And suddenly group of children run and dive into the water.

It simply means people are forcefully starting to come into her lives again. the next scene is where she goes to meet her mom. This is vintage film making where there is a shot of Julie's mom watching TV, she is watching a man walking on a tight rope and Julie's face is reflected on the glass door which means Julie is also walking a tight rope.

The most important and the most unique scene is when she swims alone , IE , before she goes to meet her Mom. She tries to end her life by curling herself into a shape of a baby in the womb inside the water. After a few seconds, notwithstanding , she comes out, this means that she is reborn again. Again, I never understood the reborn angle of it, but you cannot possibly tell me that you never understood the purpose of that scene, which to mean that no matter how hard she tries; she is not able to cut herself off from the outer world.

I am sure this would induce movie enthusiasts in knowing more about this film maker, for those who claim to have not understood the movie, Allegories cannot get better than this. Decide for yourself.

UDHAV NAIG

Udhav's Ode!!

I had a weird feeling about this film the day I watched it, I did watch the film 2 years ago and somehow never ever thought of revisiting it again, until yesterday. Until yesterday, it didn't occur to me that it was indeed a masterfully made film until 10. PM , 15/04/09.

Before talking about the film, I want to say a few words.

"Breath takingly brilliant and oozing splendor in every Scene".

This film has been an aberration of sorts from Spielberg, who has quite often been seduced by the whim's and fancies of the Hollywood's Big league. Schindler's list is a deviation from his ever present boisterous human chasing beasts and how group of men finally escape the repugnant animals to safety, there by upholding the human race of perseverance and all that Bull shit. To be frank and square, he gets on my nerves, why the hell can't he get a divorce from his first wife(Science fiction and animal chasing humans).

Schindler's list is all about the list Schindler prepares , in the movie, what is that list all about and how and from whom does he gets it done is told in such a poetic way forms the crux of the film.Schindler later goes on to save the lives of Jews who work in his factory, not only that, he makes a huge list of names of Jews and buys them, literally from Kommandant , there by saving the lives of 1,100 Jews.

I am just itching to write about various scenes where in I could just feel my legs go numb.

One of the things which strike's me the most was way the it was shot, it was meant to be a take on history and rightly so, it was shot in black and white. The pernicious honesty was the telling point of the narration, where in every detail of the horror's of the holocaust was accounted for, and how Schindler realized the demons of the Nazi party and got the humane thought of saving Jews. The Schindler's character has been written and etched out so well, that Liam Neesan was simply Brilliant!!!. I would have to take my hat off to him.

Steven Spielberg is the prodigal son of Hollywood, for him to come up with a film with such precision and a film with such a primp screenplay is some thing which needs to be appreciated.

The film as such deals with demons of holocaust,so....the fear and blood stains are ubiquitous through out the film,the opening itself gives fair share of idea of who Oskar Schindler is all about. This sequence gives detailed gist of how he goes about bribing the Nazi bigwigs to help him set up a enamel factory, for almost, throughout the first hour,Oskar behaves as a despotic Capitalist with vested interests, and of course the war and the inflow of Shipment, the prisoner's THEY mean, help him get the worker's for his factory for a very meager sum by just bribing the big dogs of the NAZI Germany. In fact the scene preceding the one which I was talking about, shows him putting on his silk coat, wearing his cuffs and Tie, and taking bunch of notes to the party. This simple narrative tells us volumes about the stature and nature of Oskar Schindler.

Another scene which I am Curious to talk about is "cleaning the Ghetto" sequence. Jews would have been housed in an incubus small area, and they would be FORCED to shift to another place, which of course is other wise known as concentration camps. Jews would just be HERDED through on to the streets and literally washed out, every nook and corner would be searched and anyone who even thinks of hiding would be Shot.

Of course, some try to hide in the houses built in the most eff able fashion for STORING the Jews, quite literally. The soldiers begin the combing operations to search for people who are hiding and they mercilessly kill or Exterminate them, one of the most gut wrenching scene I have seen. Spielberg's narrative needs a special mention here, especially in bringing out the psyche of the kid, a kid jumps into a small drainage of sorts, where they would be few other kids who would be hiding, and those kids would say to him that it is "their" place and he cannot use it to hide. Such beautiful melancholy could be seen in the way that sequence was conceived.

Another instance is where , Oskar Schindler talks to the maid of Herr Kommandant, the conversation between the 2 is straight out of this, they don't talk strenuous English nor do they speak with a complex tone, which you usually find in most of the period films, She says something like " There are no set of rules which you will feel safe if you can abide by it" and she goes on to say, "Herr Kommandant hits me a lot", He hits me more when I ask him Why he hits me, I just can't help but marvel the way in which the emotions of Jews are brought out, there is nothing that the Jews can do. They cannot even hope for a better tomorrow. Coming back to Ghetto scene, surprisingly there is a small girl shown in a Pink color dress, who later on in the final phases of the movie is shown as being dead, apparently that girl would have escaped the ghetto cleansing. No Jew could have escaped once they are into a concentration camp, such was the fallible nature of the kommandants and soldiers involved in these camps. The only motto was to exterminate Jews and build fear among them. The other scene which really holds my attention right now, is the arbit firing of workers from the balcony by the "herr kommandant", he just picks up a sniper and starts shooting the workers working in the field.

So, much attention to detail is given, that I actually wanted to cross check it in Google, for example, the gas chamber at Auschwitz , had been imbibed to the last drop. In fact, the very thought of the gas chambers sends a chill down my spine. Quite on the contrary, there is a scene where a group of ladies would be discussing about how it has been "rumored" that Jews are being killed in a gas chamber. Incidentally when the same people are put through the same rigors of getting their hair cut and getting naked, and sent into the Gas chamber and women just clinging on to each other was just too intense, Spielberg gets 100/10 for this scene alone, for the manner in which he makes me to actually experience the feel of it, women get so anxious and tensed and the showers open inside the gas chambers and what happens next is a suspense, I don't want to bell the cat.

Another place where Spielberg hits me for a Six is the scene where the Rabbi is taken out by 3 guards and they try to shoot him, fortunately the pin in the gun fails to work properly , infact the guard tries to shoot him almost 5-6 times, that moment is captured with masterful perfection and impeccable and true emotions, a very contrasting ones too. Rabbi feels helpless and he is almost dead before being Shot and the guards actually feel, Rabbi is a worthless man, its actually worth to "Just" shoot him and Kill him.

Simply magnificent.

Lastly, the most touching scene of the film was the Schindler speech to the survivor's, where he goes on to declare that they are free from midnight today and that they should forgive him. He even remarks to his guards to either Kill the Jews as per the orders or leave the place as honorable men. The climax succeeding the speech was even more touching....

Schindler simply breaks down saying that he could have saved lot more people, and Jewish women come closer and hugs him. The accountant who takes care of his factories affair's actually present's him with a ring made from his golden teeth as he tries to flee. The workers reciprocate the gratitude by signing a letter in favor of Schindler if in any case he is captured. Its such a pious film with so much detail's stuffed in, surprisingly, it doesn't simply become another UNTERDANG, but it captures the horror's of holocaust and the climax just hits it on the head as to how grateful his "Descendants" are for him.

Watch it for the experience !!!

AYAN MOVIE REVIEW - SKIP IT, this is just another MASALA affair

Fortunately Krish King Nishanth did not have a lot of hopes on the KV ANAND film starring SURYA - AYAN. ( Thanks to three reasons. One - The distribution house. Two - The trailers and. Three - the fact that the director openly declared pre-release that this is a "commercial entertainer" (typical of all other dishonest film makers who make cinema for some arbit imaginary crowd)). So I wasn't really sad when the film got over. I was only slightly disappointed that we, the fans of good honest cinema have lost a POSTER BOY.

Now, since AYAN is a true to form Commercial "ENTERTAINER" (LOL) ,and sticks to all the cliches that exist in tamil film making, lets analyse it element by element

Element ONE :- The pre hero intro scenes and the hero Intro song

Here AYAN is thankfully refreshing. There is a sequence of semi intelligent scenes that establish that the hero is a learned con man and then there is a song that is a good dance number but is not about message to fans. Rather it takes the plot and the intro forward.

Element TWO :- The self obsessed villain, The hero villain meeting scene and the hero villain 'interaction' scenes

One is shocked to watch the man who scripted and depicted one of tamil cinema's most unique villain roles in kana kanden , fall for the cliche in only his second attempt at movie making. Yes, this is the most often repeated and completly stupidly characterised villain that we are watching and it is totally irritating to know that such characters are still written in tamil cinema. The interaction scenes of surya and this fellow are even more predictable and the ONE ON ONE CLIMAX fight is pathetic to say the least.

Element THREE :- The completely and obviously Unnecessary LOU (LOVE) TRACK

Shit. Crap. Puke. WHAT THE FISH? Why the heck is every Indian film maker obsessed with love . Lust rather. Yes, we wrote kamasutra but the writers of kamasutra never asked us to unnecessarily add a lust-track to every film we make. Regardless of whether it has anything to do with the plot or not.

Element FOUR :- The SQUEEZED in songs. (CONVERTING all action, comedy, thriller,horror,psychedelic and arbit movies into MUSICALS)

ishallreview and KRISH KING NISHANTH are completely okay with Such sudden, nothing to do with the story, MUSIC VIDEOS, in movies, PROVIDED they have some really listen-able music and stunning or unique or stunningly unique visuals. But its harris over here - The man who is miserably out of form in just his 28th off film.

Element FIVE - The separate track for the famous comedian.
THANKFULLY, there is nothing like that in this movie. Otherwise we would have had vadivel and padmashree vivek cracking insane un-laughable jokes in the name of humour.

Element SIX - The action scenes and the PUNCH.

This is probably the only area where AYAN stands out. ACTION scenes are brilliantly choreographed and there are no punches and double meaning. But just this doesn't make the movie. Does it??


OVERALL, We lost our POSTER BOY to them. But even in this complete masala film , Our Man has come out with a very NEAT performance. But it is not great enough to demand an entire 100 rupees and 180 minutes to be spent on the movie.


SKIP IT.

POIGNANT POETRY ON SILVER SCREEN - Revisiting EK DUJE KE LIYE

The beaches of GOA are witness to the tragic love story of the waves and the rocks. A story which often ends in a violent splash. The camera then climbs up the stairs to a completely deserted fort with haunted interiors chuckling with the voice of a man and a woman deep in love with each other. We hear them talk about how they would want their love story to make history. The camera shifts to "वासू सपना " written with chalk on the rocks, walls and sands of the wet and slippery Goan terrain। I haven't seen an opening sequence as haunted with love as this one. The build up to what went on to become one of the greatest tales of love in Indian film history is simply irresistible.

But before we continue writing an ODE to this ODE of a movie, We should first know why the author of this post watched this movie after a long long time. It all began when Notting Hill was played for the nth time on my computer and the lover of Indian cinema in me rose in curiosity trying to figure out the names of equally good Indian romance films. There were plenty which came to mind - Dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge, Qayamat se Qayamat tak, Punnagai Mannan, Bobby and some others too. Looking into the nuances of each of these films, I realised that all these movies have in them some aspect or the other of One Single Romance film made by Prasad studios in 1981. The Mother Of all Twisted Tales Of Love. The quintessential romance saga. The most poetic set of romantic sequences ever scripted on screen. A movie whose very title is the most accurate definition of what love is all about. EK DUJE KE LIYE. एक दूजे के लिये । And I set about watching this brilliant piece of film making. I was literally reading the poem being enacted on screen. Here are a few thoughts about one of the most beautiful cinema I've ever come across.

Ek duje ke liye is like a compilation of all the K.BALACHANDER SYMBOLISMS that exist. There is communication between the lovers through night lamps switching on and off, clothes being banged on the washing stone, dogs barking and books being dusted. There is tea and coffee - the allegoric equivalents of the lives of two women in love with the same man and they get it wrong in the restaurant only to exchange with a typical K.BALACHANDERISH dialogue closely following. There is the Saree falling off the rocks and into the sea showing that the woman is being raped. There is a morphed naked pic shown by a local rowdy to the heroine showing lust. There is playing around with the bindi on the forehead to show the alternating emotional feelings of a widow. And then there is Bharatanatyam to show frustration, anger, love, disappointment, and every other human emotion.

All this apart, EK Duje Ke Liye is also the birth place of all the present cliches of Indian Love stories. This was where it all started - what now has been repeated n million times on screen was once a set of very imaginative ideas.The lovers getting lost on a trip and returning together(ddlj). The lovers having parents with basic difference in ideology and hatred towards each others cast and language.(mani ratnam's Bombay,x,y,z,n,) The lovers being asked to spend an year without seeing each other(suri,etc). The lovers misunderstanding each other thanks to unfortunate events.(every other love story) The lovers dying in the end of the story just when everything is almost in shape for a wonderful future. (aamir juhi - qsqt, and others).

And unlike its soul less successors the tragedy in the climax is not just for the sake of it. It goes with the flow and the mood of the movie and wrecks every nerve which watches the film. There is multiple irony towards the end of the film and that is probably the most difficult thing to write.

And, In between all this great direction and script writing is ONE rocker of an acting performance. A mega display of end less talent. From this gem of an actor called KAMAL HAASAN. The man is totally into the role. Beautifully essaying the part of a tamilian trying to learn hindi. A man mad in love, torn in between reality and passion. Fighting for love and survival of the love. Kamal does a class act. Apart from his absolutely superior emoting skills, Kamal shows off the gymnast in him and also does some daredevil stunts on the BULLET bike. His dance is a treat to watch as always. The polyglot in him comes to the fore in the scene just before the climax where kamal effortlessly essays dialogues in all existing forms of Hindi in perfect accent. All this, just 6 years into acting as male lead. The man is a genius for sure.

However any tribute to this movie would be incomplete without the mention of two more names. Two people who have got together to give 5 absolutely unforgettable melodies. Laxmikanth and Pyarelal in what probably is the most dynamic work of an all-blues composition for a hindi album. Starting with the eponymous track of hum bane tum bane and moving to the spell binding Lata Mangeshkar class act in Tere Mere Beech me and solah baras ki bali umariya, There is romanctic divinity all around. There is also vintage SP Balasubramaniyam in the very imaginative Lift song - The song of titles - Satyam Shivam sundaram - a high flair song with text full of names of hindi films alone.

The film ends with lines which are probably the best thing K.Balachander could do to round off his greatest tribute to ROMANCE. "प्यार एक अजीब सी भाषा है। यहाँ जीतने वाले को कहते हैं हार गया और हारने वाले को कहते हैं जीत गया। इसमे जीतने वाले शादी कर लेते हैं और हारने वाले एक दूजे के लिये जान देकर अमर हो जाते हैं."

yaavarum nalam ( 13/B) Movie Review

One Legendary lens man who has no award left to win and no greater laurel to achieve, Three super-hit musicians who have close to a 100% record in giving hit and soul searching hindi music, One Honest actor bugged by the formula system, a neat attempt at genre-specific screenplay and one hell of a spooky plot come together to give tamil and hindi cinema a clean horror/thriller film after a long long time.

Yaavarum Nalam doesn't have ghosts scaring you, But it is just the unnatural circumstances and a horrifying flashback that leave you clutching your neighbour's hands in the theatre. The stress on 13 and B and the LIFT (ala rgv ke bhoot) may seem cliched sometime but they do have an effect. The fact that this author had the lights on last night before going to sleep is ample proof of the fact that the movie has had an effect on the audience's psyche and that is what a horror is meant to do. In fact the major victory of the movie is that a bunch of uncouth mass lovers who were trying to make fun of the movie in the first half and hour, remained shut in silence and shock for the rest of the film. :)

There is an unnecessarily producer-driven duet which thankfully ends soon and then there are no set backs in narration. Minute detailing required for a good horror film are in plenty. The typical crazy characters who have now become an essential part of every 'i wanna scare u' movie are also present. In fact every body's face is some how made to look scary in this film.

PC SRIRAM simply plays with the camera. This is astounding experimental camera work completely new to tamil cinema. The legend has come into the film and made it his own. The camera crouches slowly and suddenly rushes in to peek at the thrill with screaming BGM from Shankar Ehsan and LOY. The camera also oscillates during unsteady situation and a beautiful piece of constantly tension building music flows in the back ground

Madhavan has done a very neat job. But he somehow doesn't seem to have come out of his evano oruvan character. Probably this character is similar in sketch. Neetu chandra is perfectly cast. So is the blind man and every member of the flash back family. Saranya too is just perfect.

In another move that ishallreview completely appreciates, the director brings in small doses of humour for a small time without missing the beat/flow of the thriller. Kudos.

Overall, Krish King Nishanth is not a great fan of horror/supernatural cinema but this film made him more than sit through its thrills. He appreciates it for sticking to its very well written plot and some never seen before technical wizardry. A very good film and a welcome break for the tamil industry.

ps:- PC Sriram speaks louder than language :)

Psychedelic Cinema is Finally here - NAYAN TARSE - to see more such Dev D's

"TALKIES" is the name on the hotel board sign as Singeetham Srinivaasa Rao's Puspak gets its credit card rolling - An amazing symbol of Irony - the film goes on to have nil dialogues. Anurag Kashyap seems to have taken a cue from this and has decorated the entire film of his with such super-symbolic hotel sign boards glowing relentlessly through the dark nights of Delhi. One of such boards is a class act - HOTEL GRAND is the place where CHANDA - the "commercial sex worker" carries out her night duty and Kashyap's cameraman cuts the G out to show us just the RAND part of it. Later DEV and CHANDA go on to laugh about how no one uses the word "randi" and its just "C.S.W" to describe people like her.

Filled with such deep allegories and some of the most psychedelic music hindi cinema has ever heard is DEV D - Conceptualised by Main man Abhay Deol (who in just a short time has become the poster boy of hindi parallel cinema and has given it a new lease of life) , written and directed by Anurag Kashyap. The film is so much like the picture above(on my blog). Its a brutally honest, beautifully self indulgent and stunningly different version of subash chandra chatopadhyaay's otherwise boring love saga - Devdas. And From what i have seen, this is the best adaptation of the book on screen so far. (vaazhve maayam starring kamal haasan and sridevi would come in at number 2).

The film is divided into three simple parts, each meant to go deep inside the mind of the three main characters - Paro Chanda and Dev - played very satisfactorily by a tantalizing Mahi Gill, a super-expressional kalki koechlin and a perfectly self-casted ABHAY DEOL.

PARO - The episode starts with anurag explaining literally what "being madly in love" is all about even as Dev asks Paro via phone whether she touches herselves or not and the 5 school girls sitting near me in PVR theatre in Forum at bangalore went ewww. Paro is madly in love with Dev and fate which incarnates through the local worker this time and later on through so many other people sees to it that they don't get together. Anurag's screenplay develops Paro's complex character in a fairly simple manner straight on your face - with a sequence of scenes showing that this girl can go to any extent to please and get the love of her life. Paro version 2 after dev rejects and insults her maintains the passion and tempo in blood flow. The scene where she meets the totally coke addicted, irritated by display light of the mobile- dev and cleans up his room is an emotional master cut. One more special scene in this episode is the STILL CAMERA sequence in the centre of the farm. (When dev rejects paro's advances and blow jobs)

illea(wht was that?)/CHANDA - Anurag at his imaginative best. He takes the 4 year old case of the DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL, noida MMS and predicts what the girl would have gone through in the next ten years of her life.This is the film's best written and best enacted role. The anglo indian girl caought in a sex scandal devastated by dad's suicide and a families plan to murder her ultimately takes to prostitution and changes her name to guess what - madhuri's character in sanjay leela bhansali's devdas - yeah thats chanda for u and thats anurag at his best for u.A super positive and well reasoned out look at a prostitutes life. A prostitute who is so internally steady that she can be the perfectly motherly anchor to the desperately drug and vodka addicted life of our hero Dev. Anurag's spray's some nostalgia within nostalgia when he shows that the train Illea(before being named chanda) takes is the same one which PARminder (PARO) took to get the naked picture of her's scanned, so that she could mail it to dev - the dude from her id - chamma challo.

DEV - Self indulgence takes off from here. A solid twenty minutes dedicated to the mindset of a man who has had more vodka and more coke than one can ever imagine. The journey of a mind shown so fantastically through cars, bikes, underground dance shows , pukes, kicks and of course the deadly hit-and-run accident. A dev who remains neither Paro's nor Chanda's is too high to know what he is doing and runs over 7 people. (Another true incidence intelligently adapted). His once strict and later doting father dies and dev almost returns to normality before going on one more vodka filled tour with a dishonest punjabi driver. He is almost done in when in a shocking sequence he just escapes a similar drunken driving accident and realises that its chanda (no more a prostitue) whom he needs. A thankfully happy and peaceful ending to one of the most disturbed stories of all time.

There is still a lot more to write about Dev D. The music by amit trivedi deserves a special article in itself and the handling of the music on screen deserves another one too. :) But the who has the energy to write? I don't.

As a parting line "ishallreview" would advice its readers to NOT miss Dev D at any cost. Apart from treating you to an intensely honest attempt at movie making, DEV D will also make u feel HIGH for at least thirty minutes after you leave the cinema hall. (with no additional lung cancers involved)

KILL MASS

Kill Mass

The reason for me writing this is well known, I have been really wondering how people can stoop to such a state so as to not comprehend things in a rational and logical way.

I have tried my best to project what I think about various ridiculous idiocies.

Definition of MASS HERO:

1) The first scene of “his” movie should start with an introduction song or a fight.
2) The story is usually tailor made to make his fans happy ( I really don’t know how he satisfies the audience) :D
3) The heroine’s scenes are strategically placed and really move the story forward.
4) The producer cuts production cost by usually reducing the clothes of the movie.
5) The money saved by point no.4 is used in buying aruval…until recently for guns.
6) The movie SHOULD have 6 songs and 4 fights.
7) In between the 6 songs and 4 fights, 5 comedy scenes …. 5 love scenes, one love making scene and of course the main story (If one exists) has be told.
8) Few unwanted dialogues like “20 varusham munnadi enna paatha madhiriyae irruku” dialogues which we have heard over and over again.
9) Hero should come in every other scene.
10) Heroine should strictly get married to the hero at the end.
11) Include any other Illogical, irrational and ridiculously sentimental scenes.

End Product -: The hero successfully has given a quality product which has satisfied his fans.

The above points are just to warm you guys up.

Chapter One:- 1

Theory of relativity

This is one important theory which has made my hair at the back of my stand up, this theory talks about how people “think” some one is a good actor, good director, good musician etc.

An actor ”Y” is called a good actor if he is better than some other actor, say X…why??
The answer is simple, the other actor X has given shit movies and does not know ABCD of acting.

Yes you heard it right.

You are considered good student even if you just pass your assessment, because all other students have failed. This is one great logic used by MASS RASIGARGAL to just reinforce the very point that their hero is a good actor.

Another analogy

Imagine you are a part of a team consisting of 4 salesmen, the target is to sell 100 candles every month, your colleagues are so damn poor and cannot even sell 10 candles a month…now you sell 50 candles. That is 40 more than your colleagues, and voila...you are a good salesman.

Yes…doesn’t matter even if you have sold 50 less than the required target, still you are better than others. So you are good.

Please don’t exactly go by the above example. Its a farce, and proclaiming you as a good salesman will put you in a hot soup.(If at all you are a salesmen)

Many fail to realize (some cannot comprehend, we need to help them) that to be called or considered good you need to be able to validate your claim to be called good. A person who can sell 100 candles also cannot be called as good, because they are expected to sell 100 candles a month, so he is just normal salesman. A person who sells 150 candles is what you call good. He is pretty good salesman who can do wonders when given conducive work situations.

The above example is just to illustrate how people perceive someone as good, bad, excellent etc.

These analogies can be used to any of the “Supposedly “ over rated “Actors”, “Versatile” , “Different” Directors, movies, Musicians etc.

The very point I am trying to make here is, that one cannot be called good if he is merely better than others. He can only be called good , only if he is better than average or holds his own against someone who is already called good.


Chapter Two:-

Subjective opinions:

This is close to what you call ridiculous, rib tickling, comical, satirical, irresistibly funny argument a MASS FAN can have in his defense.

I will try to present a case here.

1) Shakila is a better actor than Meryll streep, Julia Roberts and it is subjective view.
2) My friend (assuming I study in 12th standard) has a better knowledge about aeronautical study than Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam and it is my subjective view.
3) Rajini’s directorial debut Valli was better than Hey Ram, and it is my subjective view.


The above statements are few examples of subjective arguments which I can have with any of you.

Just because those views are subjective to me, it doesn’t mean that I make sense, and it doesn’t mean that my view should be taken as subjective and I should not be mocked.

Any sane person who has seen devil wears prada and Erin Brokovich should by general principle ridicule me, and rightly so.

Now if I make all these claims and say “I don’t care…I like rajini kanth more than Kamal and I don’t care even if a good reason exists”. Then I am sure the very sane person wouldn’t even care to argue with me.

I am of course not justified. I have no reasons to believe so.

Still I make that claim…it’s purely my personal view and of course something without no rational or logical conclusion by me. I am perfectly OK with this, and I am sure the other guy should also be OK with this.

Now what the other guy would not be OK against is that, If I make an argument saying that, I have equally justified views to consider Shakila to be a better actor than Meryll streep or Julia Roberts. I cannot expect the sane person to just leave my subjective view, but to think that I have a poor intelligence quotient related to my ability to comprehend films in a way a film should be perceived.

I may be a shakila fanatic, but if I say that for me she is a better actor than Meryll Streep or Julia Roberts than I must be by all probability be a FOOL. Because even though my view is subjective, it doesn’t make sense at all.

Absolutely No

Yeah, you can ask me “are individuals not credited with their own personal opinions”

Yes, they are…but when you make a statement in public, when the things come outside of your mouth then it’s no more subjective… if things are so subjective then why make it public at all?????

Now, when you and me have diametrically opposite views about a particular topic then how do you expect me to keep quite when you make such a stupefying statement?

Why do you get all touchy when I question your view of how you perceive films, after all you have decided to make your “ Subjective / personal views” public, it deserves the flak it deserves, it deserves the criticism it deserves, especially when you are talking something diametrically opposite to what I believe, just because there are LOT of ignorant people like you, it doesn’t mean that you have a right to be justified in calling every other view as subjective. We can debate and come to a solution, and not just consider views as SUBJECTIVE because, I find the argument extremely extremely escapists and cowardly argument.

Let us take up a very popular argument.

“I like the mass movie X over pithamagan or color trilogy or full metal jacket or any other classic.”

Now this is the most common SUBJECTIVE argument which I often come across.

I like the mass movie X because it gives me satisfaction more than that of pithamagan or any other movie that deserves to be called sensible.

It would simply be because he / she just likes the hero, so he would, by all probability like what ever is being dished out to him.

I usually press for the reason as to why he likes what he sees as good.

He says….song , dance gaana bajaana..and I tell him how pithamagan and other movies have been beautifully conceived and how the actors have literally lived the characters with heart and soul.

Then my friend would be offended…he would say..” Ennaku pudichuruku avlo dhaan”

This is the very point I am trying to make, no fan will be able to justify other than saying, I like X over Y, because I just like Y and I accept Y even though I cannot give a comprehensive answer.

The fact that one argues that I prefer entertainment and you like art is farce.

What is entertainment you are referring to?
Villu is entertainment? And it is subjective?
Aegan is what I call entertainment and it is subjective?

What are movies?

To call Aegan a movie or villu a movie is itself condemnable.

These “attempt” at filming sequences and calling it a feature film is equivalent to abusing the celebrated film makers. Fine, you may not like NK over shivaji, there are so many movies..take for example Kill Bill(Not an art film), even then I know you would prefer shivaji over a movie like kill bill, or say a better commercial movie like speed, or say spider man.

Ask these questions to a hard core Rajini Fan and he would always say, that he would prefer shivaji over any other film that you can possibly mention any day.This is the point I have been trying to convey, unfortunately I was never given a chance to.

The fact that one would like a movie of his favorite star over every other movie (art, entertainment, commercial, crap , shit) should suggest the point I am trying to make here. The very fact is he has tuned his mind to accept anything and everything from his fav star.

This is what I call stupidity transcending all barriers, that’s all I can say.




Chapter Three: -

Hypothesis-Ajith is a Good actor

This is the most simplest one for me to write on, a very interesting one too. :D

Let me not take too much of time giving an intro who Ajith Kumar is, and his films…so I would straight away jump into my reasons for thinking that he is not even good enough to be considered as good.

Some of the claims by his rasigargal.

1) Valee- Deaf and dumb character.
2) Villain
3) Varalaru
4) Kireedom
5) Mugavari


Valee- I am usually corrected when I say, valee’s acting was not realistic…any performance that is not realistic cannot be called as good. True, he did what was expected But to call it good, he needed to be realistic in his portrayal.

The fact that I am so confident saying this because, I have seen and moved with people who suffer from Hearing and speech impediment. The way they laugh and way they cry, way they communicate are completely unique and nothing was projected in the movie.

Any person, who cannot speak or hear, would have been taught sign language, and no where I have seen people understanding what a person who sits outside the cubicle is talking. I mean, it is statistically very very improbable.

Even then I feel a movie whose main protagonist is a person with hearing and speech impediment and none use sign language or very very minimal sign language is laughable.

In all households who have such a person, almost every one would know sign language, this can be seen in day to day life. None of this happens in Vallee.So, by all means, the performance might have been satisfactory, but it cannot be called as good because as an ACTOR he needs to give his own inputs to the actor. Like I have already discussed, something that is satisfying to the context need not be necessarily good.


Varalaru :-

People who learn bharathnatyam and seen bharathnatyam performances can pretty well conclude, it is most unconvincing portrayal of a bharathnatyam dancer.

All his other feminist mannerism were great, but that was out side of the whole character, he needed to convince me that he is indeed a good, as proclaimed in the movie, bharathnatyam dancer.

Villain- The other abnormal character was good enough, al though movie as a whole was crap.

Kireedom- Please compare with the original.

Kandukondein Kandukondein- I don’t understand why people take up this movie to re iterate that Ajith has done a good job, any body could have done what Ajith did. Even after 10 years in cinema, if ajith can’t do such a simple role in KK, wonder what he can do…


Similarly, all other performances are trivial, irrelevant, unimportant or unimpressive.Take any movie, amarkalam-Again a very ordinary movie of a rogue turning into a good man because of love, almost every other actor in TC has done it.

Dheena- Again a very normal movie about rogues again.

I sincerely hope, the first 2 principles namely Theory of relativity and subjectivity are being heavily used to conclude Ajith is a great actor.

He is not…he is pretty ordinary actor with good looks.

A mass actor fan will not open his ears come what may and would always like his fav actors movies over every other movie…whether it is good, boring, bad.

This is what I call being reason less, and being illogical…

I would really Appreciate people, who say, I like him because I want to like him, there is no sane reason to like him.


UDHAV.