I am on phone. She knew I have been to Dasavtharam and I have admiration for Kamal.
How is Dasavatharam?
mmm... Its Ok..
Not good?
Not like that.. but most of the people who came with me didn't like it...
Hi.. tell me whether you liked it or not?
We go to a theatre and film starts. It may make us to think, laugh or cry (sometimes to look into watch). But ultimately what matters is does it engross us? It is immaterial what happened before, under what conditions its coming out. But on other side when a man ventures into what have not been done and have passion and love for what he does and veers of the target or miscalculates it , it still needs some applause, at least some pat in back. That's why I don't have an simple yes or no for that question .
On almost every frames there is a technical brilliance. Most of the shots have more than 1 Kamal on the screen and between them there is a visible physical difference. And for the first time in a Tamil film, technology is not on face and blends into movie. Unless we sit and and think it never strikes how much graphics, camera etc... has gone into that shot. Will it work out commercially? I don't know, because , if you want to sell it you should have it bold and italicized (It was not surprising when I hear why this movie consumed so much of money? )
Graphics hovers between 'too good' to 'bad' in several places. But considering the fact what it was trying to replicate the graphics was good. Makeup also follows the path of graphics. There is "balramnaidu" for us to praise the make up and also "kalif ulla" to leave a bad taste.
Kamals' acting notched up few new territories. As the face is plastered with dough, he shows all the difference just with the eyes and body language. Let it be villain or the old lady in the climax or the balram naidu or kalif ulla- infront of the hospital or rangaraja nambi, Kamal soars high .
Dialogues were good. It looks as if written by Sujatha and Crazy Mohan. There is no ingenuity except Kamal's speech in Nehru stadium. But dialogues are good, rib tickling, thought provoking and also witty.
Now the big question. The question what every one means when they ask how is a movie? : " What is the story and how is it told? ". I saw an NDTV interview in which Kamal rated himself less for acting and proclaimed, he is one of the best in industry when it comes to script writing. If one has to validate that statement only with Dasavatharam, (there are movies which makes me to to nod for what he said), I wonder what he means by screenplay. To start with he has a wafer thin story, hero wants to destroy a bio weapon (a vial) and the villain want to have it. Well Gilli too had a story of cat and mouse chase. But the difference is in the way it was told. Here everything happens by coincidence (chaos or 'Gods plan' depends on what controls your thoughts-is it Science or God ). But for a screenplay it never works , for a simple reason, no one does anything and everything is under the control of probability which never engages the viewer and pushes him to backseat.
That is the reason why even if one of the best things happened in Tamil film industry , the 12th century sequence, losses all it charms when a viewer asks why is it needed in the film. First comes need then the presentation , but Kamal got it topsy -turvy. Whatever crossed his mind found a place in the movie. I wondered why there is a jail riot in virumandi, why so much talk like a radio drama in Anbe Sivam and now I wonder why there is Dasavatharam ?
If we look into most of the Kamal interviews there will be a agony and a pain of the man who has to fight for everything he has to do. He always says he don't want to waste time for the question if he is ahead of time. May be he feels he has lot to tell and clock is ticking. I am never good in public pulse . More often my feel for a film and commercial results where in opposite direction. If Dasavtharam becomes commercially hit, I will be more than happy for the fact that 'HE' deserves a success though not for this but for all the anbe sivam,aalavandhan and virumandi's. But the better the quicker if he understands the boundary of "too much".
Showing posts with label tamil cinema. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tamil cinema. Show all posts
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Saturday, June 16, 2007
சிவாஜி
சில படங்கள் பார்க்கும் வரை நன்றாக இருக்கும். முடித்து வந்தால் கொஞ்சம் கொஞ்சமாக அதன் மேலிருக்கும் பிரேமை குறையும். சிவாஜியும் அப்படித்தான். பார்க்கும் நேரத்தில் சிரித்து மகிழ்ந்தேன். style-இல் எனை மறந்தேன், பாடல்களின் பிரம்மாண்டத்தில் விழி விரித்தேன். ஆனால் படம் முடிந்து யோசித்தால் படம் வெரும் கேலிக்கூத்தாக தெரிந்தது. சங்கர் 'சந்திரசேகர் பட்டறையில் இருந்து வந்தவர். ரஜினி- அசாதாரணமான விசயங்களை மட்டுமே செய்ய வேண்டிய கட்டாயதில் இருப்பவர். நான் எதிர்பார்த்தது ஒரு குறைந்த பட்ச coherency. comedy, fight, style, நடுவில் எதோ கொஞ்சம் தொங்கி கொண்டிருக்கும் கதை என இருக்கிறது படம்.
தன் star imgae பற்றி எல்லாம் கவலை படாமல் comedy- இல் பின்னி இருக்கார் ரஜினி. "தம்பிக்கு எந்த ஊர்" ரஜினியை பார்த்த திருப்தி. அதேபோல் style-இல் பல ரஜினி படங்களுக்கு இது ஒன்று சமம். சங்கரின் பிரம்மாண்டம் ஒரு துளி கூட குறையவில்லை.
ஹவாலா மோசடிக்கு உடந்தையாக முஸ்லிம்களை, ஒரு பொழுதுபோக்கு படத்தில், காட்ட வேண்டியது, சில கேள்விகளை எழுப்புகிறது. அதே போலத்தான் கறுப்பு நிறம் சார்ந்த நகைச்சுவை காட்சிகளும்....
ஒரு இளைஞன் கனையாழி கடைசி பக்கதில்.. படத்தில் சம்பந்தமே இல்லாமல் வரும் காட்சிகளையும், அது சார்ந்த செலவுகளையும், ஒரு கெட்டவார்த்தை சேர்த்து "தடித்தனம்", எனச் சொன்னார். இந்த நிலைமையால் நான் 100 வருசதுக்கு சினிமா எடுக்க மாட்டேன் என்று கூடச் சொன்னார். வாழ்க்கை அவருக்கு தன் முதுமை காலத்தில் "சிவாஜி"க்கு வசனம் எழுத கற்று கொடுத்துள்ளது.....
சுஜாதா -உங்கள் வாழ்க்கையை திரும்பி பார்க்கும் பொழுது என்ன தோன்றுகிறது????
சிவாஜி பொழுது போக்காக இருக்கிறதா?-100% இருக்கிறது,
பார்க்கும் பொழுது ஒரு பார்வையாளனை தன் பிரச்சனைகளை மறந்து இருக்க செய்கிறதா-100%..
ரஜினி என்கிற மனிதனின் திறமைகளை பயன் படுத்தியுள்ளதா- 100%.
காலம் கடந்து சிவாஜி நிற்குமா? படம் பார்த்து முடித்து சில நாட்கள் கழித்து எதாவது ஒரு நொடியில் சிவாஜி நியாபகதிற்கு வருமா? ...எனக்கு 1% கூட நம்பிக்கை இல்லை.
தன் star imgae பற்றி எல்லாம் கவலை படாமல் comedy- இல் பின்னி இருக்கார் ரஜினி. "தம்பிக்கு எந்த ஊர்" ரஜினியை பார்த்த திருப்தி. அதேபோல் style-இல் பல ரஜினி படங்களுக்கு இது ஒன்று சமம். சங்கரின் பிரம்மாண்டம் ஒரு துளி கூட குறையவில்லை.
ஹவாலா மோசடிக்கு உடந்தையாக முஸ்லிம்களை, ஒரு பொழுதுபோக்கு படத்தில், காட்ட வேண்டியது, சில கேள்விகளை எழுப்புகிறது. அதே போலத்தான் கறுப்பு நிறம் சார்ந்த நகைச்சுவை காட்சிகளும்....
ஒரு இளைஞன் கனையாழி கடைசி பக்கதில்.. படத்தில் சம்பந்தமே இல்லாமல் வரும் காட்சிகளையும், அது சார்ந்த செலவுகளையும், ஒரு கெட்டவார்த்தை சேர்த்து "தடித்தனம்", எனச் சொன்னார். இந்த நிலைமையால் நான் 100 வருசதுக்கு சினிமா எடுக்க மாட்டேன் என்று கூடச் சொன்னார். வாழ்க்கை அவருக்கு தன் முதுமை காலத்தில் "சிவாஜி"க்கு வசனம் எழுத கற்று கொடுத்துள்ளது.....
சுஜாதா -உங்கள் வாழ்க்கையை திரும்பி பார்க்கும் பொழுது என்ன தோன்றுகிறது????
சிவாஜி பொழுது போக்காக இருக்கிறதா?-100% இருக்கிறது,
பார்க்கும் பொழுது ஒரு பார்வையாளனை தன் பிரச்சனைகளை மறந்து இருக்க செய்கிறதா-100%..
ரஜினி என்கிற மனிதனின் திறமைகளை பயன் படுத்தியுள்ளதா- 100%.
காலம் கடந்து சிவாஜி நிற்குமா? படம் பார்த்து முடித்து சில நாட்கள் கழித்து எதாவது ஒரு நொடியில் சிவாஜி நியாபகதிற்கு வருமா? ...எனக்கு 1% கூட நம்பிக்கை இல்லை.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Why it de-railed?
When I watched Pachaikili muthucharam, i decided i shall read the original version : derailed -novel. The main reason was certain things were hanging out as unwanted appendage in movie. I was wondering why it was so? Is it because of story he took? Before speaking much on that I have to make some points clear.
Its really difficult to capture a novel into movie and it always disappoints the person who read the novel . There were certain things that makes the reader to love that novel and they might be simply cut in movie or the visualization of that never matches reader imagination. Even the best movies (critically acclaimed and commercially successful)were just close to the novels, they were never better than the novel, at least for me. Saying this, I never rated a movie based on what it tries to replicate. I have liked the movies which claims to be based on real life incident or based on novel and deviated much from them but still enjoyable one. I see them essentially as another creative output and as an independent entity.
Derailed is not a great novel. Its not a worse novel, but the problem is it was too ambitious. An novel is not just a collation of incidents. In our childhood , when someone tells us stories, we like to hear the story from the person who adds lot of color to the story than from the person who just states (may be narrates) the incident. Well James Siegel is not just narrating, he has included lot of sub-plots, some moments to stand still and cherish, but the problem is he has introduced lot of complications in the story, and takes the story back and forth just to surprise reader. Beyond a point things look like forced into the novel which makes the reader to yawn.
About Pachaikili muthucharam, the film fails simply because it tried to make too many compromises.The problem is not that movie deviates from the novel largely (Absolutely I have no issues on it. A good painting and good replication are different things).The problem is even after deviating from novel the director wants to use some elements from the novel which he liked. But they were not fitting well in to the new picture he had created . It goes like this. I decided to replicate a drawing which depicts a countryside with few men standing. People started to say something and I change it but I love the way the people dressed and want to keep it. so at last I come out with a different background and people costume just looks inappropriate.
They decide not to show the hero as a character having a weakness for opposite sex. They want to show as it was the lady who was desperate, that makes us doubt was he not suspicious of something?
All of a sudden he sees her again (after the blackmail is fully settled up)and just like follows her and know about her. Why he started to smell something fishy. An ordinary man probably will either try to move away or go and speak but why will he spy unless otherwise he smelled something wrong. The novel had it but for some reason movie skips it.
In novel, the protagonist knows that the main person is alive and wants to confront him and finish the story for ever. But in movie he thinks the story is over and so final duel does not look like a finishing touch but hangs like unwanted addition.
The novel brings the police into picture (though it does not use them exhaustively). But the movie never brings them, which looks odd in a movie which looks like near to life because of the dialogues, camera, lighting etc..
The crux is: The novel is essentially about a person who knows nothing about the dark world , but gets involved and learn their game through his experience (after mistakes and with lots of pain) and finally out play them. The movie has everything except those inside parenthesis. That make the viewer not to believe it.Its not we don't have the movies that lack that logic (all our super hero movies). The point is those movies don't disguise themselves as near to real life . They don't have the color, texture that our realistic movies have.
Its really difficult to capture a novel into movie and it always disappoints the person who read the novel . There were certain things that makes the reader to love that novel and they might be simply cut in movie or the visualization of that never matches reader imagination. Even the best movies (critically acclaimed and commercially successful)were just close to the novels, they were never better than the novel, at least for me. Saying this, I never rated a movie based on what it tries to replicate. I have liked the movies which claims to be based on real life incident or based on novel and deviated much from them but still enjoyable one. I see them essentially as another creative output and as an independent entity.
Derailed is not a great novel. Its not a worse novel, but the problem is it was too ambitious. An novel is not just a collation of incidents. In our childhood , when someone tells us stories, we like to hear the story from the person who adds lot of color to the story than from the person who just states (may be narrates) the incident. Well James Siegel is not just narrating, he has included lot of sub-plots, some moments to stand still and cherish, but the problem is he has introduced lot of complications in the story, and takes the story back and forth just to surprise reader. Beyond a point things look like forced into the novel which makes the reader to yawn.
About Pachaikili muthucharam, the film fails simply because it tried to make too many compromises.The problem is not that movie deviates from the novel largely (Absolutely I have no issues on it. A good painting and good replication are different things).The problem is even after deviating from novel the director wants to use some elements from the novel which he liked. But they were not fitting well in to the new picture he had created . It goes like this. I decided to replicate a drawing which depicts a countryside with few men standing. People started to say something and I change it but I love the way the people dressed and want to keep it. so at last I come out with a different background and people costume just looks inappropriate.
They decide not to show the hero as a character having a weakness for opposite sex. They want to show as it was the lady who was desperate, that makes us doubt was he not suspicious of something?
All of a sudden he sees her again (after the blackmail is fully settled up)and just like follows her and know about her. Why he started to smell something fishy. An ordinary man probably will either try to move away or go and speak but why will he spy unless otherwise he smelled something wrong. The novel had it but for some reason movie skips it.
In novel, the protagonist knows that the main person is alive and wants to confront him and finish the story for ever. But in movie he thinks the story is over and so final duel does not look like a finishing touch but hangs like unwanted addition.
The novel brings the police into picture (though it does not use them exhaustively). But the movie never brings them, which looks odd in a movie which looks like near to life because of the dialogues, camera, lighting etc..
The crux is: The novel is essentially about a person who knows nothing about the dark world , but gets involved and learn their game through his experience (after mistakes and with lots of pain) and finally out play them. The movie has everything except those inside parenthesis. That make the viewer not to believe it.Its not we don't have the movies that lack that logic (all our super hero movies). The point is those movies don't disguise themselves as near to real life . They don't have the color, texture that our realistic movies have.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Potpourri
There are several things which I thought of writing and got slipped as I am travelling in all the 4 ships valluvar said in kural 605 . I am trying to put everything in this blog . Possibly there could be some accuracy errors as I have to refresh my memory and write.
1. I watched pachaikili on the first day, in a theatre in San Jose which is being used to screen Indian movies alone. The theatre was too small and screen looked archaic. Still the movie watching experience was not bad, because of, good air circulation, good sound system and not so bad chairs. I think the rural theatres in Tamilnadu can also be maintained like this. But the catch is these theatres charge same as the good looking theatres but in Tamilnadu there is a huge difference. About the movie, every one has their own reasons why pachaikili fails to satisfy. When I watched the first half I could not help but to think of Balumahendra. Everything is same except colors and background. In Balu movies it will be simple (i don't have a better word to put) which makes us to feel we are watching it in life and not in screen. Here its like Mani movies. The color contrasts ,tints and background music which often shows its presence makes us to remind we are watching a movie. The second half is typical Gautham masala, and the last session is an unwanted appendage. Further dialogues are not so consistent. In a conversation which is interspersed with English words, the lady uses the word"கணவர்". I don't think no one will use that word in such place. I wish he could have given more care for dialogue and avoided these glitches.But still I like the movie for the first half and enjoy it in the second half except for last 20 minutes or so.
2. Read 4 Novels in last 3 weeks. Black Friday by James Patterson, lord of rings part1, Eye of the needle by Ken Follet, Silence of the lambs by Thomas Harris. Most of the page-turner genre novels search for something or someone. This is common in all the three novels (Lord of Rings has also something like that but in different context. So lets leave it). But what makes the difference is the way it is presented. Black Friday fails miserably because its too brief. It does not establish any character. It has all the things that these genre of novels have: protagonist has to win over time, there is an insider, the negative character is misguided by someone who exists in both good and evil group. But all these happens in a hurry. So we don't feel an exhilaration or relief when all veils are removed . We neither feel the sense of urgency or the weight of expedition . The one-liners are too banal. The novel fails miserably.
Eye of the needle becomes great because of the meticulousness of details. First few pages clearly shows its written by an English novelist. Its a simple spy novel (Might be a path break when its published. But now I am reading it after reading some novels which came later.) A spy gets some privileged info, police want to stop him. Certain lines uttered by the main characters are nice but its few. What makes it interesting is the details. A worthy read. Looking forward to read more from the author.
I took silence of lambs as there are more references for the movie and I could not get the movie. I could not remember anything I read so far as vulgar / crude as this. May be its because of the people it deals with. But the novel has correct mix of thriller and emotion. There are not much details about why the serial killer had become so, but the novel is not much about him. There are several instances which reminded me some of the scenes in Tamil film. We can call it inspiration or plagiarism depending on where we belong. Especially the personal reason of Kamal to chase the psychopath in vettayaiyadu vilaiyadu or the scene Nandhu introduced in Aalavandhan. Lot more. There are lot of details about the way how the FBI zeros down the serial killer. The interrogations with former forensic psychiatrist turned cannibalistic sociopath is well crafted. FBI knows he knows the serial killer, but made him to believe that they are using his intelligence and asks for clue and traces from it. The spiralling way the story moves based on his clues, the complications that comes in the middle, altogether makes a nice plot. The movie is not much action and mostly based on interrogation and I wonder how it was made as a good film . It should be a good work. Have to see it.
3. I watched Charlie Chaplin's City Lights. Its a simple love story. There is an interesting piece of comedy sequence in the movie. There are also some nice acting scenes by Chaplin, especially in the climax. But when I see the movie with the idea that it came some 75 years back, i could not help but to remember how much the movie is used by Tamil film makers(whom only i know to comment). The whole film was broken into different pieces and used by most of our directors.
1. I watched pachaikili on the first day, in a theatre in San Jose which is being used to screen Indian movies alone. The theatre was too small and screen looked archaic. Still the movie watching experience was not bad, because of, good air circulation, good sound system and not so bad chairs. I think the rural theatres in Tamilnadu can also be maintained like this. But the catch is these theatres charge same as the good looking theatres but in Tamilnadu there is a huge difference. About the movie, every one has their own reasons why pachaikili fails to satisfy. When I watched the first half I could not help but to think of Balumahendra. Everything is same except colors and background. In Balu movies it will be simple (i don't have a better word to put) which makes us to feel we are watching it in life and not in screen. Here its like Mani movies. The color contrasts ,tints and background music which often shows its presence makes us to remind we are watching a movie. The second half is typical Gautham masala, and the last session is an unwanted appendage. Further dialogues are not so consistent. In a conversation which is interspersed with English words, the lady uses the word"கணவர்". I don't think no one will use that word in such place. I wish he could have given more care for dialogue and avoided these glitches.But still I like the movie for the first half and enjoy it in the second half except for last 20 minutes or so.
2. Read 4 Novels in last 3 weeks. Black Friday by James Patterson, lord of rings part1, Eye of the needle by Ken Follet, Silence of the lambs by Thomas Harris. Most of the page-turner genre novels search for something or someone. This is common in all the three novels (Lord of Rings has also something like that but in different context. So lets leave it). But what makes the difference is the way it is presented. Black Friday fails miserably because its too brief. It does not establish any character. It has all the things that these genre of novels have: protagonist has to win over time, there is an insider, the negative character is misguided by someone who exists in both good and evil group. But all these happens in a hurry. So we don't feel an exhilaration or relief when all veils are removed . We neither feel the sense of urgency or the weight of expedition . The one-liners are too banal. The novel fails miserably.
Eye of the needle becomes great because of the meticulousness of details. First few pages clearly shows its written by an English novelist. Its a simple spy novel (Might be a path break when its published. But now I am reading it after reading some novels which came later.) A spy gets some privileged info, police want to stop him. Certain lines uttered by the main characters are nice but its few. What makes it interesting is the details. A worthy read. Looking forward to read more from the author.
I took silence of lambs as there are more references for the movie and I could not get the movie. I could not remember anything I read so far as vulgar / crude as this. May be its because of the people it deals with. But the novel has correct mix of thriller and emotion. There are not much details about why the serial killer had become so, but the novel is not much about him. There are several instances which reminded me some of the scenes in Tamil film. We can call it inspiration or plagiarism depending on where we belong. Especially the personal reason of Kamal to chase the psychopath in vettayaiyadu vilaiyadu or the scene Nandhu introduced in Aalavandhan. Lot more. There are lot of details about the way how the FBI zeros down the serial killer. The interrogations with former forensic psychiatrist turned cannibalistic sociopath is well crafted. FBI knows he knows the serial killer, but made him to believe that they are using his intelligence and asks for clue and traces from it. The spiralling way the story moves based on his clues, the complications that comes in the middle, altogether makes a nice plot. The movie is not much action and mostly based on interrogation and I wonder how it was made as a good film . It should be a good work. Have to see it.
3. I watched Charlie Chaplin's City Lights. Its a simple love story. There is an interesting piece of comedy sequence in the movie. There are also some nice acting scenes by Chaplin, especially in the climax. But when I see the movie with the idea that it came some 75 years back, i could not help but to remember how much the movie is used by Tamil film makers(whom only i know to comment). The whole film was broken into different pieces and used by most of our directors.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Interesting Articles
Among the things which I read recently, I liked two articles(as a matter of fact, nowadays I am not reading much). These two articles have nothing in common except they are associated with the things that I love. One, is noble prize acceptance speech by Orhan Pamuk. The interesting thing in it is his opinion on writers, what make people to write and how far they feel secluded. His thoughts about his dad were also interesting.
Other is an interview by Gautham . During my good old schooldays I was much interested in reading film news. Then at some point it became banal. The only difference across different news are only the names, the contents were same. I began to read only if the news is associated with people like kamal, prakash raj, balumahendra as their interviews were slightly different. But this interview is a nice one. There are some surprise elements also, and I am not much serious about it. It was obvious all was not well between kamal and goutham in VV. Kamal looked like a reluctant player in it. In metro plus before the movie release kamal stated “this is a masala movie which doesn’t disguise itself as a different one”. But in my opinion it worked out in favor of the movie. In the movie, what I saw was the Kamal I used to see in television interviews. The only thing that raised my eyebrows is Gautham statement first half is my choice second half is Kamal and producer choice. I too felt that the second half is to cater ‘c’ centers. Well Gautham too showed the difference by using different colour shades. Might be Kamal don’t want to do other than masala in other productions, after aalavandhan fiasco and its repercussions. After reading “derailed” story I too believe it is not commercially viable with the star salary of Kamal. Generally Gautham films are with too much of violence and now he himself says “Quentin Tarantino kind”. Let us hope “pachaikilli muthucharam” is not so excruciating.
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