Occupied Space

Naan Kadavul

2009-04-05T21:49:00.007-04:00

After watching the much hyped 'Naan Kadavul' from Bala, who is one of the few directors whose movies I await, my first impression was - is this all Bala could conjure up after the wonderful 'Pithaamagan'? A lot of the faults that Bala had appeared to shed with Pithaamagan (and with Nandhaa, to a lesser extent) - coarse melodrama, for one, - have resurfaced here with a vengeance.

Rudran (Arya) is abandoned by his father on the recommendation of an astrologer. After 14 years (a 'clever' reference to the Ramayana, no doubt), his family comes to re-claim Rudran. Rudran, however, is an Aghori mystic - which is apparently an excuse for Arya to do his best Chithan impersonation. With much ado and fanfare, Rudran leaves Kasi for a small village in TN.

This village is the abode of a villain who wouldn't be terribly out of place in one of those crass movies that Vinayan gets to make every now and then. He runs a merciless beggars' racket, populating the group with new beggars every now and then. Hamsawalli (Pooja) is one of these new recruits who gets slapped, kicked, and violated in all perverse ways before Rundran finally 'rescues' her.

As far as performances go, the film is alright. Arya does a okayish job (although reminiscent of Chitthan), Pooja is decent. The group of beggars do a marvelous job, and in a couple of sequences they actually manage to make this work. The daily-life humor works quite well - with the beggars, and even with the fake sanyasis.

However, when a director loses the plot, there is little the actors can do. Bala fits in a lot of throwaway references to mysticism, our esteemed epics and gods, exploitation etc. However, a lot of the movie appears so crass and steeped in melodrama (when one expects the finesse showcased in Pithaamagan, no less) that I was completely disillusioned by the proceedings. I do hope Bala recovers and hits his groove next time.

Verdict: Avoidable.

The Rotten Coconut Awards

2009-03-20T12:33:00.022-04:00

Best Movie Titles:

College Kumaran: With Mohanlal in the title role. Perhaps a better title would have been College Kumarante Achchan.

Sound of Boot: Very apt, as the audience 'booted' it out of the theatres without a qualm.

De Ingottu Nokkiye: Nobody gave the movie even a first glance, despite the director trying to milk some controversy from some canned scenes.

Innovative Concepts:

An ex-major who has resigned his post (with no apparent repercussions) and opted to run the college canteen, with occasional forays into activities like coaching students, taking on corrupt politicians, helping out orphans in distress, bashing up stray goondas etc. Extremely original.

A love story starring Mammootty prancing around in leather outfits in Singapore, I presume. There's even a fashion show where M struts his stuff - (s)exciting, huh?

Suresh Gopi in yet another 'different' role, this time as a sanyasi detective - bet even Agatha Christie couldn't have thought of this one.

Dileep (Mulla) is a hardened criminal, who is forced to care for a baby. Within some days, the baby changes his behavior, arousing and developing the sense of empathy and humanity in the cold blood killer. Very, very original.

The English Scholar Award:

Move over, Suresh Gopi and Mammootty - M.G.Sreekumar is here. With buzz words like 'Audien' and 'Criticization', rumor has it that Renji Panicker is planning to cast M.G.Sreekumar in his latest abusive saga of cussing, swearing, and filpping the bird.

Best Director:

Balachandra Menon for De Ingottu Nokkiye (roughly translated to Hey! Look Here!). Not content with writing and directing this neo-classic, the director also appeared on several channels accusing others of 'chopping' his creation. Never miss a trick for publicity, huh?

Comeback of the Year:

Jayaram should have been a cakewalk for this reward; he had his first post-millennium hit, riding on the petite shoulders of Gopika, and worked hard to revive some of his old mimicry tricks.

However there was another unexpected comeback in 2008 that had audiences whistling in joy, and dancing in the aisles. Yes - I am refering to the one actor in the history of Malayalam cinema who encompassed all emotions into one expression; who modulates his dialogue delivery like no other; who screeches like a jackal when delivering the only authentic karate kick of Malayalam cinema - none other than Babu Anthony in 20-20.

Performances of the Year:

Mohanlal in College Kumaran lends new expression to the word sleepwalking. In a role he is clearly disinterested in, Lal barely goes through the motions - leading to the question why exactly he signed the movie.

Mammootty in Annan Thambi on the other hand, is loud, ebullient and thoroughly irritating - I almost prefered the sleepwalking Lal. I can at least figure out why Lal walked through CK in a daze; but why Mammootty invested all his energy into a movie as inane as AT defies logic.

Old Wine in New Bottle Award:

Unanimously to Sathyan Anthikkad for re-inventing, re-polishing, re-painting, and re-selling the same wheel over and over again.

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-01-19T07:15:00.004-05:00

It is indeed funny how Hollywood cinema seems to have taken a fascination for all things Indian over the last 5-6 years or so. Using Indian songs as playback scores for various big budget Hollywood disaster movies etc, over-hyped Broadway Shows such as Bombay Dreams (hope that the Broadway version of LOTR will not be as amateurish) that dare to claim partial ownership for ARR's soaring global popularity today, Bollywood actors (other than Om Puri, I mean) being cast in decent roles in Hollywood movies, studios setting up big time to produce Indian films ...- the Indian cinema industry has never had it better. Indian cinema is hot in the global market right now - and SDM makes its entry just the right time.

Many have attacked SDM for taking potshots at the underbelly of India - riots, poverty, beggars etc. Although there is a ring of truth to these accusations, there is no denying the fact that the unique plot, screenplay and above all the director Danny Boyle's vision makes SDM a very refreshing movie experience (perhaps not all that it is being made out to be right now, but a very fine movie neverthless). Also, in defense of SDM, showcasing India's poverty and hardship of life is not at all the intent here, unlike other movies like Salaam Bombay, Fire etc (although I did find Salaam Bombay just brilliant); SDM is basically an 'underdog-truimphing' movie. I guess the plot device is pretty much familiar to everybody by now, but for the uninitiated - SDM narrates the tale of Jamal who is in the 'hot seat' of KBC having answered all but the final question, much to the increasing chagrin of egoistic and insecure anchor Prem Kumar.

There are quite a few scenes in the movie that stood out for me- a young Jamal wading out through a pool of shit to get an autograph of Bachchan, the idol of Lord Rama amongst the riots, Jamal reeling off tales made on the spur of the moment with just enough real historical figures thrown in to wide-eyed gullible foreigners, the hilarious reference to the practice of chappal stealing prevalent across every single religious / tourist institution in India, Jamal's euphoria on rescuing Latika turning into hot white anger and then despair as his brother then takes claim over her, a couple of repartees Jamal throws at the hapless constable (Sourabh Shukla), the bathroom scene with Prem Kumar - I could keep going on, which pretty much indicates how I felt about the movie, I guess!

SDM owes a lot to casting director Loveleen Tandan, who gets the best actors for the parts - especially the child actors who are just brilliant. Dev Patel is extremely good as Jamal - he looks the right age, and has the right disarming underdog quality that makes one root for him. Anil Kapoor could have been better, I thought. Irffan Khan is pitch perfect (when is he not?). The standout performers for me, though, were young Azhar and Ayush who played the young Salim and Javed respectively - their innocent faces and reactions pretty much made the movie for me. As for ARR, honestly he has done much more impressive work in India - neither his b/g score nor the songs can hold a candle to the kind of work he has already done in Dil Se, Rang De Basanti, Lagaan, Iruvar, Minsara Kanavu etc - just goes on to show that some things take longer to change after all, I guess :).

Verdict: Extremely good, a must-watch.

Paradesi (Foreigner) - Review

2009-01-05T20:18:00.003-05:00

It is after a long time that one sees Mohanlal really sink his teeth into a role worthy of his talent. Although 'Paradesi' ends up being a tad disappointing, the performances alone make this movie a worthy watch.

As the title indicates not-so subtly, the tale is about Indian Muslim expatriates who live a life of misery and fear ever since the partition. Instead, the director opts to iterate through a string of characters, tracing their lamentable history through the weary eyes of Moosa (Mohanlal). Despite being treated to a virtual acting exhibition by a list of Malayalam actors, being subjected to different variations of the same story again and again does take its toll on the viewer. A little bit of subtlety would have gone a long way in raising this film to another level altogether, I couldn't help but think.

In what ought to have been a landmark role, Mohanlal is curiously apathetic as the young Moosa - lackluster would be the one would be tempted to use if it were not for the marvelous turn Mohanlal turns in as the aged, harried Moosa. In both body language and voice modulation, Mohanlal is the aged Moosa personified - the one drawback is the apparent inability to imbibe the Malabar slang. Paternally affectionate with the young journalist, pensive as he discusses legal matters with the policemen and lawyers, despairing as he is banished yet again, cringing and pathetic as he attempts to hide from the policemen - there is apparently no emotion that Mohanlal cannot conjure up for Moosa. It is a pity that Mohanlal the actor is constantly drowned in tripe like Madambi and Hello.

Shweta Menon is truly a surprise as Moosa's wife, Aamina. It is a shocker of a performance - made all the more effective more by sheer shock value than actual histronics, one suspects. But nay; the very thought is cruel and unfair to an extremely competent Shweta.

There are quite a few effective cameos in the movie - Jagathy, Sidhique, Padmapriya, T.G.Ravi, Cochin Haneefa etc. Jagathy yet again reveals what an outstanding talent he really is - after the likes of Mazha and Nottam in recent times, he chews up the scenery as the mentally unhinged Abdul Rehman. It is a pity that this fine actor is more often than not relegated to asinine comic roles. The Lakshmy Gopalaswamy story was not effective though, and the stark depiction of police brutality was completely uncalled for. The akwardness between Moosa and Khafija was a deft touch - all the more so since it left unexplained.

It is directorially that the film falters. All the stories / characters are but clones of one another, and one could see the end coming a thousand miles away (though Mohanlal reserves his best for the final few scenes). A dash of subtlety and some firm editing might have done wonders to make a good film better.

Verdict: Laudable effort, but could have been so much better.

10-avatharam: Atheism, Religion, Chaos Et Cetra

2008-07-07T19:51:00.006-04:00

As a self-confessed, unabashed Kamal Haasan fan, I look forward to his movies with a great deal of interest and curiosity: what will the man do next? On that note, perhaps Dasavatharam was bound to be a disappointment; for here was a movie where the gotcha factor was no longer present. Despite that, I hoped that Kamal's exemplary story-sense and screenplay writing skills (his outings as a screenplay writer feature the likes of Guna, Mahanadi, Thevar Magan, Anbae Sivam and Virumandi) would somehow justify this whole gimmick. Alas, that is not the case either. IMO Dasavatharam is merely gimmicky, and also shockingly unintelligent.

First the positives: some of the action sequences and special effects are extremely good. The whole Nambi sequence is superb, but also detrimental to the movie as a whole since it raises your expectations (btw, with the whole skin-piercing thing and all that, Kamal takes yet another cue from Mel Gibson's book of torture). The various cues to mythology (especially the characters of Vincent Poovaraghan, Gothai/Andal and Govind) also work, though I do not lend credence to the emails being floated around linking every role to an incarnation - that's just taking things too far. That said though, there is an effort by Kamal to tip his hat to the mythology, as can be seen in Vincent Poovaraghan's entry and death scenes, the throwaway scene to the monkey named Hanu, strong hints that the characters of Aandal and Govind are but re-incarnations of Gothai and Nambi etc). And of course, as with other screenplays by Kamal, the names of characters tell a story of their own - Gothai/Andal & Govind, Govind's father is Ramaswamy Naicker, the monkey named Hanu etc for instance. Some of the dialogues are pretty good too; sample this for instance:

Now for the negatives:

For a lot of the roles, the makeup was quite bad - the role of Krishnaveni patti being a case in point. Unfortunately, the patti is nowhere near as endearing as Shanmughi-maami was; she is pretty irritating most of the time, and without the baggage of the 10 roles funda, would probably have been chopped off at the editing table. The same goes for the role of Bush (though the makeup was marginally better), despite the attempt to be cute with utterances of nucelar in a lousy accent. But the worst makeup was certainly for the guy on stilts, he looked like something out of LOTR - the absolute pits. Was there a 'foot in mouth' reference somewhere in the introduction scene, btw? I think there was, bu did not quite the context there.

The next casualty is the screenplay. The one thing I expect from Kamal is a compact, intelligent screenplay. Much to my dismay, Dasavatharam had gaping holes all over the place. Despite the whole idea of the movie being fashioned around the 10 roles, I expected Kamal to tie together these roles in a much better way. For example, MMKR had the 4 roles bound together in a tight, cohesive screenplay. From forced humor (Kamal tries too hard to imbibe the Crazy Mohan style of wordplay here, maybe he should search for his own brand of humor) to utter tripe (the Hiroshima-Pearl Harbor reference was just pathetic), Kamal the screenplay-writer stoops lower than ever before. Also, there is an attempt to be cute by trying to invoke the butterfly effect etc - its once again nothing more than a gimmick, especially with the fluttering butterfly on screen; they could as well have erected a stupid board that said 'Butterfly Effect in play here' or something. Subtlety is something that the whole movie seriously lacks, I am afraid. And of course, Kamal needs to stop harping on the same topics film after film - religion, atheism, idol-worship, hypocrisy - its become darned boring and repetitive. He needs to write a movie that talks about none of these things!!

The performances - nothing to write home about. Each of the 10 roles Kamal does is reminiscent of something that he has done before. With the possible exception of the Nambi character and the Telugu guy (who was pretty much the same character as SPB's CBI character from Guna), every other portrayal is a letdown from the lofty expectations one holds for a Kamal movie. Even the supporting characters have nothing much to do, once again unlike other Kamal screenplays. Asin is a far cry from her charming Ghajini-self here; annoying and shrill as hell, the only laudable aspect of her performance is that she manages to evade the 'clutches' of Kamal :).

The worst part of the movie, though, had to be the whole cancer-curing episode. At a time when even Rajni-Mithun jokes about such things are stale, this was an absolute cropper. It wasn't even a tongue-in-cheek kind of thing, which is what makes it even more cringe-worthy. Crap like this happens in Rajnikanth movies, not in Kamal Hassan ones!!

I might be too harsh on the movie, you could argue. For instance, while Mohanlal dons the shoes of the caring brother for the umpteenth time in a Balettan and a Madambi, and Mammotty exalts his newfound comic skills in utter tripe like Annan Thambi and Thuruppu Gulan, surely Kamal Hassan is afforded a Dasavatharam - especially after a good movie like Anbe Sivams at the B.O. But that is precisely why ones admires the heck out of Kamal Hassan - he is the one actor in the industry who refuses to compromise, irrespective of B.O success. When even Kamal compromised and assembles something like Dasavatharam with a clear eye at the B.O, it certainly is a disappointment in my book. Let us hope Marmayogi has no more compromises from Kamal !!

Movie Review: The Kite Runner

2008-06-15T17:58:00.004-04:00

'The Kite Runner' by Khaled Hosseini was of the finest books I'd read in the last 10 years or so. Hence, it was also one of the film adaptations I was eager to check out. It's been in my Netflix queue for a while now, but when I found a copy in the public library, I couldn't resist. After watching it twice, I can't help but conclude that its a pretty good adaptation, although it still is several notches below the extremely poignant novel.

'The Kite Runner' is primarily the tale of two friends from Afghanistan, Amir and Hassan, told through the eyes of Amir. In the story spanning about 20 years, one sees how the Afghanis have had to suffer, and how the country is faced with one difficulty after another. The narrative does not hold back on its criticism of the Taliban regime either, and is brutal in its indictment of the cruel, inhuman 'beard regime'. However, all this is in the background, and rightfully so; this is basically Amir's story, and how he succeeds in redeeming himself - in his own eyes, in the eyes of his beloved Baba, and most importantly, in the eyes of the best friend he has ever had.

I will not attempt to write down the story here, because (a) there is no way I can even try to summarize such a beautiful book in a paragraph or two; it would be a complete degradation of the book, and (b) for those who haven't read the book, but will see the movie, it would destroy a large segment of the movie for you. Rest assured though, that despite all the suffering the protagonists undergo, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Homayoun Ershadi as Baba towers over the cast. He was exactly like how I had imagined him from the book - proud, sophisticated and wry. His intolerance toward the wrath-espousing mullahs, his bouts of temper, and his fragility once he becomes old and ill are all brilliantly brought out by the actor, but with subtly. Its easily a role that could have been enacted like poor Bachchan did in 'Khudah Gawah', high-handed, loud and overblown, but kudos to Ershadi in portraying the proud Baba in his own style. Its a remarkable performance, and worthy of quite a few awards this year.

The child actor who plays Hassan turns in a remarkable performance too. Every slight by Aamir is reflected in his crestfallen eyes, never more than in the scene where he crushes a ripe tomato on his own face, still refusing to turn upon his friend. Its perhaps unfair to judge him against the book, but once you do, despite some great acting, he falls short.

Everybody else is competent enough, and no actor is visbly bad. However, several scenes like the redemption of Amir, the return of Assef, and Sohrab saving Amir don't have the necessary impact, and this is clearly the director's fault. Perhaps a story like this needs a wee bit of melodrama - everything seemed a little too flat here. But in the director's defense, he does make several scenes like the kite-flying competition, and the stoning to death extremely well. He really does do a commendable job of converting a modern classic to celluloid; but as an avid fan of the novel, I can't but help nitpicking.

All in all, a half-decent movie, but not as good as the book.

On My Playlist

2008-05-31T15:03:00.010-04:00

Kahin To Hogi Woh... from 'Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na', a love ballad sung by newcomer Rashid Ali (where on earth does ARR find all these awesome new singers?), and Vasundhara Das who finally breaks out of the item number rut she's been stuck in for a while. My gut tells me this is destined to be the new-age Pehla Nasha... if its picturized well.

Kabhi Kabhi Aditi Zindagi... from 'Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na' has super-hit written all over it; most ARR numbers require a lot of listening to before you get to like it. Kabhi Kabhi Aditi Zindagi..., like the other insta-ditty from ARR Enrendrum Punnagai... from 'Alaipayuthey', is mind-bogglingly addictive. ARR ought to let down his hair and indulge in these hip numbers more often; he's been stuck in the 'Swades' and 'Jodhaa Akbar' mode for a while now (not that I don't enjoy those either, 'Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera' and 'Khwaja Mere Khwaja' are amongst my favorite ARR songs). Rashid Ali does a repeat here, and he's got a lot to thank ARR for.

Meherbaan from 'Ada' makes it ARR thrice in a row. ARR singing is increasingly becoming more and more common unlike say, 5 years ago, and it is quite possible that I might get tired of listening to him croon song after song. Right now, however, his high-pitched, slightly nasal voice is undiluted music to my ears, so much that I even listen to the likes of the 'Jaagenge...' from 'Bose: The Forgotten Hero' (and that turned out to be quite an inspired choice of the name, I have to say!). Btw, this is such an awesome album, and so is 'Tehzeeb', never mind their status at the B.O.

Mast Kalandar from 'Hey Baby' is a wild song, totally. The nasal, slightly whiny voice of the main singer takes nothing away from the sheer energy of this number. Even the fact that the picturization of the song was no great shakes (despite the presence of Akshay and SRK) couldn't prevent this one from busting the charts.

Engu Ninnu Vanna from 'Calcutta News' is a very nice song, albeit a little old-fashioned. Madhu Balakrishnan has made a career for himself on the nostalgia factor of Keralites, and he does the same here (and this is not taking away from his considerable singing abilities at all). Veteran Chitra easily dominates the song though. The video sucks big time, with Dileep trying hard to pass off as an intellectual, but only succeeding in trying to look like a bad hair gel commercial.

Hawa Sun Hawa from 'Ada' is the typical Rahman song that takes ages to get used to, but once you do the tune refuses to get out of your head. Its easily one of the better duets Sonu and Alka have sung together. Somehow, the tune reminds me of the neglected Khamoshiyaan ditty from 'One Two ka Four', but hey that could just be me.

Hare Raam Hare Raam from 'Bhool Bulaiyya' is probably the most infectious track in the past few years. Even my horror at what old Priyan had done to poor, old-fashioned Manichitrathazhu couldn't stop me from nodding my head to the rollicking beat of this one. Akshay, for all his faults as an actor, is extremely good at most song picturizations, and he doesn't put a foot wrong here.

Aparan: The Other

2008-05-19T22:58:00.007-04:00

Back after a brief hiatus - was in Kerala for a vacation, and more importantly, for my sister's wedding. It was almost more hectic than regular office hours, but then that's another story. A couple of days before returning, I landed up at the familiar doorstep of Empire Videos at Poothole, and successfully procured a couple of Padmarajan DVDs. Its been a long time since this post, and I'd decided to re-visit some of these masterpieces anyway - especially the ones I haven't seen in a long time.

Aparan (The Other) narrates the rather sinister story of Vishwan (debutante Jayaram), who's forced to come to terms with the fact that he has an unsavory lookalike. He comes to know of this in an unexpected manner, when he is attacked by two strangers at a hotel. The police refuse to buy his explanation that he's an innocent bystander, and Vishwan is hauled off the nearest police station. By sheer chance, the inspector in charge happens to be an old friend (Mukesh), and Vishwan is released. After some more unpleasant incidents that result in Vishwan losing his job, he is forced to seek out his so-called 'twin' to confront his nemesis. Little does he know, though, what fate has in store for him.

As usual, Padmarajan writes an extraordinary screenplay . Many scenes stand out - like the one where Shobhana accuses Jayaram of trying to molest her, the scene when Jayaram 'becomes' Uthaman and claims money for a murder cold-heartedly, and of course the chilling climax. Like many other screenplays by Padmarajan, this too contains several layers. One aspect to the screenplay, of course, is the age-old adage that good and evil are but two sides of the same coin. In fact, I felt that this was the central premise of the move. Despite not showing the 'other' character until the very end, his shadow hangs over the entire movie, like an undercurrent of evil. Its incredible how Padmarajan manages to bring in this 'dark' feeling without resorting to familiar devices like dark lighting, loud music etc; he achieves it nevertheless.

Another aspect to the movie is how easy the protagonist finds it to 'change' his persona to that of his lookalike, the antagonist. There's a scene here, where Jayaram tries to hang around shady localities, dress in dark colors like his lookalike, and even leer at women. I thought this could have been done much better - by the director himself, by the music director in particular (who chooses to put in some dumb rock 'n' roll music or some such crap as the BGM), and of course by Jayaram. In fact, the possibility of the scene reminded me of the 'mirror' scene in Mohanlal's Chenkol (The Staff); Mohanlal expresses, almost magically, both the demons in his mind that are threatening to break free, and the sheer helplessness as he feels his life succumbing to fate once again (its truly a magical scene, and one of my favorite Mohanlal scenes, ranking right up there along with the 'murder' scene in Sadayam - With Mercy). Of course, Mohanlal has forgotten more about acting than Jayaram ever dreamt of, so that's no just comparison. However, I have to admit, this was one of the scenes in the movie that disappointed me. The blurring of the lines between good and evil could have more imaginatively done, IMHO.

Note: Spoilers below.

But Padmarajan more than makes it up with a great, great climax. With the antagonist dead, Vishwan is now free of his nemesis, his lookalike. However, he chooses to live the life of his 'other, abandoning his life until now. His motivations are unclear - is it because he fears that Uthaman's accomplices will hunt him down? If so, why does he then smile pityingly at the burning embers of Uthaman? Does this mean that Vishwan has succumbed to the shadow of evil cast over the movie? Jayaram gets the creepy, sinister smile just right, and Padmarajan has once again succeeded in creating a haunting climax.

Performances: the movie belongs to Jayaram. In fact, it wouldn't be far fetched to say that this is the finest performance in Jayaram's career. Madhu impresses in his usual role (There's a deft director's touch applied to Madhu's character as well; one of the initial scenes shows Madhu gently flirting with a neighbor. Later, when the lookalike surfaces, Jayaram is highly suspicious of his father, especially given his nature). All the other actors are competent, but nothing to write home about. Its almost a multi-starrer though, with Mukesh, Shobhana, Parvathy, Shari, Jagathy, Innocent, Soman etc in the movie. But certainly, its Jayaram who has the meaty part here, and he makes the most out of it.

This certainly doesn't rank up there with Padmarajan's best movies like Namukku Parkkan..., Thoovanathumbikal etc. However, the deft touch of Pappettan's baton is evident throughout the movie, and that touch has seldom produced an outright bad movie. Aparan is well worth more than one watch just to analyze, admire and fondly remember, albeit with a bit of sadness, the famous Padmarajan touch.

Film Review: Anjaathey

2008-04-15T13:58:00.008-04:00

Whenever I champion the quality of cinema being produced from the youth brigade of Tamil and Hindi cinema, I am greeted with incredulous, disbelieving, and even contempous expressions. But its true - while Tamil cinema can boast of Kaathal, Paruthiveeran, Veyyil, Kathrathu Thamizh and even Pithaamagan in the last few years, while Hindi cinema has an eclectic oeuvre in Black Friday, Bheja Fry, Maqbool, Ek Chalis Ki Last Local, Johnny Gaddar, Omkara, Mithya, and The Blue Umbrella in recent years, Malayalam cinema has little to boast of, at least from its youth brigade, if one exists (we have a grandfathers' brigade for sure, though!) Myskin's Anjaathey is a worthy addition to the list of Tamil films quoted above.

Take the whole opening sequence, for instance. Its just another stunt scene, really. But the director places a camera on the ground, and instead of moving the camera moving around to cover the characters, has the characters move in and around the camera. The only parallel I can think of is in Kamal Hasan's Apoorva Sahodarangal, where a camera is placed in a trench, and we see a car stopping, and people (their feet, rather) getting out. Its slightly gimmicky, certainly, but an effective way of raising curiosity, one has to admit.

The tale is but a variant of the ages-old story of two friends, one a cop, and the other a goonda. But the whole role-reversal thing out here (you see, Narain is the goonda who later becomes the righteous cop, and Ajmal the self-righteous hero-type who later turns amoral due to a perceived failure in life) makes for a nice twist. And of course, the casting of the hitherto soft-spoken Prasanna as the scenerey-chewing serial rapist makes for a decidedly wicked turn of casting. As with all other good movies, there's a whole bunch of other characters who could have been merely incidental in other movies, but are more than relevant to the proceedings here. Fo instance, there's the one-handed gullible friend Kuruvi, Ajmal's sister who has a crush on Narain (which is brought out ever-so subtly), the old flower-seller, the father of the kidnapped girl - in fact, almost too many to count - and each one of these characters is given at least one crucial scene (its almost as if the director told these actors while casting them, 'hey, you have one scene to yourself, so make the most of it').

What I liked here was that the director had a clear vision. He takes almost every single cliche in the book - the two-friends saga, son redeeming himself in father's eyes, friendship, sacrifice of the friend, cops versus villains - and re-works them, until they take on a decidedly different form. Most of the time, the hero is merely incidental to the proceedings, and is forced to the sidelines while all these catastrophic events take place around him.

Performances are uniformly good. Prasanna, despite being burdened with a weird wig, underplays his character, and in a marked departure from his usual chocolate-boy roles, manages to be a menacing villain. Ajmal makes a neat debut. Narain is a little rough around the edges, but its also that kind of role - a rookie cop in a tough investigation - and he makes no glaring mistakes. However, at the end of the movie, its undoubtedly the director's vision that makes Anjathey a treat to watch. Full marks to Myskin.

Verdict: Extremely good, falls just short of greatness.

My New College: JanakiParvathyShakuntalaDamayanthi College of Education

2008-03-21T00:54:00.016-04:00

Links courtesy HawkEye

Looking at how popular colleges like these are, I have decided to begin my own college in Chennai: Shree JanakiParvathyShakuntalaDamayanthi College of Exemplary Education. This will of course be a 'mixed' college, but also be a carefully 'controlled' environment so as to extol the finest virtues of discipline and self-control amongst students.

As Chairman, Counselor and Principal, my rules will be these:

a. All college buses will have two entrances - one for boys and the other for girls.

b. The buses will have a central partition, so that not even a carrot can be shared between the two sexes.

c. All girls should obligatorily carry an umbrella with them at all times (black in color).

d. When climbing up/down on stairs, girls should have their umbrellas open, so as to deter all eyes.

e. Furthermore, all girls should have their dupattas fastened with no less than 50 safety-pins at all times. This will be subject to random inspections, and anybody found with a number of pins lesser than the minimum will have to undergo punishment.

f. All HODs will be provided special mopeds /TVS Scooties so that they can roam around campus during 'free periods', and look around for offenders. Offenders will be punished harshly, and repeat-offenders will be dismissed.

g. Within the classroom, girls and boys will be separated using a one-way mirror partition on both sides. Each classroom will also have different entrances.

h. Girls (and boys) are forbidden from wearing makeup. At the most, kajal can be used.

i. No 'western' cultural programs will be allowed. Western Dance, Light Music, Skits etc are not allowed during cultural festivals. The only items / competitions permitted are classical dance, Bhajan competition, and skits from the Ramayana or Mahabharata.

j. No skit should have girls and boys participating at the same time. The dupatta rule applies during skits as well.

k. During competitions, cheering, catcalls, whistling etc are not allowed. At the end of every event, the event coordinator will lift his/her hand signalling permission to clap. The audience has to clap then, and only then.

l. Attendance for all competitions are mandatory.

m. Girls are not allowed to participate in sports events.

n. Girls are not allowed to view sports' events held for boys.

o. In the girls' hostel, the dupatta rule must be followed whenever there are any visitors.

p. In the visitors room of both the girls' and boys' hostels, all occupants must have both legs on the ground at all times.

q. All hostels will have speakers on the ceilings, which will start playing bhajans at 4:00 AM, and 6:00 PM. All lights in the rooms will be automatically switched on at this time as well. If any speaker is damaged, all occupants of the floor will be suspended.

r. All hostels will have a TV room. The TV will be locked in a glass case, and the hostel warden will decide what channel is to be place. The TV remote would be in the custody of the hostel warden at all times.

s. College tours are not permitted.

t. Hostel residents should be within the college campus by 6:00 PM.

Can't think of any more, going off to sleep !!

Apocalypto: Film Review

2008-03-16T14:51:00.009-04:00

As directors, there's more than one similarity between Mel Gibson and Kamal Hassan; both of them are talented and ambitious story-tellers with unique visions, both of them have a penchant for violence (of the gory kind, where blood sprays from the throat, and spears jut through flesh with the sickening sound of metal meeting flesh), both of them are comfortable tackling risky and controversial topics - so on and so forth. Oh, and neither of them shy away from making the odd sexual innuendo even in the most serious of movies. But neither of them are completely there as great directors, though both of them certainly having the making of great directors. Their respective directorial ventures, though certainly different from (and mostly a notch above) the run-of-the-mill stuff, and often featuring breathtaking moments / scenes, often fail to reach the heights that you'd expect they would. 'Apocalypto' is no different in this regard.

At its heart, 'Apocaypto' is a 'chase' movie. Of course, the director's conceit is that it is set amongst Mayan tribes, and hence offers a fresh (and rather interesting, one has to admit) look at an age-old cinematic concept. The film's hero, Jaguar Paw, who is probably an ancient ancestor of John Rambo, is snatched away from a joyous existence with his tribe, and hauled away to a 'modern' city where he is to be sacrificed before the sun-god, with a witchdoctor and a crowd-baying-for-blood in tow. This pretty much makes up the first half of the film, and the rest is about Jaguar Paw making his way home to his pregnant wife and son, who are stuck in a well.

It is entirely to Gibson's credit that he almost makes this work. The entire portion of the movie leading up to the siege of the village is the Mayan version of what a Sathyan Anthikkad, or a Bharathiraja regularly portray. Of course, the whole sequence about the aphrodisiac is more like from a '90s David Dhawan flick, but the bit about the young wife washing her mouth totally cracked me up. The invasion of the village, the killing of Jaguar Paw's father, and the whole sequence with the women is pretty brutal (especially the one with the woman who resists). The violence is unflinching, and the grueling journey from the village to the great city is beautifully picturized.

Unfortunately, the move lets you down in the second half. After the awesome escape sequence, and the breathtaking sequence with the jaguar, the move heads steadily downhill and never recovers. To somebody fresh from the horrors of watching Rambo muttachan (grandpa) gunning down people yet again, the hide 'n' seek in the jungle holds no new aspects. The insertion of gruesome violence yet again does not help the cause either. The only bit of suspense is about the wife stuck in the well, but by then you are beyond caring - there have been too many heads rolling down the steps, throats slit, people bitten by snakes, veins cut, heads hammered...you get the picture.

Like I had said earlier, the Gibson-Kamal connection is something that I have felt earlier too (though I think Kamal fancies himself more as a desi Quentin Tarantino). A lot of the imagery here reminded me of Virumandi - the haunting image of a woman stuck in a well while there's a massacre going on around her being the most pointed image, of course. Another point, IMHO, was the unnecessary use of gruesome and at times sadistic violence - as the best movies so often remind you, what's left unsaid and unseen often has the most impact, and its never more true than in this movie.

The Special Features section of the movie is a virtual feast. The amount of research they have put into the movie is staggering, and that would be an understatement. The tattoos, jewelery, clothes, hairdos, architecture, religious beliefs and the weapons - oh yeah, definitely the weapons - have been painstakingly researched. The technical team is so good that they just suck you up into the ambiance of the movie. The rain-forests look awesome, and the camera work is unobtrusive, yet fantastic.

In short: A great watch, but not for the faint-hearted.

Shit's The Word

2008-02-09T15:21:00.004-05:00

Since 'Rowdram' and 'Sound of Boot' have just been released, I thought it would be apt to run through what would typically runs through the minds of the likes of Renji Panicker and Shaji Kailas when planning a new movie.

The Hero: Suresh Gopi, Mammootty or Mohanlal. If its either of the first two, they can be educated from some fancy-sounding school outside Kerala (and mouth epithets like shit, crap, bullshit, damn etc in every couple of sentences), and also be the son or grandson of some retired honorable politician whose roaring days are over, thanks to backstabbing partners (who the hero can abuse during a later scene). If its Mohanlal, he's probably an orphan who migrated to an outside state/country when his parents were killed, and picked up classical music along the way. And yeah, a music composer needs to be hired as well - fit in a classical or semi-classical song somewhere. Otherwise, ominous-sounding background music would do (what are Enigma CDs etc for?).

The Heroine: Optional, only for eye-candy. Should be pretty, knowledge of English preferable (since there's only one female dubbing artiste in Kerala, who's knowledge of English would rival that of a kindergarten kid). Make her an honest government servant, like an policewoman, or a collector or sub-collector. Should be tough, but marshmallow in the hero's hands once he's called her a 'bitch' or something else equally derogatory.

Crony of Hero Who Dies Just Before Climax: Biju Menon, Tony or one of the new young blokes whose debut films have flopped. An orphan who the hero accosted in his childhood and brought home. Faithful companion, insert scene where crony cries and remembers his gratitude to hero.

The Betrayer: Pretty much the same as the crony, except the betrayer is money-minded (insert scene where the hero affectionately chides him for being so darned money-minded). To add insult to injury, this character has to suffer through the verbal diarrhea of the hero (insert couple of Sanskrit shlokas if Mohanlal, hire Sanskrit professor for 2 days of shooting) before being killed.

Hero's Father: Either a garlanded photograph on the wall, in which case an affectionate mom is mandatory, or some veteran actor like Madhu or Janarddanan who makes all the appropriate noises.

Hero's Mother: Mandatory only in certain cases, as outlined above. Pretty much delegated to serving food, and to the puja room. Probably fit in a scene where she worries about her son, and the dad consoles her saying that their son is a man (as opposed to Dileep).

Poor Man / Woman Who Hero Helps: Usually, an out of work actor suitably disheveled. The character would be a victim of some tragedy, waiting for justice tearfully after being abused by the system and/or corrupt politicians and policemen. Enter the hero, who then delivers a lecture on how Gandhi said that the heart of India is with the poor etc, and promptly delivers justice.

Object of Abuse: There's hardly any other way to describe the likes of Kollam Thulasi, Rajan P Dev, Devan, Shammi Thilakan etc - placed in the movie solely to provide the hero an opportunity to mouth off. These would usually be corrupt politicians / police officers. Typical verbal attacks include being called a pimp, being accused of being the hero's father's barber (or some such) who then proved ungrateful, and at the end (or just before interval) being asked to do a countdown, or insert an external object into a hidden body part.

The Villain: Sai Kumar or Siddhique, who seem to be our only charismatic actors around apart from the 2 Ms. They have nothing much to do except drink malt whiskey, slip in an oblique reference to Karunakaran/Antony, and then summon up suitably indignant expressions as the hero indulges in verbal diarrhea yet again.

That's it, that's the formula. And hey presto, you have the latest Mohanlal / Mammootty / Suresh Gopi blockbuster ready to hit the theatres!!

Manichithrathazhu: The Unmaking of a Classic

2008-01-14T22:21:00.001-05:00

I just had to watch 'Bhool Bhulaiyya', Priyadarshan's psychological take on the neo-classic 'Manichithrathazhu', even if only to criticize. In many ways, it is much more ghastly than 'Chandramukhi', for this movie at least had the excuse that it had to be tailored to suit the Rajni persona (and in the bargain, throw any semblance of logic out of the window. Can't imagine why this line of thought seems to have stuck with all Rajni directors. Wasn't Dalapathy good and entertaining cinema?). With 'Bhool Bhulaiyya', Priyan has no such excuses, since he fails to retain even a glimmer of the spirit of the original despite investing in scene-by-scene remake. This, despite him being part of the original's crew.

In both remakes - and at this stage, it seems prudent to remove Chandramukhi from the comparisons for the same 'excuse' mentioned above - subtlety seems to be a big no-no. Nuances from the original - which is one of the most important reasons why it is regarded as a classic by the current generation - are discarded with disdain. Instead, we have uniformly bad acting - even from the normally dependable Paresh Rawal and Rajpal Yadav, who really ought to take a break from the buffoonery they have been up to in their recent outings.

Consider this: in 'Manichithrathazhu', there is a strong hint that Nakul (Suresh Gopi) is a neglectful husband - sample the scene where Ganga asks Nakul to bed, and he excuses himself citing the excuse that he has work to attend to. In fact, the lovely Varuvanillarumee Vijanamam Ee Vazhiyil number strongly indicates that Nakul might even be impotent ( a fact that is only indicated at in the various remakes by Prabhu's nuanced performance). Thus there is a strong foundation laid for the possibility that Ganga is neglected, bored out of her wits, and thus particularly vulnerable and empathetic to the legend of Nagavalli. Instead, here we have Shiney Ahuja all the time grinning like an idiot, and happily nuzzling a rather plump Vidya Balan during an incoveniently placed duet.

And then, there are scenes where Amisha simpers (in that excruciatingly teeth-grating way that only she can) about the rat poison left oh-so conveniently in the kitchen - much like in the Tamil version, where we have 10 laborers literally groaning and moaning to carry the bed across the corridor. I am not sure why the directors feel that Tamil and/or Hindi audiences need such dumbing-down - after all, these are the same audiences that made superhits of a 'Thevar Magan', a 'Lagaan' and a 'TZP'. Labels like 'hey, there's poison in the kitchen' and 'this bed, that the possessed heroine will later lift, is so darned heavy' are juvenile and overkill - perhaps expected of P.Vasu, who wouldn't recognize good cinema if it bit him on his plagiarizing ass, but certainly not of Priyan who has made a lot of good films in the past.

Obviously, neither Jyothika nor Vidya are a match for Shobhana, who delivers a career-defining, knockout performance in the original. Jyothika overacts, to much merriment, and resorts to inane grins, light on the eyes etc to at least frighten the kids. Vidya Balan tries hard, though she's obviously watched DVDs of 'Manichithrathazhu' one too many times (never more obvious than in the scene where you can tell she's just yearning to pick up that bed)! Shobhana's expressions in the crucial scenes are phenomenal - attributable to bad/strange acting on first watch even if you notice the change of expression, but bang-on upon subsequent viewing. The most famous scenes, of course, are the ones with the psychiatrist displaying the jewelery with a manic fervor, the one at the temple where the psychiatrist deliberately tries to aggravate her, and then the by-now-classic scene with the lifting of the bed. Shobhana, despite not doing much of consequence after Manichitrathazhu, is a treeat to watch in what must rank as one of the greatest performances in the history of Indian cinema.

The psychiatrist is the main commercial ingredient of the movie - he provides comic relief, and acts as the main catalyst. At the risk of sounding biased, I just cannot imagine anyone other than Mohanlal in this role. His antics, like the one where he shakes his leg incredulously to check the sound of the anklet is coming from his leg, or the where he gazes lecherously at the portrait of the dancer, have by now been mimicked successfully by both Rajni and Akshay; however, most of these gestures were improvised by Mohanlal on the sets (does somebody have the link to the interview where Fazil said this?). While Rajni's role is ... well, more or less a typical Rajni role, Akshya Kumar copies Mohanlal's expresssions, body language and posture completely. He does a pretty decent job, but the magic is clearly not there.

The music of Manichitrathazhu was very important too, since the the alternate persona was a dancer-singer clearly well-versed with music; she sang and danced at night, after all. The Pazhamthamizh pattu number (conveniently ditched in the remakes, as the timing of the song placement was slightly awry) was not just a song randomly inserted into a scene; it was clearly the the doctor trying to soothe the alternate persona by singing a song in the same raaga as that of the one that the dancer dances to at night (the doctor hears this earlier, and hence he knows the song, so that loophole is closed as well).

I can keep going on and on; the original was a movie where all loopholes were plugged, and had several nuances/hints placed, only to tie them all up toward the end. Only several watches of the movie help you understand all of this. With the remakes,its difficult to sit through the movie even once - wild dogs couldn't drag me to a second screening.

Indian Cinema '07 - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

2008-01-05T21:40:00.000-05:00

Restricted to Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam cinema, of course.

THE GOOD

Irffan Khan in 'The Namesake': To carve out a memorable personality out of what seems to be a no-role at first glance is, by itself, a tremendous achievement. Ashok Ganguli is, at least on paper, an unobtrusive, gentle and quiet Bengali - not exactly an author-backed role. What Irffan Khan, hitherto known mostly for his venomous dialogue-spewing roles, puts into this role is tremendous dignity. And of course, he manages to completely out shadow Tabu in an author-backed role.

Pankaj Kapur in 'The Blue Umbrella': To say that Nandkishor is one of this great actor's worthiest performances should be testimonial enough, for its been no ordinary career. Traversing the path of cunning / wily to sympathetic over the course of 3 hours is not something that many actors can even dream of. Pankaj makes it look oh-so remarkably simple.

Priyamani in 'Paruthi Veeran': A knockout performance by an actor nobody had rated very highly - hell, not even thought of as meriting attention. As the feisty, fiery Muthazhagu, she simply sets the screen alight. The scenes where she stubbornly refuses to shed so much as one tear as her father thrashes her, and of course the shocker of a climax are her best scenes; but her whole obstinate demeanor, though a tad reminiscent of Abhirami from 'Virumandi', had me very, very impressed.

Jeeva in 'Katrathu Thamizh': The protagonists of Kathrathu Thamizh', and to a lesser extent, the one of 'Veyil' too are losers. Both of them have been beat by life, and the failure of their lives stare at them in the face. While Pasupathy in 'Veyil' is completely defeated and wallows in self-pity, Jeeva unravels and becomes mentally unhinged. Though I do not completely agree with the film, Jeeva has turned in a truly remarkable performance, further strengthening the belief that he is one of the most talented young actors around.

Aditya Shrivastava in 'Black Friday': Contrary to most reviews, I thought this performance was miles ahead of Kay Kay's in the movie (which has my vote for movie of the year). As Badshah Khan simmered with frustration, rage, resentment and finally hopelessness, I quite forgot that this was a performance. A comeback of sorts, after 'Satya'.

Kareena Kapoor in 'Jab We Met': Kareena's been trying comedic roles for quite sometime now. In fact, going by the likes of 'Khushi' and 'Mujhse Dosti Karoge', she'd been trying a bit too hard. She finally gets the balance just right. As the loud, self-obsessed Geet, she's a scream, and is also a perfect foil to Shahid, who tries hard to look quiet and dignified.

SRK in 'Chak De India': It is easy to dismiss this performance as 'for once, he just underplayed, yaar!'. Yes, he did, and to great effect too. SRK was every inch Kabir Khan, the haughty but patriotic hockey coach who wanted to live his dream through his team. Unlike some of our other superstars, SRK proves that his acting chops have not deserted him yet, nowhere more than in the scene where his eyes mist up in the climax.

Darsheel Zafary in 'TZP': He literally carries the film on his shoulders. Consider what a more obnoxious child actor, like Master Raju of yesteryear, could have done to this film.

Sarika in 'Parzania': This is a performance that hits you in the gut - all the more, since you don't expect it of her. They should have given her both the National Awards - the male and female versions !

Vinay Pathak in 'Bheja Fry' & 'Aaja Nachley': The discovery of the year, even if he did not go around dropping his towel. Remarkable comedic skills, a chameleon-like ability to switch personalities, and an endearing screen presence - this rotunded, cherubic actor has already displayed more skill than many 'heroes' have in a lifetime.

Anurag Kashyap, Lal Jose, Balaji Sakthivel & Aamir Khan: For 'Black Friday', 'Arabikatha', 'Kalloori' and 'Taare Zameen Par' respectively.

THE BAD:

Gautham Menon: I was horrified and insulted by 'Pachaikili...'. Is this the best this promising director could make of the promising 'Derailed' by James Seigel? He's gone down a few notches in my estimate.

Mohanlal: In 1992, Mohanlal's filmography read 'Sadayam', 'Kamaladalom', 'Aham', 'Rajashilpi', 'Adwaitham', 'Suryagayathri' and 'Vietnam Colony'. In 2007, it reads 'Chotta Mumbai', 'Hallo', 'Alibhai', 'Rock N Roll', 'Flash' and the sole grace, 'Pardesi'. Add to this the excreable 'RGV Ki Aag', and a controversial interview, and you have the writing on the wall: the humiliation of one of the greatest actors the Indian screen has ever seen.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra & Sanjay Leela Bhansali: Like guru, like protege. Trust the duo to hype up their films, deliver pretentious crap, and then howl at 'stupid audiences & critics' for not being 'intelligent enough'. VVC needs to shut up and hand over the directorial baton to Raju Hirani, while Bhansali needs to lose all this baggage of being a 'sensitive' director, lose chamchas like a certain Mr.Jha, and start afresh (not plagiarizing would be a definite start).

Yashraj Films: All glamor and no content makes the Chopra a bad boy. As always, SRK rescues them with 'Chak De', but barely.

Konkona Sen: For proving that even she can act badly. Don't believe me? Watch 'Aaja Nachley'.

Lohithadas: For that monstrosity called 'Chakkaramuthu'. Its unfathomable how a writer who gave us the likes of 'Thaniyavarthanom' and 'Kireedom' could fall to such levels of mediocrity, nay ineptitude.

Priyadarsan: The Mallu readers already know why!

THE WORST:

Preity Zinta: All that collagen injections are showing. The perky gal from 'Dil Se' has been replaced by the irritating, collagen-sustained, pouting creature in 'Jhoon Barabar Jhoom'. Lara Dutta, with that delicious French accent, showed her a thing or three about comedic timing.

Nisha Kothari: As I'd suggested elsewhere, she should migrate to 'Malluwood' and give poor old Shakeela a run for her money.

Ram Gopal Verma: 'RGV Ki Aag' alone would have helped RGV make the bottom of the heap. He also gave us 'Go' and 'Darling'.

I regret to say that I have not watched a lot of (supposedly) good films like 'Ore Kadal', 'Pardesi' etc. I daresay, if I'd watched these (and other) films, my list might have been altered.

The Race by Richard North Patterson

2007-12-19T21:58:00.000-05:00

With his latest novel 'The Race', Richard North Patterson takes another firm step away from the regular legal thrillers that his fans have been used to. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing, as his previous novel 'Exile', and this novel prove. This time, Patterson takes on an election year in USA, and takes us through a realistic presidential campaign, with such myriad issues as gay marriage, abortion, stem-cell research, and of course, racism.

Corey Grace is a Republican, but an outspoken one at that, and not afraid to speak his mind - like our own Muthalvan (Nayak). He's that rare breed - a politician with integrity, and his advisors fear that it could be his greatest liability as well. Matching wits against the other candidates - an unscrupulous career politician, and a religious fanatic - is not Corey's only headache; he is also incredibly attracted to an African-American movie actress, which is a sure way of polarizing votes. The grueling campaign is extremely well captured, and along the way the author also raises relevant questions on religion, racism, politics and other issues.

How I wish that such books were adapted as movies for the Indian audience. This one has everything in it - drama, passion, betrayal, love and triumph of the human spirit. Needless to add, its an extremely well written book, and I just cannot wait for the author's next.

Book Post

2007-12-09T10:54:00.000-05:00

Its been ages since I did a post on books - have been pretty busy of late, hopefully only until the end of 2007. Anyway, here's some of the stuff that I have been reading of late:

Andrew Vachss: The inept website notwithstanding, here is a fine author who would be a dead-sure certainty for those who like the work of Michael Connelly. I am still in the process of completing the Burke series, but there is no doubt in my mind that here is an author whose books I want to buy and read repeatedly. Burke (the word burke is slang for 'killing silently/without leaving evidence', as an audio clip on the website informs you) comes with a deeply scarred past, and today he lives only for his family - and to protect abused children. Each of the novels opens up only a tiny bit of Burke, merely hinting at the rest ever so tantalizingly. Vachss puts it best:

I intended the book as a Trojan horse. A crime novel that pulls the reader into the story at the same time it delivers a steady diet of hardcore reality... Even the name "Burke" is part of that. The infamously homicidal partnership of Burke and Hare began as a graverobbing enterprise. In the early part of the nineteenth century, the duo supplied the local medical school with fresh cadavers. When they finally emptied the graveyard, they began to create their own "product," by opening a hotel. Very few guests checked out. Because they could not present a corpse with fresh wounds to the medical school, Burke became so adept at killing without leaving marks that, to this day, the phrase "to Burke" means just that.

Sandra Dallas: I have read just one novel of hers, 'Tallgrass', which suffers from a definite Atticus Finch hangover, but is an engrossing read nevertheless. I plan to read more from this author, will keep you posted when I do.

David Ellis: Since Grisham seems to have given up on legal thrillers in the hopes of becoming a more serious writer nowadays, and I have exhausted the likes of Steve Martini, Scott Turow and Brian O'Shaugnessy long ago, I had to really search for a new author. I appear to have found a good one in David Ellis. His 'Line of Vision' is as good a thriller as anything else you have read, and his 'Jury of One' is on my bookshelf right now.

Cody MacFayden: I know I wrote about this author before, but I find myself wishing for another novel featuring Smoky Barrett, despite 'Face of Death' not being a patch on the first installment of the series 'Shadow Man'. Smoky Barrett (whoa, what a name!!) is, I imagine, what Clarice Starling would have been if she had never been touched by Hannibal Lecter.

Richard North Patterson: He falls under the category of authors I had mentioned earlier, who seem to have given up gritty courthouse dramas for a 'higher calling'. Well, if it results in novels like 'Exile', I can only be thankful. This giant of a book deals with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in an unbiased manner, and is often an eye-opener (at least for me). Most of all, this book espouses the adage 'One man's revolutionary is another's terrorist' in a pretty convincing manner.

Chris Bohjalian: Am currently reading 'Midwives', my first book by the author. It certainly is an interesting read so far, and the author promises to be another whose collection of books I just have to read.

Sideburns and Bellbottoms

2007-12-02T14:12:00.000-05:00

'Om Shanti Om', widely touted as the tribute to the kitschy cinema of the 1970s, features the re-union of SRK and Farah Khan after the hugely successful 'Main Hoon Naa'. SRK, a lot like Sreenivasan in 'Udayananu Tharam', plays a supremely untalented junior artist who wants to make it big. And make no mistake, this is a role tailor-made for the trademark mannerisms of SRK the star (as opposed to the actor, who reigned supreme with effective performances in 'Swades' and 'Chak De') - the stammer, the arched quirky eyebrows and the omnipresent hamming rather make sense in a movie like this, really. And his bubblegum-chewing modern star-son act, though irritating, hits the mark all too well - I mean, I can all too well imagine a Fardeen Khan or Tushaar Kapoor doing the same things!

However, I have to admit that I very much preferred the cheeky 'Main Hoon Naa' to this bloated, bursting-at-the-seams star vehicle. Yes, OSO does have some great in jokes (my personal favorites are the by-now-infamous Manoj Kumar sequence, the throwaway Govinda bit and of course the delightful 'Maine Pyar Kiya' reference), the awesome spoof on Filmfare awards, and also features the original 'Om Shanti Om' song sequence from one of the greatest masala potboilers of Hindi cinema ever. However, it also has a rather boring plot, inadequate music (despite the catchy six-pack ditty), an over-hyped 31-star song where one is forced to hear (for the first and probably only time ) admiring oohs when the likes of Arbaaz Khan, Sunil Shetty, Dino Morea etc enter the frame, and worst of all, a complete letdown of a climax 'inspired' from the above-mentioned 'Karz' (and another classic too, revealing the name of which would probably spoil what little novelty the climaz holds). 'MHN' managed to pay the same kind of homage, with a lot more tongue-firmly-in-cheek humor, and more importantly, without the conceit and pomp associated with this film.

The supporting cast comprises chiefly of the delightful Kiron Kher (who does the melodramatic Nirupa Roy kind-of role with just that amount of cheesiness), the under-utilized Shreyas Deshpande, and the surprisingly-sleazy-looking Arjun Ramphal (who, judging by his past few films, has firmly hitched onto the SRK bandwagon to make hay even while the sun does not shine). Deepika Padukone looks fantastic, and emotes well with what little she is entrusted with. Farah Khan's song picturizations are, surprisingly, lackluster. She has been claiming in quite a few interviews that conventional Bollywood choreography bores her nowadays, and believe me, the dis-interest shows. However, the rest of the film is super-grand technically, visually and aesthetically.

What does Farah Khan do next, though? She already has two films that pay homage to the bygone era of Bollywood, and appears to have exhausted the nostalgia factor. The litmus test for her would be whether she can make a completely different film next time - a whodunit perhaps?

Thoovanathumbikal: Poetry on Celluloid

2007-12-02T13:53:00.000-05:00

Recently, I came across a beautiful piece on one of Padmarajan's oft discussed 'Thoovanathumbikal' on the Passion for Cinema blog. As the writer puts it, this is most definitely a movie that grows on you - disturbed characters, the use of symbols, and most of all, the loneliness that is the mark of the three principal characters make for some really compelling cinema. Indeed, there are not many directors who can convert literature to cinema so convincingly.

Here is the link to the piece - its worth your while. And this is something that I wrote last year about my favorite Padmarajan movies.

The Tehelka Expose

2007-11-16T00:43:00.000-05:00

Tehelka has done it again - another expose, this time targeting the Gujarat genocide. And of course, we have the familiar litany of accusations, escapes and counter-attacks: why now, what about Godhra, what about 1984 and Rajiv Gandhi, pseudo-secular, pseudo-intellectual...the list is pretty long.

Actually, I have never understood this pseudo nonsense. It means 'False or Counterfeit' as far as I know, but I don't understand how opposing vehemently the rabid pro-Hinduvta brigade make one pesudo-something. That's another word I hate, Hinduvta - it is, to me, the complete antithesis of Hinduism, which is a word I have always associated with peace and tolerance. Hinduvta, on the other hand, reminds me of riots, murder, rape and now, - most horrifying of all - saffron draped men ripping out foetuses from pregnant mothers. Its barbaric that many of us equate one with the other, truly.

I am not sure whether this is, as Tehelka claims, the most remarkable story of our times. I mean, this was mostly just verification of something we already knew in the back of our minds - unlike, say, the extent of the cricket-bookies nexus. Nor do I care if they were, as their accusers frequently claim, politically motivated - that is irrelevant to the content of the story. We actually have murderers and rapists bragging about what they did on camera, with no show of remorse.

Will the judiciary shed its customary lethargy and take action? Or are we still reduced to online petitions and replying to 'action-reaction' quotes? Will Modi be voted back to power yet again like last time, based on his 'economic reforms'? If so, I fear what I read recently is true: we are no longer a civilization, merely an economy.

My Favorite Film Song Videos

2007-10-07T19:58:00.000-04:00

Admittedly, the idea for the post is borrowed from an old Naachgaana poll, and also from one of Qalandar's recent posts, the main difference here being that I am not sticking to Hindi movies, except for the exceptional ones. Here they are, some of my favorite film song videos, in no particular order.

Ek Ladki ko.. from 1942: A Love Story

RD Burman's swansong, and a great video befitting the sheer magic of the song. Manisha looked almost ethereal here; in fact, let me go out on a limb, and say that there's never been a song where a heroine has looked as beautiful. Moreover, Kumar Sanu, thankfully, has curbed his nasal instincts here. The fact that R.D.Burman had been out of sorts for a long while, and that he seemed to have conjured up a score on par with his best (and that's saying a lot) just before his demise contributes to the legend of this song too. Its an instant classic.

Narumugaye... from 'Iruvar'

Mani Ratnam was one of the first Indian directors who made the filming of songs a work of art. Prior to Ratnam, picturizing a song simply meant a dozen costume changes for the hero & heroine, a dozen skimpily clad women in the backdrop shaking their asses, and more often than not, a passing shower to conveniently drench the heroine. The advent of Ratnam and like-minded directors changed all that to a large extent. 'Iruvar' (The Duo), although a cropper at the B.O, is generally acknowledged as Ratnam's best work till date, and a milestone in Mohanlal's career - and considering the body of work both these thespians have built up, that's a truly remarkable. This song shows how serene, indeed how tranquil, B&W songs can be if done the right way. The song also builds up the relationship between Anandan (Mohanlal) and Pushpa (Aishwarya Rai, in her debut vehicle, and also probably her best performance till date), at the same time establishing the era of film-making using the shooting of the film-song.

Kanneer Poovinte... from 'Kireedom'

If ever there was a heartrending movie, then this is it. Narrating the tale of a son whose life goes astray after he is forced to take cudgels on his father's behalf, 'Kireedom' (Crown) brings a lump to the throat of anyone who has seen the movie, for its characters are so endearing, indeed so ordinary, that one cannot but help commiserate with them when theirs lives unravel. Remade in Hindi as 'Gardish' and in Tamil by the same name, a single telling glance by Mohanlal in this song (when his fiancee is being married off to another) easily outclasses entire performances by the other actors.

Sundari Neeyum... from 'MMKR'

MMKR, undoubtedly one of the best products of the Singeetham-Kamal-Crazy combination, is also one of the strongest contenders for the funnest Indian movies of all-time. It features the awesome track Sundari Neeyum... composed by Ilaiyaraja and sung by Kamal himself (in another language- Malayalam, to boot), with astounding vocal control. Contrary to public perception, this (and not Farah Khan's Pehla Nasha...) is the first song to be filmed entirely in slow-motion. Kamal's and Urvasi's characters here (Kameswaran and Tirupu Sundari, respectively) are incredibly endearing, and the whole song captures their simple dreams so well.

Devasabhathalam... from 'His Highness Abdullah'

'His Highness Abdullah' marked Mohanlal's entry into film production. It was a light-hearted movie that is still fondly remembered for its music, and a wonderful performance by Nedumudi Venu. The music, which is still fondly remembered, was by the brilliant music director Raveendran, fondly and reverentially refered as Raveendran-maashu. Each song in this movie is special, not least for the ease with which Mohanlal enacted them on screen. Not many actors can perform Carnatic / Hindustani songs convincingly on screen, and among the ones who can, Mohanlal easily rules the roost (for 'Morning Raaga', Shabana Azmi used to see this movie and 'Bharatham' as references). In fact, I am pretty sure that Priyadarsan has not copied this movie only because there are not many actors who can carry off songs like these. In this particular song, Mohanlal unwillingly clashes against a musical maestro (played by lyricist Kaithapram) in an awesome raagamalika.

Pachai Niramae... from 'Alaipayuthey'

A Mani Ratnam video again. Here, the picturization mimics the colorful lyrics in what is a virtual explosion of colors. Shaad Ali's 'Saathiya' mimicked the dance steps and the tune alright, but not the seamless union of lyrics and camera work that this video so effortlessly managed.

Maanam Thelinje Ninnal... from 'Thenmavin Kombathu'

This video is probably Priyadarsan's 'tribute' to some obscure Rajasthani folk song, but it works, and how! The catchy song (which owes its remixed existence to an old Ilaiyaraja tune), the sets and the awesome cinematography all contribute to this song being one of the best-shot Malayalam film songs.

Eeran Megham... from 'Chithram'

'Chithram' was probably the picture that catapulted Mohanlal to superstardom. This romantic tragedy directed by Priyadarsan ran for more than a year in Kerala, and made Mohanlal, who was until then merely popular, the heartthrob of thousands of women in Kerala. I know - looking at him today, it seems a little far-fetched to associate 'heartthrob' and Mohanlal in the same sentence. But take a look at him prancing around like the best of them in this song, and you'd know why. The girl in this song is Priyadarshan's wife today.

Chaiyya Chaiyya... from 'Dil Se'

Looking at it analytically, this is quite a dumb video - I mean, you have bunch of dancers dressed in what looks like Gujju attire grooving to a Punjabi song on a train that is going to Ooty. But then, the brains behind this song - Mani Ratnam, A.R Rahman, Gulzar , Sukhwinder Singh, Farah Khan and SRK - were at a crescendo of sorts, and their confidence / energy / adrenaline somehow seeps through into the song. Truly, even after listening / viewing the song umpteen times, even today, it gets your feet tapping. That is the magic of cinema for you.

Theme from 'Punnagai Mannan'

An outstanding BGM composed by maestro Ilaiyaraja, played on the keyboard by none other than A.R Rahman, and featuring the muti-faceted Kamal Hasan on screen, its no wonder that this 2-minute bit of music still lives on thru ringtones and mobile phones. Kamal Hasan, a trained classical dancer, apparently had a hard time getting the Western dance moves here, and had to undergo a lot of training and practice. Well, the results show!

Sundari... from 'Dalapathi'

This song features one of the best war sequences Indian cinema has ever seen, albeit in a setting reminiscent of the Japanese Samurai. Likening Surya's code of honor to that of the Samurai might be Mani's way of glorifying superstar Rajni in a movie that is remarkably short of Rajni's usual mannerisms. The evergreen tale of the king at war, and his beautiful queen who waits for him is the theme here, and Mani handles it beautifully. Moreover, the whole song is shot in the golden hues of sunrise or sunset, befitting a re-telling of the legend of Karna, son of the sun-god.

On a lighter note, poor Rajni's various hairstyles in this song must have contributed in no small vein to his current bald condition!

Kanmani... from 'Guna'

The tale of the deranged Guna who kidnaps his Abhirami could not make a dent at the the box-office. However, a decade later, the movie and its music is hailed as a classic. The other awesome BGM piece from the same movie almost edged out another entry in this list. The almost maniacal love that Guna exhibits toward his prisoner, and his claims that his love is so pure that is almost holy are all accentuated by the lyrics, Ilaiyaraja's tune and BGM, and of course, Kamal's acting. The entire song is about the girl setting tune to Kamal's verse, a concept that has been done before, but never to such spectacular effect.

Arabikatha: Review

2007-10-04T00:35:00.000-04:00

It was not that long ago that I lamented the apparent demise of Sreenivasan's talent. To the discerning viewer, his steady descent into mediocrity has been not only been alarming, but also more than a little sad. But with Arabikatha, Sreenivasan proves that there are still avenues that he has not explored as an actor.

It has been a long time since Malayalam cinema has seen a good political movie. By 'good', I mean sensible movies that attempt to address real issues with a semblance of sense, not the ones where the so-called superstars spout pages of dialogue, often laced with expletives in multiple languages. To Venu Nagavalli's splendid 'Lal Salaam' and the Sathyan-Sreeni combo's delightful 'Sandesham', we can now add Lal Jose's 'Arabikatha' too.

'Cuba' Mukundan (Sreenivasan) is an earnest Communist party-worker , whose life is completely in tune with the ideologies preached by the party. His earnestness, however, ruffles the feathers of industrial bigwig Kunjunni (Jagathy, in yet another 'avatar') and upcoming part leader Karunan. Mukundan's naiveness makes him an easy target, and against his misgivings, he is forced to leave for Dubai. Arabikatha traces the journey of Mukundan from here on.

Dubai tests Mukundan in a way nothing in his hitherto life has prepared him for. Bourgeois CEOs call the shots here, and working / living conditions are pathetic. There is not much scope for protests either, as Mukundan finds out the hard way. Misled by friends, and cheated by the ones he comes to depend on, Mukundan learns the lessons of life the hard way. Three years later, the premature grey in Mukundan's moustache hints at the kind of hardships he has had to endure. A rather botched-up climax later, all's well that ends well, as they say.

Sreenivasan is the life and soul of this movie. There are the trademark digs at the Malayali's psyche, and a couple at the outdated ideologies of the Communist movement, yes. But what sets this performance apart from his latest ventures is that there is no attempt at buffoonery of any kind. Sreenivasan plays Mukundan straight, shorn of all his usual mannerisms, and comes out with what probably is a career-best performance. Toward the end, the amount of weariness and worldly wisdom he conveys is just right, and one can't help but root for the protagonist.

Lal Jose, along with Blessy, is one of the few filmmakers who's name carries with it the assurance of good cinema ('Rasikan' and 'Pattalam' were but minor aberrations, hopefully). He doesn't let one down here either. Great placement of scenes, a complete avoidance of slapstick comedy (though I wish he'd avoided Salim Kumar too, he's a misfit in the proceedings here), and most of all, the brilliance of casting Sreenivasan in the title role when a 'safe' choice like Jayaram / Dileep would have worked at the B.O too - all these aspects deserve praise of the highest order. Lal Jose is one of the few directors who's been successful in creating successfull and good commercial cinema without resorting to the 2 Ms, and he succeeds on all fronts here too. 'Arabikatha' is another feather in his cap.

Verdict: Eminently watchable.

Darwin's Theory of Evolution

2007-09-09T23:22:00.000-04:00

Proved thru Tamil cinema!!!

RGV Ki Aag: Review

2007-09-07T21:26:00.000-04:00

'RGV Ki Aag' is not merely Sholay desecrated upon; it also marks the decline of RGV the director, who used to be rubbing shoulders with our finest. But with the soulless Nishabd and worse, the insipid Aag, one is left yearning for the director who gave us such gems as Satya and Company. Comparisons with the evergreen classic apart, Aag fails even as a solitary venture.

Nisha Kothari - whose ass hogs a major chunk of the movie, second only to Bachchan's ugly mug - displays such abominable acting abilities whenever she has a scene that you yearn for the camera to shift to her assets instead - this is one aspect of RGV's direction I just cannot criticize, for anything is better than seeing her try hard to enact the ebullient persona of Basanti that Hema Malini, for all her limited acting skills, made her own. The wisest career decision she could make is to shift to porn movies, since that's all she's cast for in normal movies anyhow.
Marks: 0/10 (Was tempted to give her a 0.5 for the skin-display, but...)

Sushmita Sen, who replaces Jaya Bhaduri, does try hard - too hard, in fact. However, her part is too noble and self-righteous to make one sympathise with her. The lovely romantic angle between Bachchan and her in the original is mutilated by RGV here, and its carcass is then burnt with petrol, and the ashes are then flushed away... you get the picture. It is to Sushmita's credit that she never goes overboard, thank heavens for small mercies.
Marks: 3/10

Urmila, never far away from RGV's couch, sorry cast, is thankfully relegated to the Mehbooba number. The oomph factor is fading fast, its probably time for her to hang up her boots and get married. And WTF was RGV thinking of when he weaved in that inane Kabhi Kabhi bit, and then the flirtation between her and Babban? The man needs a reality check, and fast.
Marks: 1/10

Ajay Devgun, who has a reputation of being one of Bollywood's more reliable actors, does his cause no good here. He has no comic ability to speak of, and was never strong on charm anyhow. Consequently, he is one of the biggest misfits in the movie. The roguish charm that so endeared Dharam's Veeru to us is completely absent here. He has no chemistry with his partner at all, and consequently their friendship is a yawn. All he does well here is ogle Nisha's boobs, and touch her up. And please, Ajay, drag your ass to a dentist and get your gutka-covered teeth cleaned.
Marks: 1/10

Prashant Raj, who gets to replace Bachchan, has only two things in common with his illustrious predecessor, and those are his long legs. He's got a nice deep voice too, but two legs and a semi-baritone doth not an actor make. Hope he catches the next flight to Los Angeles!
Marks: 1/10 (gets 1 only because he is not as annoying as Kothari).

Rajpal Yadav, whose annoying high-pitched cackle makes you want to thrown him down a well, would do better not to accept such inane stuff. He is a rather decent actor, and it is a shame watching him throw it away.
Marks: 1/10 (again, gets a 1 sorely when compared to Nisha)

Sushant Singh can consider his debt to RGV (for Jungle) repaid with interest. He tries his hardest to exude menace, and might even have succeeded if he had a couple of scenes to himself. But alas, RGV is too infatuated with the legend of Gabbar to even consider granting some footage to other actors.
Marks: 2/10

Mohanlal is one of the few sane things in the movie. The flashback with him is the one credible sequence in the movie, and his scenes with Bachchan crackle with electricity. He manages to infuse some semblance of dignity to the proceedings whenever he is on screen, despite the terrible accent. Whoever had the bright idea that Mohanlal should have that stupid beard (he had no fingers you know, hence he couldn't shave), thank god he didn't think of how he would wash his bum after taking a shit. Despite hackneyed dialogue, bad makeup, a terrible Holi song where he is actually made to dance like a woman, and very little footage, he is easily the best thing about this movie.
Marks: 5/10

Bachchan, who is toward the fag end of his illustrious career, hams like a crazy coot. He hisses, cackles, rolls his eyes menacingly, guffaws with menace, drones on about America and Iraq, and even digs his nose. Well, with the kind of shoddy performance he's put in here, even scratching his balls or even the crevice of his ass wouldn't have helped. This is a textbook as to how Gabbar ought not to have been played - the performance, if you can call it that, is much more suited for a children's movie. All the makeup in the world - the fuss about the different colored eyes, or the scarred nose - cannot disguise a shockingly bad performance from Bachchan. The one thing he gets right is when his eyes, otherwise dull, light up when he gets a new victim to torture / kill, in keeping with the attempted sociopath personality. No menace, no fear, no acting chops.
Marks: 1/10

RGV gets everything wrong here, whether its controlling the overacting Big B, granting some decent footage to the few actors who do their job well, or at least maintaining some decorum to the proceedings. He, along with Bachchan and Urmila, is also singularly responsible for defiling one of the most beautiful bits of poetry in Indian cinema ever. If he'd paid half the attention the the screenplay that he does to Kothari's ass out here, the movie might even have been watchable. Alas, it was not to be.
Marks: 0/10

Sreenivasan: An Underrated Genius, But Past His Prime?

2007-08-06T20:29:00.000-04:00

Recently, I made the mistake of watching a Mallu version of 'Analyze That', 'Bhargava Charitham 4-am Ghandam' starring Sreenivasan and Mammootty. To say that the move was terrible would be an understatement. Although the dialogues did bear a passing resemblance to the Sreenivasan of yore, most often they were not even remotely funny. One fears that in his zeal to show off his newfound comic skills, Mammooty is descending into alarming levels of mediocrity. Though he does try to top it off with a handful of sensible movies every year, doing such roles affects not only his image, but also his stature as an actor. As for Sreenivasan, he's become too old to carry off his unique brand of comedy any longer. And - why doesn't anyone get this - we DO NOT want to see 50-year old men dressed up in shorts, sleeveless shirts, and designer outfits - and this is not directed just at Mammootty either. Stuff the opulence, and give us a decent story, for chrissake!

Its really a pity that intelligent, 'thinking' cine-people like Sreenivasan fail to keep up with time, and come out with such nonsense. His screenplays were responsible for some of the landmark films of the 1980s, the golden period of Malayalam cinema. Indeed, looking back, Sreenivasan was pretty much to Malayalm cinema, what Hrishikesh Mukherjee was to Bollywood. Looking forward to better cinema from this underrated genius, here's a list of the movies why I regard him as one of the best talents of Malayalam cinema.

Varavelpu (Welcome): Notwithstanding other popular movies from the Sathyan Anthikkad - Mohanlal - Sreenivasan trio, this is most probably their best collaboration IMO. The script by Sreenivasan traces the journey of a Gulf-returned Mohanlal who tries hard to eke out a living in a Communist-infested Kerala by running a private bus. Laced with subtle humor, great all-round performances, and a tight screenplay that never veers too far from reality, this was a gem of a movie. Sadly, it is shortly to be remade in Hindi (read destroyed) by a Priyadarsan crony, with Govinda in the lead.

Vadakku Nokki Yanthram marked the directorial debut of Sreenivasan. Although the movie was interspersed with his characteristic self-effacing wit and deadpan dialogs, the tale of an average-looking guy with an inferiority complex getting married to a beautiful girl was Malayalam cinema's first intentional black comedy, and hit a chord with audiences everywhere. Sreenivasan, through his penchant for self-directed sarcasm and ridiculous situations, depicted the misgivings of an average man beautifully here. Main, Meri Pathni Aur Woh was directly inspired from this movie, and it boasted of a terrific performance by another supremely talented actor, Rajpal Yadav.

Nadodikattu (The Wandering Wind): When one talks of the Mohanlal-Sreenivasan combination, this would in all probability be the first movie that one remembers. The characters of this hilarious rags-to-riches tale - be it the innocent Dasan-Vijayan duo, the paranoid villain Ananthan Nambiar, Gafoorkka who runs a 'yatch' to the 'Gulf', or the hired killer Pavanayi - are still fresh in our minds, despite the movie being almost 3 decades old. This has Sreenivasan at his vintage best - the acerbic wit, the social commentary, and the dig at the typical Malayalee egotism are all there.

Sandesham (Message) was political satire at its best. Apart from the recent Vadivelu-starrer 'Imsai Arasan...' and the Kundan Shah classic 'Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron', I cannot recall a single political satire in our cinema (forgive me if I am not conversant with regional language cinema apart from Malayalam and Tamil). On the pretext of displaying oneupmanship between two brothers (who belong to rival political parties), Sreenivasan launches a scathing indictment on both the political parties of Kerala. Its a tremendously funny film, but nonetheless accurate and socially relevant too.

Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala (Thoughtful Shyamala) was Sreenivasan's second attempt at direction. Audience expectations were high after his acclaimed previous outing, and he didn't let them down either. The opening scene of the movie, where in a scathing indictment of Kerala's electricity board, the dialogue likens electricity to a stray cat, set the mood of the movie. It would perhaps be irreverent to suggest that the irresponsible husband is a manifestation of Lord Rama's inability/refusal to fulfil his responsibilities toward his wife, but the title of the movie certainly seems to slyly suggest so. The movie's harsh indictment of ashram-life at the expense of familiar responsibilities was another hint in this direction, IMO. Once again, the movie was a tremendous success at the BO, and critically acclaimed as well.

Thalayanamanthram (Feminine Wile) saw Sreenivasan take on the universal topic of envy and feminine wile. Urvashi puts in one of her best performances as the middle-class wife. It was to her credit that a character who could have easily come off as a shrew, was instead portrayed as a normal woman with her share of aspirations and failings. Urvashi displayed razor-edge control in not letting her character slip into farce. Unfortunately, it is this control that Urvashi seems to have lost, as can be seen in her recent outings like Achuvinte Amma, and more noticeably in Madhuchandralekha.

Vellanakalude Naadu (The Land of White Elephants) was directed by Priyadarsan at a time when he was still a competent director. Devoid of frills (save the hilarious crowd-pleasing bulldozer sequence), the movie narrates the plight of a road contractor (superbly enacted by Mohanlal) in Kerala. For a change, Sreenivasan plays a serious role - that of the diligent social worker whose family has been killed due to a bridge collapsing - and excels in it too. The Priyan - Mohanlal - Sreenivasan combo duplicated pretty much the same formula in Midhunam, but could not recreate the same magic.

Oru Maravathoor Kanavu (A Maravathoor Dream) had debutante director Lal Jose riding on the front of a powerful screenplay by Sreenivasan, and a bravura performance by Mammootty. However, it was evident that here was a skilled director who showed promise. In a departure from his earlier screenplays, Sreenivsan stepped away from the traditional Malayalam milieu, and built characters based on the TN-Kerala border. He also had Mammootty enact one his most successful comedic roles - his dialogues, with a sarcastic Christian tinge, were outstanding.

Udayananu Tharam (Udayan is the Star) does not hold a candle to the best works of Sreenivasan. However, the sarcasm here was directed at the bigwigs of the Malayalam film industry, and once again, that was a first. Sreenivsan took open digs at our superstars, be it at Mohanlal's business ventures, or Mammootty's penchant for dressing up in designer clothes. Most of his barbs, however, were directed at self-proclaimed superstar Dileep. This was venomous, and the audiences lapped it up. The movie is being remade in Tamil, and Hindi - how successful these remakes would be remain to be seen.

Big B, Vinodayathra: Review

2007-07-28T23:52:00.000-04:00

'Big B' reads almost like a James Hadley Chase novel - I mean, a renegade gang of orphans set out to get their revenge against the murderer of their surrogate mom, is typically something that Chase, Lee Child or even Louis L'Amour would write. D'ebutant director Amal Neerad is obviously inspired by his mentor RGV, at least insofar as technique is concerned. However, the premise of the movie is as stale as they come.

Social worker Nafisa Ali is brutally murdered on the streets of Kochi, murkier than the Mumbai of RGV's 'Satya'. Four of the many street urchins she has helped nurture are determined to avenge her death. Leading them is Bilal, the Big B, a dark, brooding killer who is apt only to mumble - that too in monosyllables. The role doesn't ask much of Mammootty, merely his best impersonation of Ajay Devgan. For while, the movie promises an interesting twist, but soon meanders off to the archetypal good vs. evil finale, where good overpowers evil, and all is well again.

As noted earlier, the basic good vs evil theme is certainly redundant, and there is nothing remarkable about the performances either (although a couple of the newcomers are endearing, and show promise). What eventually saves the movie is the fresh directorial style of Amal Neerad. From the way the shots have been framed, to the song picturizations and fights, the director leaves no stone unturned to showcase his capabilities. The dialogues are crisp - and for a change there are no Sanskrit hymns in the background, nor does the hero spout endless pages of dialogue in English, Sanskrit, Hindi etc. Things are kept simple, and in the end its a decent outing that at least doesn't make one cringe.

Sathyan Anthikkad, veteran film-maker, teams up with aspiring superstar Dileep to churn out yet another sample of his brand of feel-good cinema, named 'Vinodayathra' (Picnic) this time. Stale theme, lacklustre direction, terrible song picturizations, music that ranges from bad to okay - this movie showcases all that is wrong with today's Malayalam cinema.

Dileep, in yet another variation of his boy-next-door persona, is a wayward MCA graduate, who is irresponsible, irritating and exasperating all at once. One feels for his brother-in-law (a splendid Mukesh), who is forced to house Dileep. Of course, Meera Jasmine plays one of those do-gooder girls who, despite numerous setbacks (and I do mean numerous - an ailing dad, a non-wedded mother as a sister, bank loans - its quite a big list), refuses to give up. Of course, by the end of the movie, Dileep ends up spellbound by the fighting qualities of Meera, and turns over a new leaf.

The performances are alright; of course, it probably helps that each of the actors have done these roles a million times before. You can actually predict each scene, including when the songs are about to come etc. If Mukesh and Innocent manage to rise above their roles, its just because of what good actors they are. All the other technical aspects of the movie are taken care of, so that nobody can complain. One senses that Ilaiyaraja is merely going through the motions here; so is Meera, normally a highly competent actress.

Verdict: Avoid the movie unless someone gifts you a free copy (and think twice before you watch it even then). Btw, the young actress who plays Mukesh's sister looks like she has the makings of a very competent and attractive heroine; hopefully the two Ms (and Dileep) would have retired by then.