Sunday, July 11, 2010

Madharasapattinam is beautiful.

AGS Entertainment's latest offering is a treat to those who would like to have a time machine to rewind their lives from the hustling city of Chennai to the majestic and peaceful town of Madras. Directed by Vijay, Madharasapattinam is a cute love story set in the pre-independence era.

The story is simple and not at all new to tamil audience. It is another rich girl meets poor boy plot which also includes strict opposistions from girl's family. An old women in London, who is on her death bed, diognised with blood clot in her brain, wants to go to Chennai for reasons best known to her. She is accompanied by her grand daughter to the city and from there on scenes occilate between the flasback set in 1947 and the present. Amy Wilkinson(Amy Jackson), daughter of the Governer of Madras, comes to Madras during sometime in 1947. She is accompanied by Nambi(Haneefa, as the translater) to have look around the city, and she meets Parithi, a dhobi(and wrestler), who stands up to stands up to her fiance General Robert Ellis. She instantly falls for him, though she is engaged to Ellis. Love grows between the pair and the villain comes in the form of India's independence. Amy is forced to return to Britain, but she escapes her family's clutches and comes to join Parithi. Their fate is to found in the climax of the flashback.



The USP of the film is that it's set and the CGI works. To see our earstwhile Madrs in front of our eyes is more than a reason to watch this film. Art director Selva Kumar certainly deserves the lion's share of the accolades. Be it the charming Central station or the deserted Mount road, every details have been perfectly captured. The trams in middle of the roads and the hand pull carts bring the feel of period. The graohics work beautifully coincides with the sets. The scene where the modern-day Spencer plaza changes into Spencers and Co. is awesome. The washermanpet area is also recreated pretty well. But the one which makes us yearn for is the boat ride in Cooum river. What would we not give to have those moments back. And when the aged Amy shrinks her nose on the sight of the present day cooum, there where whistles all around the theatre.

As for the performances, Arya has done a decent job and he have done well by showing a few more reactions in his face. But his excellent physique was a treat to watch. Amy Jackson was adorable and fits the bill superbly. Her lip sync for tamil verses is suprisingly perfect, and it might well teach a lesson or two for our own actresses. VMC Haneefa steals the show whenever he is on screen. As Dubash he is a delight with his witty dialouges and facial reactions. Nasser could have been used better and the same can be said of MS Baskar. Balaji and Jeeva, who aid Amy and her grand-daughter in Chennai, were enjoyable. The English actors and the Secondary characters do a very fine job, especially the teacher who trains Arya and his friends in English and the guy who always dozes off, no matter whatever goes around him.

The film could have been a bit more crisper as far as the editing goes, but I didnt complaint as I got more to see of my dear old city. The screenplay undoubtedly has traces of Titanic throughout the film, and we are reminded of Lagaan when Amy challenges Ellis to wrestle with Arya and leave Dhobi-ghat to the people if he loses. Gv Prakash has done a good job in the songs and re-recording, and the picturisation has done them justice. Nirav Shav has captured the modern Chennai and old Madras with apt colour tones.

Kudos to the director and the producer to spend a lot of money on an offbeat theme, and I urge the movie goers to support such films as this is the least we can do to make more and more people to come up wih such different scripts.

My Rating:

Friday, June 18, 2010

Ravanan - Definitely worth a watch

Quite a few years back, release of a Mani Ratnam film was a festival in Tamil nadu. Now it is a cause of celebration and anticipation for the whole of India. And when the ace director is back to do a straight tamil film after 5 long years(After Ayutha Ezhuthu in 2004-05), the expectations are bound to skyrocket. His latest offering "Ravanan"(Ravan in Hindi) is, as per the wild guesses by the pundits and laymen alike, a modern day adaptation of the epic Ramayana.


The film starts impressively with vaillage men running havoc by burning policemen alive, bombing police vehicles and looting weapons. We are bound to think that it would be a take on the burning maoist issue, which it is, eventually. But it is pushed into oblivion by Ramlila.

Ragini(Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) is abductud by the forest brigand Veerayya(Vikram), for reasons that are revealed later. Trouble starts there as Ragini also happens to be the wife of police officer Dev(Prithviraj), and Dev starts his hunt into the forest to retrieve Ragini and finish off Veera. This manhunt forms the crux of the story, which is intertwined by the so-called-unethical yearning of Veera for Ragini, knowing well that she is another man's wife.

The films belongs to two men, one on screen and one behind it- Vikram and Santosh Sivan respectively. Vikram's charismatic presence tends to carry the film forward almost single handedly. He simply rocks as Veera. His body language and voice modulation steels the thunder and shows his experience. Be it the angry retribution or proposing love to a married woman, he brings all his histrionic skills into picture.

The major plus for the film, along with Vikram, is the cinematography. Santosh Sivan beautifully captures the wild forests with breathtaking hill-top visuals. Almost throughout the film, rain plays a major part, and Sivan brings in natural lighting and thereby nature itself onto the screen. Some fine close-up shots bring in the feel of watching "Avatar" in 3D. Defenitely a work worththy of the national-award.

Aishwarya Rai tries to be the terrified woman in the clutches of a badman and evoke sympathy from the viewers, but we are hardly moved by her plight. She becomes boring after a while with the same kind of expression throughout the film. Prithviraj looks dashing as the cop, but tends to get too stiff for one's liking. Prabhu and Munna as Veerayya's brothers are apt, and so is Karthik as the forest guard. Priyamani does her bit wonderfully well.

Though the visual grandeur overshadows any visible flaw in the screenplay, the movie is undoubtedly predictable. Though the story is based on an epic, we expect a filmmaker like Mani to treat us with some shocking stuff. Only that doesnt happen, except for the climax. And Dev(Modern day Ram) is shown to be a brutal officer who doesnt mind killing anyone who is related to Veera, and that might no go well with the religious minded lot.

Suhasini's dialouges are found wanting in many places and Sreekar Prasad's editing is slick. The fight sequences are excellently choreographed, especially the climax fight sequence in a dilapilated bridge is a masterpiece. The film is just over 2 hours which itself is a great plus. A. R Rahman's songs are already a rage, but they have not utilised well in the movie. Background score is apt and "Usurey poguthu" is well picturised.


Defenitely nowhere near to be one of Mani's best movies, but it is not very often you can see such a team together in a movie. Go for it just for Vikram and also to enjoy a visual feast.

My Rating: