Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa: All about characters!

Gautham Menon is one film maker who had already established his style of work through movies like melodiously fresh ‘Minnale’, pathbreaking ‘Kakka Kakka’, thrilling ‘Vettayadu Vilayadu’ and national award winning ‘Vaaranam Aayiram’. I would like to forget the unoriginal ‘Pachaikili Muthucharam’, which was a direct lift from ‘Derailed’ – a B grade Hollywood movie.

Gautham’s new venture – Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (VTV) – falls into the genre ‘love story’. We have seen countless love stories, almost everyone coming with a tag ‘different’. So how different is this movie, let us see.
The movie evolves on Karthik (Silambarasan), a 22 year old engineering graduate chasing the dream of becoming a film maker, and Jessie (Thrisha), a 23 year old program analyst by profession. Jessie belongs to an orthodox malayali christian family. She is loved by everyone in her family and has been raised under strict surveillance of her father Joseph (Baby Antony). Karthik’s life transforms when she meets Jessie (and trust me it is a very casual – non cinematic - meeting) and Jessie’s world changes when Karthik confesses his love towards her. With minor twists and turns in their life, their confused minds sail through a confused relationship and wrecks when she finally decides to forget him. Karthik moves on to become a film maker and years later meets Jessie (a very inevitable cinematic meeting). And within minutes the movie comes to an end.

I know the above storyline is no better from any of the love stories we had seen. But this is it! VTV doesn’t bother about its story line – it revolves around the characters. And that is the biggest strength of the movie – the biggest weakness too! Gautham’s new movie is not about incidents, it is about characters. The movie starts, flows and ends with its protagonists.

Simbu has never been this lovable. His acts and mannerisms are natural and have been well captured. Thrisha is beautiful and charming as always, she gets through the ‘confused in love’ Jessie with ease. Ganesh is good and Babu Antony is impressive. Eventhough we have Kitty (Sivakumar – Karthik’s father), Uma Padmanaban, K. S. Ravikumar as himself etc, we really does not care much about them. The story is entirely woven on Karthik and Jessy.

A R Rahman’s tunes for Thamarai’s beautiful Lyrics is passable but background score is harmonious. Of the songs "Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa" melodiously sung by Karthik stays back with us. The tracks which comes in the second half does not fit the flow. Maybe an independent session with the tracks might makes them rated better – like most of Rahman’s tunes.

Manoj Paramahamsa’s cinematography and Anthony’s cuts are perfect and adds high value to the seamless narration. Rajeevan’s Art direction is adequate. Nalini Sriram’s costumes are simple, realistic and exquisite. Flexi Stu’s Choreography has got nothing new to offer.

Gautham Menon should be commented for extracting decent and lovable performances from the leads. VTV starts good, lacks pace in the middle, and even though the climax (which portrays the difference between reel life and real life) might strike as a surprise, fails to give a last minute impression. In the end, Gautham has successfully made a watchable movie with a weak storyline and engaging screenplay - thanks to chemistry between Silambarasan and Thrisha.


Recommendation: Nice weekend watch with your friends

Also view സിനിമാക്കാഴ്ച

Labels: Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, Gautham Menon, Cinema, review, തമിഴ് സിനിമ, ദൃശ്യന്‍, വിണ്ണൈത്താണ്ടി വരുവായാ

Vettaikaran: Same old story, retold!

Once upon a time there was a small town boy named Ravi. Friends call him Police Ravi as he is a hardcore worshipper of Devaraj, a courageous police officer. Ravi dreams to become an IPS officer and after successfully completing +2 (after 4 tries), he joins the same college where his hero had studied. During his journey from hometown to college, he meets a beautiful girl named Susheela and manages to be the pet of her family. Thanks to duet songs at beautiful locations, he was able to convince the girl to be his love mate. But good time always has to end. A local gunda named Chella lays eye on Ravi’s friend Uma and Ravi has to fight against him. Furious Ravi sends Chella to hospital and there comes Vedanayagam, Chella’s father, to the front run. Vedanayagam, so-called owner of Chennai city, tells Ravi that it is “fear of Vedanayagam” which made him to win the power and money. Ravi decides to fight against Vedanayagam exploiting the same fear factor. Things become gripping when Devaraj, who has lost his family and eyes – thanks to same goon, also joins Ravi in the fight.

How many movies have told us the same story? I could not count…! AVM Productions’ Vettaikaran, directed by debundant B. Babusivan and starred by Ilaya Dalapati Vijay, also tells the same story, with nothing new to offer in terms of narration.

Vettaikaran is out and out a Vijay movie. And he is the only sparkling element of this movie and thanks to him, the movie doesn’t slips to the boredom mode. Vijay looks the same as in his old movies and delivers the same level of performance. No doubt, Police Ravi will not be remembered for a long time.

Anushka looks okay but lacks on screen chemistry with Vijay. She manages the navel show with numerous other junior artists during the song sequences and, in the end, delivers an unimpressive performance.

Ravishankar is loud and overreactive as the baddie Chella, so is Srihari as Devaraj. Salim Ghouse is good as Vedanayagam. In the midst of deafening characters, his half-smiley face is a relief.

Sayaji Shinde as the good turned bad cop Kattabomman delivers some funny moments. Manobala as the journalist, Sukumari as the grand mother, Sanchitha Padukone as Uma, Srinath and Sathyan as Ravi’s friends makes no impression in this hero centric movie.

Babusivan’s screenplay with many loose ends and cliché’s is fortunately seamless and along with V. T. Vijayan’s editing and Gopinath’s camera lives up to the requirements. Vijay Antony’s scores leave no mark except for 'Puli Urumbudhu' which is an inevitable fast number for the star’s fans.

In a nut shell, Babusivan has made a movie which has marked his arrival as a director and would satisfy bare minimum requirements for Vijay fans, but for a movie lover this one does not deliver anything new or entertaining.

Recommendation: Wait for Vettaikaran’s TV premiere.

Labels: Vettaikaran, Vijay, Cinema, ദൃശ്യന്‍, വേട്ടക്കാരന്‍, വിജയ്, തമിഴ് സിനിമ

Neelathamara - നീലത്താമര

Saw Neelathamara teaser today in Asianet News. A short interview with al Jose was also there.
The Yousafali Kecheri version of Neelathamara was never in the favorite movies list. I personally feel that the screenplay will be placed in the bottom of list of scripts written by the maestro M T. Naturally, the remaking of Neelathamara made my eyebrows rise.

When I heard that the director is Lal Jose and MT will make relevant changes in the script and characterization, I became curious. When I heard the song “Neelavilochananaayi” and saw its sequences, I felt the charm. The song has few beautiful reactions of Archana. Even the posters are also looking impressive. Anyways, let us wait till 27th to see the native girl who prays to see the blossom which is believed to answer the questions from a worried mind – hope Bangalore release is there.

While searching through channels, NDTV Good times gave me a surprise. The program “Picture Perfect” was showing the shooting techniques. The discussions were happening in the sets of “Vaamanan”, a tamil movie directed by I Ahmed. The director and Cameraman Arvind Krishna were discussing on the cinematic challenges, techniques and other related information which I found very useful. For any thorough movie observer or person interested in film making, this program will be a great watch! Looking forward to see much more episodes of the program….

That’s all for the day… good night.

Labels: Neelathamara, Drishyan, Cinema, ദൃശ്യന്‍, നീലത്താമര

Song of Sparrows - In search of hope

Yesterday I reached home late ... I was feeling full, so managed with a sandwich which i took as parcel from office... Home is a bad place without your family... I cannot think it without books or movies either....

Coming to the point... while browsing through channels, I caught up with 'Song of Sparrows' in UTV World movies at 10:30 PM. I'd heard about the movie earlier, but could not manage to watch it. Rarely i get opportunity to watch Iranian movies, the struggle and passion with which they make movies has always fascinated me.... 'The Apple' is one such movie which I’d loved so much, even its screen play has been kept in my personal drive.

The story of “Song of sparrows” is about Karim, a worker in an Ostrich farm. Bad time, one of the Ostriches manages to escape from the farm, making Karim responsible. He searches the bird in deserts, farm lands, vacant lands and where not. Failing in his attempt, Karim gets fired from his job. With his old bike, he goes to the nearby city. In a city where common man use bike taxies for commutation, Karim finds a new way of living. The later part of the story gives glimpses of Karim’s role as a husband and father, and the relationships in and around his family.

The movie directed by Majid Majidi doesn’t have a great story, but it has moments... it has the power to drag you into the mind of the main characters and feel for them... The movie has been filmed beautifully, realistically and the characterization is the winning point. Karim, played by Naji , is the USP of the movie. His eyes and expressions have Karim written all over. See one scene where he dresses like an ostrich and searches for the missed one. And the other scene where he goes to a home to gets back the blue painted door which his wife Narges has donated. One another impressive scene is where Karim's son and other kids tries to put the fishes (which they were longing to posses - their hope) back into a broken bucket.

The movie has several symbols of hope. The ostrich comes out as a symbol of his hope – the hope that Karim can meet his family’s needs… And that is what the movie communicates – search for your hope… one day it will find you! It should be noted that the most of the symbols of hope are related to nature, which gives another layer of hope on man's survival with care for nature.

Worth many watches… given a chance, don’t miss the “Song of sparrows” – I’m sure that it will enchant and embrace you with a smile.

Labels: Song of Sparrows, Drishyan, Cinema, ദൃശ്യന്‍, സോംഗ് ഓഫ് സ്പാരോസ്

Passenger (Movie) - Heart in the right place

Ranjith Sankar’s ‘Passenger’ has finally reached Bangalore on 26th June 2009 – a long wait for Bangalore malayalees since its journey started in Kerala on 7th May 2009. For me, one who prefers to watch movies which I’ve good hopes from Kerala than waiting it to come to Bangalore, the wait was too long. As always, I’ve tried to watch Passenger from one of the theaters in Kerala.

It seems that the habit of going to theaters with family (includes a group of mother, wife, father, cheriyamma etc etc) has come to a pause since my son’s birth. We may have to wait for another year to pursue the habit, and make my son a part of the family of movie buffs. So this time I’ve to go for it all alone, without telling my wife, as she always wanted to go together. It was first at Kairali @ Kozhikkode I went to watch Passenger without telling anyone. But unfortunately I missed the show due to a traffic pile. I reached the theater 5 minutes after the commencement of the show. Even though there were tickets I opted not to watch the movie, as always.

I tried my luck at SreeKrishna Theater @ Manjeri. This time we managed to convince my in-laws to look after the son for couple of hours. When I and my wife reached the theater, we were welcomed by the poster of ‘Zakhmi Nagin’!!! I don’t know what reason the theatres had to change the movie on a Thursday. The days after confronted me with the pirated DVDs of Passenger at commercial street and Koramangala. But, like any other pirated DVD, this also never fascinated me. I’ll still on with my choices against pirated movies.

Finally, when the movie has reached Bangalore, the chances looked gloomy as I had to travel to Kerala on Friday to bring my family back to Bangalore. And once they are in Bangalore, it is unlikely to watch the movie in next 2-3 weeks. By then the movie may be off from Bangalore theaters and I may end up watching it post DVD release – sure, I was not going to wait till then!

The movie is released in 3 theaters in Bangalore, I opted Sangeeth @ Sivaji nagar as it was near to Kalasipalayam (place from which the private buses to Kerala starts from) which facilitates me to watch the 6:15pm show and reach the bus stand on time. Sangeeth was one theater which I’d stopped going due to bad condition. But, thanks to UFO, the theater was better in projection and sound. Since UFO status, I’d watched many movies from there. Anyways I was pretty sure Passenger would be projected in Film. I packed my bag in the morning, went to office and left early. When I reached the theater at 6:00PM, there was a fairly good crowd. I fetched the ticket and dropped myself into seat which is in the 7th from the back row, so that I could get a good feel of sound. I waited with anxious mind, and I had my own reasons for the same.

I’ve been avoiding anything which media reported about the movie, except the director’s blog. This is something I follow for any movie which I plan not to miss. I’ve glanced through the ratings given to Passenger by multiple reviewers including Chithravishesham, rediff and Indulekha. And it had happened many times that despite rave reviews about some movies I felt them unexciting or average. I never wanted to happen that with this movie. I’d gone through the director’s blog well before the release of the movie and was thoroughly following the director’s journey. Like many other in blog world, I too had compared the director’s passion with that of mine. I remember one of the serials, Nizhalukal, penned by Ranjith Sankar had attracted me in my school days. Honestly, I never remembered the screenwriter’s name then, but when I saw the reference in director’s blog, somehow, I felt happy. None of his other screenplays had come across my attention. Still I felt for the director and could not stop praying for his success. It could sound selfish, but somewhere I started to believe that his success could stimulate my aspirations of becoming a film maker. So, In the darkness of Sangeeth, when the film started rolling and titles started showing up, I said to – “here am I, anxiously waiting for the passenger to start its journey, hoping for the movie to satisfy my expectations!”.

I liked the titles and the starting scenes. Very rarely you will see scenes shot in a public place with no spectators extending their curious faces into the frame. Minutes after the movie somehow I started feeling more nervous. It is not going the way I expected. I was looking forward to experience a sleek stylish racy thriller – from start to end. This one, even though not sluggish, was medium paced. Intend was evident – director was taking his own time to build the characters, their characteristics and premises. They came one-by-one constructing their space. Part of the spaces build was interesting; few had déjà-view feel, few novel; and few inspiring (for new film makers). With in minutes from title I got introduced to Sathyanathan (Sreenivasan), his friends folk (Harisree Asokan, Anoop Chandran and Kochu Preman), the young couple Adv. Nandan Menon (Dileep) and TV journalist wife Anuradha (Mamta Mohandas) and community fighting for their survival against Karimanal (Beach-Sand) mafia supported by Thomas Chako (Jagathy Sreekumar).

I felt that this base-building exercise took little more time than required. But when it reaches its threshold, cards are opened up one by one in adequate pace. I got glued to my seat till the end with rare occasions thinking whether these are the places the director overlooked his sharpness. Mainly happened in the below occasions.

• Anuradha’s interview with Thomas Chacko which Sathyan and Nandan are watching lacks the normal TV news format with no scrolling headline or feel and look. Latter, news from the same news channel (which comes in climax as live) is intact with proper news format

• Sathya tries calling Right TV to inform on Nandan’s ill-fate, but no-one seemed to there in office to pickup the phone. Very unlikely in an office which brodcasts 24/7

• What was the necessity for the company representative to show the animated illustration of the plot to minister? From the movie we understand that it is a recent master plan came from minister. No one needs to create such a detailed animated graphics, when the client (Chacko) is very confident about the plan. This makes the whole scene looks fabricated.

• We see a broadcasting quality video (DVD format) of duration 1:21 minutes being sent by an email in a flash using a data card internet connection. Technically, I’m not sure how feasible is this?

• The same video which is being transferred to Sathya’s mobile shows ‘copying Video_TS to My documents’. I expect Sathya’s mobile has a folder ‘My documents’

• When Anuradha call home, Sathya picks the call and doesn’t respond. This should have made Anuradha suspicious. But she stills wait in the library for Nandan to come. Pretty non-sense from a dynamic media person

• Anuradha, being a known face in media world, could not find anyone to approach during a crisis. What she does is keep dialing Nandan at his mobile and home. Some where I feel media person cannot be that much isolated from professional friends

The screenplay makes an impact. The narration is new and fresh for Malayalam movie-goers. The characters are from our surroundings, not tailor-made for stars. The incidents happen in their life are genuine and realistic. The performances are behavioral in nature – Sreenivasan, Dileep and new villain face impresses. Except few, dialogues were neither clever one-liners nor witty, as you might expect from a smart thriller. They were ordinary, even in serious scenes, where the viewers were expected to be impacted or shocked. On the contrary, the absence of heavy dialogues is a welcoming factor. Hope the director will do more home work on this for his next film.

Effort behind the camera has come out well. P Sreekumar does no mistake with his cinematographic skills, while Ranjan Abraham and Sabu Raam deliver their best in editing and art direction respectively.

At the end, when the darkness was eroded by light, I felt so relieved; I stood up and said silently – “Well done Ranjith. Your efforts seems rosy, but the challenge sustains till you deliver in your next attempt. Good luck for that!”

Labels: Drishyan, Passenger, Ranjith sankar, ദൃശ്യന്‍, പാസ്സഞ്ചര്‍, cinemaoutlook, സിനിമാക്കാഴ്ച