Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru - D16, Tamil Film

One of the best films of the year seem to have been saved for the last release of the year. A competently made must watch film. An illustration of how extraordinary amount of content can be compressed in 105 minutes.

Cho S Ramaswamy

We shall miss the incisive analyst, the outspoken thinker, the fearless human, the clarity of pristinely clean wisdom emanating out of a restlessly concerned good samaritan. While we shall miss the wit, sarcasm and the pot shots at MK, his greatest contribution other than creating social consciousness, will be the voluminous books on Indian culture, a treasure trove. Cho through his life, truly demonstrates, that life is all about giving. We are truly  blessed to live in the same time as Cho

Kahani 2, Revisited

I did mention that I was disappointed yesterday after seeing Kahani 2. Alas the theme seems to be an adaptation of London to Brighton. 3 years ago, Vidiyum Munn an exceptionally well crafted Tamil movie thriller did a better job of adapting the B Grade London to Brighton. It is tragic that that Sujoy should run out of ideas. Readers of this post may want to catch up with the brilliant Vidiyum Munn on You Tube.

Acham Enbathu Madamaiyada, Fear is Foolish

Inspired film making before the actual inspirational moment from Godfather

Lovers of Godfather could be really feel let down that an orgasmic definition of doppler effect from the inspired moment and the sequence in Godfather gets lost in translation

But not to worry, GVM is in rollicking form, in a twenty minutes sequence of Rahman fest, takes the narrative to a new high with the picturisation of Thalipogathey. 

GVM, we could copy Hollwood, can hollywood musically create romance like Indians?. 

I enjoyed the movie thoroughly. May end up seeing again and again.

The climax was a big let down though

#Rekka, Tamil Movie

A spoof on 'Gilli' plus a inspired adaptation of 'Keladi Kanmani'.

Just wondering how somebody could think of mixing these two movies. 

The Kannama song in 'Rekka'  a lovely version of 'Karpoora Bommai' in 'Keladi Kanmani' is a resounding proof of that inspiration.

The young Vijay Sethupathi is a casting coup that can melt the hardest rock.

And Mala teacher, whoever that actor is, just top class.

Vijay Sethupathi sizzles in this fast paced time pass masala!!!!

I went with very low expectation and ended up enjoying it abolutely watching it with the greatest fan of Vijay Sethupathi, my daughter..

Andavan kattalai, Gods Decree, Tamil film

The Decree is

....And you shall have unadulterated fun.

Pure 24 carat entertainment.

Go for it

#pinkmovie

This All Heart, Rock Solid movie is a must watch, for everybody greater than or equal to 13.

Sully, Movie, Do yourself a favour, Watch Sully, you will be enriched beyond measure

#Kabali

Infinite Possibilities, Infinitesimally Leveraged

Rajini's screen presence, charisma, swagger and style is given and hence I am not even commenting on it.

The first half of the movie is a masterclass in body language. Rajini;s body language has always been instructive, Nasser in his three minute cameo sizzles and delights.

I am glad that Pa. Ranjith the film Maker, did make a very serious attempt to make good cinema within the constraints imposed by the superstar's persona.

In the backdrop of unacceptable and repulsive violence, Ranjith weaves a beautiful love story, which stands out, and will be remembered for a long time.

All the sequences with Radhika Apte have been shot with such exquisite taste, that it is a pity that the spirit could not be extrapolated to the other aspects of the film.

And in a sequence where the Super Star meets his long lost wife, we melt along with him, as we seldom get to see an opportunity to see the true actor within him. We also see his magnanimity to accommodate and give screen space to his co-star but also allow her dominate the scene.

Thalaiva, will you every be released from the prison of your own mindset and would we ever get to see you in all your resplendent glory? 

While Nasser, lifted straight from Iruvar and Radhika Apte from Nallavanuku Nallavan, have some flesh and blood built into their characters, Ranjith has sculpted a neat little role for his favourite Dinesh.

Surprising that there is hardly any effort to develop the characters of the villains or anybody else for that matter.

The movie heads south exactly after a reunion. 

No tangible conflict. No tangible tension. Where is the drama?

BTW, The movie is certified for general audience with no cuts, another classic case where people in position and power can mock at the law of the land,  Jai Hind

#Kabali : To be or Not to be.....

The Anxiety of a Rajini Fan

July 22, is around the corner, as a die hard Rajini fan, I just want to see the film release quickly and get a roaring reception and be done with the my anxiety.

Why would I be anxious? Of course expectations are sky High!!!! and you do want to see Rajini with all his swagger and style. I remember, my father say, Rajini has to just come onto the screen and his electrifying presence would send us into a tizzy. Have we had enough? We surely want some more.

I could be a student of World Cinema. Meryl Streep and Daniel Day Lewis could be my favourite actors, but it is for Rajini that Goosebumps are reserved..

Why then the ambiguous To be or Not to be...

Strangely enough PA Ranjith, Santhosh Narayanan and Rajini share the same screen birthday's on Aug 15. While the first two bounced on to the stage on Aug 15, 2012 with Attakathi, Rajini's ‘Apoorva Ragangal’ was released on Aug 15, 1975.

Ranjith, had audacity to conjured up the magical ‘Attakathi”(Cardboard Knife), the life a vagabond and looser, with a story that was almost non-existent. He had shot the movie in the lazy villages in the suburbs of Western Chennai, peppered with characters whom you would find in your day to day life. The movie was fragrant with, daily bus rides on foot boards, sweet nothings, great conversations at tea stalls, the romance of the’Thavani’(Half Saree), things that we all take for granted but may be the most liberating aspects of living.

Along with Ranjit, when Santhosh Narayanan, combined the Funeral Dance with the Spanish Strains, we knew a pied piper had arrived in town.

Santhosh Narayanan carried the good work in ‘Madras’. Not only were his songs chartbuster’s, but he arguably, scored the best background score, in Indian Cinema. I rate this as magical as God Father if not better.

While the songs for kabali have been good, will Santhosh's background score be magical. It will be a great differentiator.

Madras, incidentally became  a cult classic. Ranjith’s characters continued to be next door. Conversations on compound walls, Romance near  public water wells, Dusty neighbour hood, real people, raw energy , seething anger and surcharged with emotion.

Rajini films after the 1980, Billa has been in a different world

Hence the question is To be or Not to be…

Will it be the charisma of Rajini or will it be the flair of Ranjith?

Will Ranjith be able to create the magic of Kali’(Mullum Malarum) or will he be content with a formulaic rehash of “Annamalai” or “Basha” or Will Ranjith go one step higher and help Rajini reinvent himself?

I guess I can wait for 48 hours.

Sultan

Alive and Kicking, This 'Saand' (Bull) Rocks.

Sultan, will probably go down in history as the First Musical Sports Drama. Vishal Shekar conjure up some stirring music and manage to steal the thunder from Salman, Anushka, some good stunt choreography and, the haryanvi dialect. 

Anushka somewhere triggered memories of  shantarams Mohini, in Navrang. The most petite wrestler!!!

The audience could have benefitted with Twenty minutes of trimming and felt a bit lighter without loads of lives lessons and sermonization.

Despite his off screen awkwardness, Sallu  Bhai always keeps his onscreen engagements as clean as possible.

A perfect entertainer for the family audience.

A big blockbuster on the cards.

Eid Mubarak. Let the festivities begin.

Oru melliya kodu, a thin line, Tamil film.

Not so bad and could have been better. In Fifteen years, it was amusing to see how Manisha Koirala has become Manisha Guerilla!!. Just wondering while the English expletives get across uncensored, tamil audiences, may have to stay contended with David Pillay!!

Raman Raghav 2.0: Supremely artistically, unleashed Monsters

On September 29, 2013, in my facebook post on Prisoner’s, Dark , Depressing and Disturbing, Oh! Yes but delectable cinema

Quote

The World has become dark, deadly and UGLY. Just cannot wait till 11th October, to see how Anurag Ji, paints the picture of how Ugly the world has become, which seems to revisit the theme of Kidnapping in Prisoners.

Unquote

Well I got to see Ugly in 2015 and continued to be disturbed while being amazed at Anurag’s genius. A brutally honest commentary on the evolution of an insensitive civilization. It was a cerebral cocktail which blended an unbridled, scathing attack and a lament, a lament that came from the depth of the heart of true artist. Anurag, we are truly blessed. Ugly was important, relevant and poignant.

The baton seems to have been passed on to Raman Raghav 2.0. The social commentary continues. It’s been served with such fine artistry that I just watched the movie agape. The simmering restlessness has been worked to such fine perfection, that the monstrous acts unleashed are relegated to the background. The process and the product are in stark contrast, the process of film making, very nuanced, while the product is a monstrous mayhem.

Sure, Anurag, the writing on the wall is very clear; you could not have articulated it better.

Last but not the least, the other person who left me agape, was Nawazzuddin Siddiqui, who competes with the entire crew and tries to snatch away the glory. While his performance was great, I felt that this particular performance seemed to be influenced by Kamal Hassan, may be Guna. That does not take the credit away, but just a pinch of disappointment.

The movie is strictly for the discerning and not for the faint hearted.

Udta Punjab: The inside and outside of Raging Wars

Udta Punjab

The Inside and Outside of Raging Wars

In the recent Hollywood Blockbuster, A Civil War, a character observes something to this effect, When an empire is struck by external forces, it would be easy to rebuild the empire, but when it crumbles from inside, it would be difficult to reconstruct it.

Udta Punjab, precisely deals with two different wars, a war that is waged on the perpetrators of the drug peddlers,as well as the war that rages within a drug addict. The war within is always the more difficult.

The problem is real and Punjab may not be in isolation. The problem is a universal  manifestation of greed and irresponsibility.

Thematically Steve Soderberg’s  Traffic comes to your mind. While Traffic left you disturbed in addition to making you painfully aware of how real and grave the problem was, UP, makes you feel a bit more comfortable, closer to mainstream cinema.

This is not to steal any merits of this important and responsible cinema.

Chaubey borrows from many master’s like the Goa poster sequence from Amorres Perres, but manages to leave his interpretation. Chaubey is masterful as usual. The pace may not be consistent, fluctuates at times between a frenetic pace and occasionally halting, however the narrative is always focused without erring on a shred of detail.

All acting performances are top notch. Alia Bhat, exploding, reflecting her desire to be in one piece was emotionally as inspirational as the national award winning song in the tamil film “Autograph”(‘Ovaru pookalume’). I am sure that particular sequence will be watched over and over again. Shahid Kapoor actually added so much meaning to that particular sequence.

Shahid must have starved to get out of shape to get into a relatively emaciated shape. His gaunt looks, the madness in his eyes, the born again feeling and innumerable other emotions should make him a front runner for the best actor award this year. We are blessed to witness some brutal hard work both that must have taken a toll on both the mind and physique. Pankaj Kapoor would be very proud.

Expletives and Profanity at its best can muster a few laughs. If references to mothers and sisters can get the attention of the audience to grave human  issues than the price is insignificant in the scheme of things.

We are always proud of what you are trying to accomplish, Anurag. To hell with hypocrisy, This country can be better of without it. Engaging Content, is a great torrent neutralizer. I shall certainly see this movie several times over.

  

Iraivi : As poignant as it can get

Ever since I saw Iraivi  last Saturday, it has been intersecting with my consciousness continuously. Thoughts have been triggering on so many fronts that I seriously do not know where to begin.

At the outset, Karthik Subbaraj, has to be commended for coming out with a film that is different from his earlier two successful films.

Iraivi is as hard hitting as it can be. The message is there and so are the messengers, but well there is no sermon!!! That is a leap in story telling!!!

Rip, Rip and Rip. The social fabric is being ripped every second right in our front of our eyes. We may even contribute to it unknowingly!!! We meet  many ‘Iraivis’ in our day to day to lives.

It is just not enough that a man marries, but he has a responsibility to his wife and his child as well!! Alcoholism and emotional foolhardiness adds upto shackling families for generations together.

I see an ‘Iraivi’ in my house for the last twenty one years. Rani, our household maid. Earliest images of her were coming to the house in 1995 with her two years old to perform the household chores. She had three sons. Her husband was a drunkard. She had the responsibility of  raising the three sons. Two of  them were lost around 2000 to be found after a gap of 11 months. She lost her husband to alcoholism and one of  her son’s committed suicide at a later point of time. The eldest son got married recently to leave her to fend for herself with her last son. Her last son in the early twenties pursues amorous activities, continuing to agonize her.  She lives with endless debts.  Always at the edge, battling as hard as she can.   Will this Iraivi, ever come out of her ‘circle of  misery’?

I initially thought that women  of Iraivi, were probably shown very dependent on men. Probably the women seemed a bit belonging to the 70s and 80s. In fact I was reminded of Mirch Masala, where Smita Patil would confront Naseerudin Shah boldly, but when her husband leaves the village, Smita Patil would not be able to draw upon similar courage to confront Naseerudin Shah in a similar encounter. Would the women of 2016 be so dependent on men?

Well I do not think the director meant it as an affront to the ladies, as the script is a conscious effort to drive home a much bigger point.

As to the matters of heart and mind, the education or social strata may not have a direct bearing on their behaviour

Despair stares almost evenly at different women, but different choices are made. Anjali’s at lower strata of the society, is shocked, but smoothly transitions to resolve, but Kamalini Mukherjee, the educated working women is unable to come to terms with reality. Subtlety at its best.

As in Jigarthanda, Karthik sizzles in the climax. In fact the climax lingers and steadily grows on you.

You could feel a bit of Fellini, Innaritu and the good old bard, but Karthik Subbaraj with his inimitable style stands tall  and ‘hefty’.

I felt I got into a boat and allowed myself to enjoy the ride with Karthik, the boatman, taking me through a pleasurable ride. The river could have had its quota of turbulence, but the boatman was in complete control.

Frankly I did not get disturbed after seeing the film, I was refreshed and relaxed and satisfied that  responsible cinema could be in most palatable commercial format.

I was also happy to see people accepting it.

Thanks, Karthik, for respecting the audience and raising the bar!!!.

We want some more, We want some more.!!!

Iraivi

Where Art blurs content

Magical film making, a large canvas, innumerable characters, an air of intrigue typical karthik subburaj trademarks make Iraivi an absorbing watch. 

The only aspect which probably does not add up are the female protagonists who seem to be in seventies or eighties. And also not sure if the ladies from all the strata of society are represented.

The climax reminded you of avargal.

And somewhere the movie reminded you of the balachander of seventies who made movies in that period with a negative undercurrent. 

In some ways the Malayalam movies in the seventies had negative under currents.

Iraivis of today send many of the youth scampering to the tasmac bar!!!!

May be Iraivi 2 will be Iraivan!!!

Uriyadi

Whack, Thwack, shellack and a sizzling scorch

Ankush/kavithai pads neramillai plus Arjun/sathya plus shiva/udhayam plus Run plus pick up the villain from gladiator, you have a cocktail in a new bottle. 

While the film reminds you of the aforementioned movies, make no mistake, this first time film maker has a solid grasp of his craft. Vijaykumar, We hope to see your work getting better.

It is raw, edgy and brutal.

Perfect cinema for a lay man to vicariously let out frustrations, on a society whose forces are much beyond sphere of his control

Jacobinte swargarajyam, malayalam film

I always have adored dulquer until Shreyas Raghunath, saw premam,  88 times, managed to educate me and convert me to a hard core nivin pauly fan. At this point of time, nivin has a slight edge over dulquer, in my eyes. Unfortunately there was no scope for hero workship. Pathetic writing for a most charming actor n star. After a protracted 'chocalatey' beginning, there was some glimmer of hope until the interval. The unsittable post interval, narrates an arbitrary, adhoc, fractured, incoherent, uninspiring, feel good film😢. Wish the director sees,  It is a wonderful life, and really understand what it is to make a feel good film. 'Ithu Naraka Cinema alle?'

King Khan returns after an exile of six years

While I have enjoyed Sharukh Khan since I first saw him in Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, I recognized his greatness when he enacted Kabir Khan in Chak De India. The role was very much influenced by Denzel Washington in Remember the Titans. To Shah Rukh's credit he recreated the spirit of that character but there was not an iota of Denzel's acting or mannerism.

As Amjad Khan in Hey Ram!!, you could not take away the honesty and the humaneness of the character. How can one ever forget the innocence of the Kabhi haan and Kabhi Na. Could there have been a more beautiful way to propose?  

And then after the responsible My name is Khan, Shah rukh went on to produce hits that are eminently forgettable.

I personally thought he was lost forever.

Well I am so glad to have enjoyed Sharukh's performance in Fan. A great performance which will gladden the hearts of his fans. Ironically  a movie about himself is not narcissistic.

The sunken eyes, the protruding teeth, the awkward gait,  the dignified walk, vs a fidgety walk, the variations in the voice, subtlety runs through.  

While Shah Rukh, as the fan, could be variation of Rahul in Darr,  Shah Rukh as the actor, feels like Dharmendra. Even without a beard, Shah Rukh comes across as his most masculine, onscreen role and to me reminded me of Dharmendra of Phool Aur Pathar(The most handsome avtaar of Dharmendra).

While the movie could have benefited with some better BGM and less of verbal chatter especially in the second half, you still do not want to miss this movie for Shah Rukh.

Strong enough reasons, Why people may still be in love with Shah Rukh Khan!!!!

Kadhalum Kadanthu Pogum-The Movie

Poetry in motion.

A Ballad, is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music.

This forms historically was used by poets.

Nalan Kumarasamy in complete control of his craft, narrates this intoxicating poetry of love with elegance and grace befitting the gods. Bear with the deceptively sedate start, the pieces fall well in place to deliver a satisfying experience.

His go to man is Santhosh Narayanan, effortlessly steals the thunder from everybody. Be prepared to experience goose bumps time and again throughout the narrative. 

As Madonna Sebastian appears, the hall is filled with hoots of Celine. Well she is as pleasant as she can be and will be seen in many more films.

For Vijay Sethupathi it is walk in the park. Quite a great pleasure to have watched this movie along with his greatest fan, my daughter, Shreya Raghunath, 

This yet another proof Love stories in Indian cinema will never die, new directors will time and again surface to narrate yet another love story and keep the genre eternally alive.

This movie should never had an interval!!!!

This tool shall pass. Even Love shall pass(the title of the movie). But God, our lord, Santhosh(literally translated as Happy)'s music hopefully remains in sublime form as he is in today. 

A blessing, for which we are and shall be eternally grateful.

P.S.: I guess all is not hunky dory with the IT Industry, but to make mockery of them, was a unwanted distraction in an otherwise tastefully directed film

Predictions for Oscar 2016

Oscar's can always have their fair share of surprise. When it comes to Oscar it is not justice, it is poetic justice which prevails. Imagine Denzel not getting it for Malcolm X and taking home for Training Day.

It just could happen that Leo who was denied for Aviator could bag it for Revenant. But just not sure. Revenant is a lot of pain and endurance that Leo went through but the character is probably uni-dimensional. Though I may not have seen Jobs, Jobs, as a character has a lot more potential as a role for an actor to exhibit. (Hence while I would pray that Leo gets the award, Michael Fassbender may the dark horse.

Here are some results I am reasonably sure.

1.Best Cinematography, Emmanuel Lebuzki, Revenant. Atleast for this category there should have been no other nominations!!!!

2. Best Editing: Mad Max, Fury Road

3. Best Adapted Screenplay: Room

4. Best Original ScreenPlay: Spotlight

5. Best Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance(Dark Horse: Sylvester Stallone)

6. Best Make Up: Mad Max: Fury Road

7. Best Director: Inarritu (Room and Spotlight potential spoilsports)

8. Best Picture: Spotlight( Room a close contender, Revenant certainly not)

9. Best Actress: Brie Larson(Cate  Blanchett a potential threat on any day)\

10. Best Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance, Bridge of the Spies( A shame that Jacob tremblay room did not get a nomination, The kid would have been a worthy contender).

11. Best actor: Leonardo Di Caprio, Revenant(Michael Fassbender a dark horse)

12. Best VFX, Costume Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Production Design : All to Mad Max( For the bear Sequence,which seemed so natural I hope Revenant gets the VFX award it)

13. Best Original Score: Sicario(Bridge of the Spies could be a close second)

I have not commented on a few other categories.

Let see how much of my prediction is correct.

Have great show tomorrow morning.

The Revenant

Celebrating Pain

In the history of Cinema, nobody seems to be having as much fun celebrating pain, as much as Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu!!!!

But for the first time in his career, he has his cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki stealing the thunder from him.

The Alaskan background is sure to haunt you like the deserts of Lawrence of Arabia for years to come.

While this seems to be the simplest of Inarritu's film's, the man must have  put himself and his crew through a test of endurance shooting in the wilderness of  Alaska.

Leonardo,  the third among equals, should walk away with a well deserved Oscar.

As a viewer, I have a very iffy feeling, Leo's images of suffering and pain do not seem to linger, it is undefinable beauty of Alaska that seems to linger on, the pain of the protagonist seems to be ephemeral!!!!

Spotlight

Cinema for the Gods

In the last three to four months, I seem to have been lucky enough to experience the Silken touch of directors. Bridge of the Spies, Room and Visaranai all of them narrated with subtlety, restraint and complete command of the craft. Spotlight happens to be the fourth such experience.

Systemic decadence is now a known and prevalent phenomenon. 

Whether it is the government machinery in JFK, or the big Tobacco in Insider, or the Poice Force in Ardh Sathya or Visaranai,  Rudyard Kipling could not have been more correct, Power Corrupts, Absolute Power Absolutely Corrupts. 

I guess that could be true for all power centre's in any organization or institution.

The Church is the institution which is at the center of the storm in Spotlight.

For me the investigation initiated by Boston Globe, lead by the magical Liev Schriber, are great lessons in Leadership, Team work, Empowerment,  Research and Empathy.

The leader has the vision, sets the goals, is courageous, does not mince his words, leads from the front, does not intrude into the functioning of the team. The team assumes their respective responsibilities and works effectively together. The team dynamics are almost perfect.

And most importantly top class professionals are accountable for their mistakes, own it up, so that the greater cause succeeds.

If you are working professional, this is a must watch.

Recommend that you watch it with your teams.

I am reasonably confident that Spotlight will get the Oscar for the Best Original ScreenPlay and Room for the best Adapted Screenplay.

Room

Fascinating and Exhilarating

Room has been nominated for four Oscars this year, Picture, Director, Leading Lady and Adapted Screenplay.

An interesting aspect, dealt in Shawshank Redemption, was that prolonged incarceration could 'institutionalize' people. 'Institutionalized' people who had served a long jail sentence and released after serving their sentence would find it difficult to live a normal life in the world outside. In a way they would have got adjusted to the place or the institution(jail) where they had served the sentence. After being set free, the person released could go to the extent of committing suicide.

Room deals with this aspect and then goes ahead to explore how empathy can actually help people get back on the rails.

Room also deals with innocence in a way that has not been dealt with in a long time.

It is also fascinating to see the protagonist oscillate between strength and vulnerability. 

Spaces of quiet punctuated by surge of frustration and anger, is enhanced by rock solid performances.

The cinematography choreographs its way to create poetry in motion.

As the curtain draws down, the kid Jack pays a visit to the Room. He observes, after visiting the closed room which is now open bereft of its belongings, that the closed room seemed to be a lot bigger than the now open room.

Space also seems to be a constraint of the mind!!!!

Lovers of Cinema, may want to catch a piece of this poetry in motion, ideally soak in it on a relaxed evening.

Unmaye in vilai enna, Cho S Ramaswamy'S classic on J movie

This is not available on Youtube. Neither is it available on DVD in the stores or on the net. For people who care, you may not want to miss the exciting drama and top notch performance of Muthuraman and Ashokan. Thematically it examines sathya sothanai, which was visited in Satyakaam and Punnagai

Irudhi Suttru/Sala Khadoos: There is neither the float nor the Sting

A  movie not only gets evaluated on its intrinsic merit but is also influenced by the expectation of the audience.

Let me also profess that I am a hardcore fan of Maddy and familiar with almost all his movies.

IN the recent times, I had inadvertently comes across two You Tube videos of Maddy and one of them touched upon fidelity. I should say the honesty of Maddy was so overwhelming , that my respect for Maddy had risen manifold.

Maddy had the guts to produce Evano Oruvan, based on Dombivili Fast which was again based on Falling Down. A truly important work of anger and angst. Much as it was piece of work which was adapted, the lament of a conscientious citizen, in the background of a civilization languishing and helplessly going  through the motions of life, was worthy of being narrated. Falling Down, probably had to be retold in all the languages spoken all around the world.

However bitter the box office debacle of Evano Oruvan meant, it certainly had to be made.

The bar had been set high.

So when Maddy promoted the film, with a sense of energy and purpose, I truly believed that Sudha Kongara’s work would be something new.

For Maddy, I was quite happy that the movie seems to had made a big impact on the audience. There was enough hooting and approbation, which should send the cash registers ringing.

But  Alas, Maddy, you just need to touch your heart, and ask, yourself If there was an iota of originality in the film.

Formulaic and derived from innumerable movies, one just wondered, why a three minute story of Maddy’s past did not occur in the narrative. While major mapping has happened from Karate Kid, especially in the second half,  one would have expected the unjust axing of Maddy, as a flash back. An important formula just went missing!!!

And our stupid formula has to include the mandatory love/lust story.

We have all round technical brilliance. The editor in particular sends your heart a flutter, in the first forty minutes, with some ecstatic editing.

But have we lost the ability to think something really original.

There is a difference between adapting meritorious works of art and then mapping and building blocks of a storyline from different movies.

Lego may want to build a new line of product for the Indian film community.

Works of art are reflection of the society which we live in.

Our thinking continues to be servile.

For the love of Ali, who gets quoted time and again in the film, one of his most memorable quotes, “Float like a butterfly, Sting Like a Bee. The Hand’s cant Hit, what the eye’s can’t see”.

There is neither the float nor the sting, only a worn out formulaic mess.

Et Tu Maddy?

Airlift

Pushing the envelope beyond the illusions of an identity

I could not miss Oskar Schindler in Airlift. Schindler, who liked the extra sheen in his suit and a hedonist, went on to save 1200 people who worked for him from the Nazis during World War 2.

Much as I was bowled over by the protagonist, I think the masterstroke, was to accommodate, the Kuwaiti stowaway, as a part of the Airlift.

Does it really matter if it is a Kuwaiti, Iraqi, Pakistani or an Indian, a human life is a human life. 

A human's ability to empathize with another human being and bail the person out of trouble, transcending narrow boundaries of nationality and religion, is the sign of greatest maturity.

I just could not resist, remembering the a most poignant scene from Constant Gardner. As Rachel Weisz looses her baby during delivery and is in extraordinary personal grief, she sees that a black lady next to her has delivered a baby and is dead. She spontaneously feeds the black child.!!!!

Our man Ali(not sure about his name) in Airlift, despite his personal grief of having lost his newly wed, gets a stowaway on board, as his own wife, 

This just pushes the envelope beyond the illusions of an petty identities that seem to ever mutate into shapes that we sometimes cannot even imagine.

God help us all be humans.

Airlift

'Schindler's'Lift

Identities blur and Humanity Soars as Akshay 'Schindler' Kumar propels this an unforgettable, must watch, uplifting experience.

Despite the restraint, the subtlety in narrating this movie like a docudrama, you cannot help but get emotionally surcharged.

As the curtain draws down, John F Kennedy's 'Ask Not what your country can do for you' could have never had a better treatment.

Jai Humanity....

Thara Thapattai, Tamil Film

Violence mars poignancy

If there was an effort to rename the antonym of hypocrisy, than it has to be Director Bala. The screen erupts with sarcasm and the movie is punctuated with no holds barred dialogues that has the audience roaring for him.

However i am unable to comprehend the anger that does not seem to recede or abate over the last fifteen years of his career. With his command on the craft, does he have to serve raw and crude violence, unapologetically.

I am sure Bala can do without the crudity. It kind of eclipses his intelligence. He is capable of delivering far more profound work.

The movie certainly belongs to varalaxmi saratkumar. She dominates the proceedings with an explosive performance. A classic case where casting and writing enhances the performance. I am inclined to give greater credit for casting director for the extraordinary impact.

One also got a feeling that the narrative was kind of discrete and fractured with the second half veering away from the first half.

The excessive violence mars, a what could have been a poignant love story.

Star wars, the seventh instalment

I had to really fight hard to stay awake and sit through a most unimaginative rehash. Even in 1979, as a sixteen year old, i found the sabre light duel fairly unexciting. I found a reenactment of that duel, the greatest mockery of the audience. Darth vaders character evolution as a vulnerable minus his menace plus a slouch is another disgrace to the franchise. The fresh little lady lead brings in the much needed energy but surprised as to how the director could allow her to slouch. The most disheartening experience was to see harrison ford ageing. Found it difficult to accept that ford has aged. One does not understand why mark hamill had to reduce 41 pounds to appear one scene. JJ Abrams, Star Trek, was truly entertaining. Not sure, why you could not introduce a single novel sequence in the entire film. Just unable to understand how this can be the highest grocer. Does profitability of making movies just boil to releasing during the holiday season