[Pic : Rediff]

Gautam Menon talks about his latest movie, Chennayil Oru Mazhai Kaalam, in the current issue of Ananda Vikatan. He says that this movie will be a variation from his previous stylish flick Kakkha Kakkha. And he says, he is inspired by Mani Ratnam too much that he tries to follow his style. Just like how Mani Ratnam would come up suddenly with a Alai Paayuthey type of movie after a Dil Se, Gautam says he also decided just after Kakkha Kakkha that his next movie would be a outright romantic one.

So here is directing Surya in Chennayil Oru Mazhai Kaalam. The synopsis goes on like this. Boy meets girl. Proposes to her. He has only 10 days to get her accept his love. Does she ?. How to loose a guy get a girl in 10 days.

He announces that his next movie after Chennayil Oru Mazhai Kaalam will have Kamalhassan starring in it. Kamal had eventually called him after Kakkha Kakkha and offered a chance to direct him. Who wouldn’t be totally thrilled like me, for an actor like Kamalhassan and a director like Gautam, this combo is Team Expectation.

Perhaps a chronically small audience is a blessing. For it seems that the more popular a blog becomes, the more some bloggers feel the need to post.

Katie Hafner’s writes this in an quintessential article on complusive bloggers and their lives. Her two page article based on her interview with various compulsive / non-compulsive bloggers, sometimes indirectly questions the need of blogging as she writes :

Where some frequent bloggers might label themselves merely ardent, Mr. Pierce is more realistic. “I wouldn’t call it dedicated, I would call it a problem,” he said. “If this were beer, I’d be an alcoholic.”

It’s well researched, well thought about article. Very genuine. If you are compulsive blogger you know why I saw this. Read it here at NY Times. You need a free userid /password to login to NY Times. Get one if you don’t have, for this same article will be quoted in many blogs, in the days to come.

PS: Thanks Anand for the tip. Here is the url for this article that I got through google news.

Co-Blogging Series- Anand Chandrasekharan and Lazy Geek

The best part of a blog is this: what can be is only a few paragraphs away from what is! The roots for this blog-series were formed during a conversation with Lazy Geek about how world themes will become an increasing part of and be a greater source for inspiration to Indian (and Tamil) cinema. What follows then, is a series of world themes that hopefully inspire Indian cinema.

The Man Who Saw Infinity

Srinivas Ramanujan (1887–1920)

Some of the most memorable movies have been the story of an inspiring man or woman (Malcolm X, A Beautiful Mind, Schindler’s List). There has been some honest cinema made in India recently around the lives of the Poet Bharathi (where I loved Sayaji Shindey play Subramania Bharathi), Kamaraj and Bhagat Singh. Biopics are also my personal favourites: hence the first theme resonates around a life that has been fascinating, inspiring and mystic, all in the same vein – Srinivas Ramanujan.

(more…)

*No Spoilers Ahead*

As you stroll down the dark cinema hall to watch Aayitha Ezhuthu and if you are a few minutes late, you might assume that the climax is around. So begins the latest Mani Ratnam flick Aayitha Ezhuthu. And hey, you needn’t worry for there is lot more to come and even if you miss this first scene, the scene repeats more number of times than the cost of your popcorn. Aayitha Ezhuthu is about serious cinema and not just for the popcorn eating cinema commoner.

Aayitha Ezhuthu’s premise is all about the rare species of progressive youths who are not opportunists and escapists from stamp paper scams and water-scarce society of the modern day India. It is Mani Ratnam’s expression of the angst against the middle class escapist mentality of the country and his endeavor to handover the country to such modern, intellectually progressive youth.

While conveying this Mani Ratnam chooses to adopt a style of film-making which is still in its experimental state, at least in India. The basic rule for the screenplay is that there no rules. There are only directives. Playing with this fact, Mani Ratnam has taken liberties to play with the style of film making. While he has adopted the classic structure that demands to introduce the characters, create the conflict and give an ending, he has just meddled with the timing of each the above mentioned components. Though I haven’t seen any of the movies they say has inspired Aayitha Ezhuthu like Ameros Perros, City of God or Kurasowa’s Rashomon, I personally think they might have had little to do with this film. As reported Aayitha Ezhuthu doesn’t sport overlapping events or even points of view. The movie, if observed meticulously, is told from a third person’s point-of-view.

In Mani Ratnam’s earlier super hit Alai Payuthey, the movie oscillates from the past to present and in one point the flashback merges with the present event. This same thing if you deploy as three flashbacks which gets merged with the present through a common incident, you get Aayitha Ezhuthu.

Pity the media as it reports the highlight lies in this connection of three stories to one point. It merely takes a pulp-fiction writer to manufacture such stories. The ‘Maathiyosi’(think different) lies in shaping these characters and using them to unfold the story in the later half. But in Aayitha Ezhuthu, the character build-up occupies for more than two thirds of the movie. The reason being all the three characters form the core of the movie and the movie details up their lives and their view of life. So every character’s story is detailed until which the other characters wait for their chance.

The risk involved in having such a story-telling style is that, relating to a character becomes tougher as there is no one central character that gets focused. It is only finally when the repercussion of that common incident gets focus, we clearly see the main theme and the protagonist of the movie. Despite these risks and shortcomings, it’s Mani Ratnam’s sheer ability to keep up the interest of the viewer with his character sketching. But after the two flashbacks and one common incident, one will tend to feel what the director wants to convey. Well, there is a long dense second half to come. But patience waits for none and you tend to loose it by the first half.

Madhavan as Inba Sekhar fails poorly to portray ‘the guy from streets’. Just because of Writer Sujatha’s Chennai slang the character of Inba Sekhar escapes without a curse. His Chocolate boy image and his intonations bring out the urban actor in him. With the kind of character that Mani Ratnam and Sujatha has etched out, one would expect a splendid and powerful performance from Madhavan. Though by his characterization Madhavan would tend to get noticed it is one of Mani Ratnam’s biggest mistake is to cast Madhavan for this role.

Surya as Michael Vasant, a child prodigy who comes from a middle class Christian family. Mike is rigidly violent and a genius of his own kind. Be it the way he rigs the politician or the way he proves that the universe is made of dense matter with a single equation, the character of Michael Vasant is here to stay with us. Surya has played his role very subtly like Kakkha Kakkha and gets full points for his perfect body language. Surya enters the flashback with the same walk into a mall just like Karthik in Mouna Ragam. The strength of his character doesn’t lie in all the powerful stunts he does with Madhavan but by the intelligent dialogue delivering skills of Surya.

Sidharth, the rascally flirtatious young man comes as a relief to the rather serious movie and his flashback just after the second half of the movie reminds us the romantic yester-year Mani Ratnam. For Sidharth is very natural and he portrays the present day $ dreaming yuppie youth. Actually it is Sidharth’s life that get entirely changed by the Napier Bridge incident and not the other two.

Bharathi Raja as Selvanayakam is convincing and does his role better than expected. A great find. Meera Jasmine who pairs Madhavan has done an appreciable job and it is her character that earns all the sympathy. Easha Deol’s character could be easily avoided because she does nothing more than just appearing on-screen. Trisha is also convincing as Meera.

Writer Sujatha again steals the show with his appropriate dialogues for the three characters. The difference he has shown in the dialogues of each character shows the genius he is.

Ravi K Chandran excels with his camera techniques, as expected. The kind of hand-in-hand exercise Ravi K Chandran, Editor Sreekar Prasad and Stuntman Vikram Dharma has done makes the stunts very remarkable.

Art Director Sabu Cyril is certainly a let down. His sets for Madhavan’s house, near the Chennai port is very artificial. The streets and roads leading to Madhavan’s house is clearly noticed as sets. We all know that each character gets a color. If only it was subtle, it would have won the praise. But these contrasting colors is so evident even in the sets and costumes. Madhavan’s neighborhood is fully painted red which makes it very artificial. For Surya, even the prison walls also are in Green. And the worst thing is for Sidharth, from the discotheque, his basketball walls and his bike, all feature blue. Even Trisha is forced to wear blue costumes to pair Sidharth. Not the kind of color thrust that we expect from a Mani Ratnam film.

Not all songs are picturised like typical Indian film songs. That’s however a relief. But Fanah and Hey Goodbye Nanba songs fill up that gap. A R Rahman also scores very subtly for Aayitha Ezhuthu. The extra bit song for Surya-Easha Deol in pallavan bus is a surprise. Mani Ratnam – A R Rahman deliver this surprise every time. Each character gets a theme of music and the music flows throughout the flash back for all the three characters. This background score is however very subdued and the difference can be heard only in a theatre. Having said that, this is certainly not the best of Mani Ratnam – ARR combo.

It is a fact that time pass films de-humanize the viewers and give a superman image to the heroes. Mani Ratnam has always tried to portray his heroes as practical humans. So he does that with class in Aayitha Ezhuthu too. Mani Ratnam spontaneously evolves towards the leftist line of thinking as his protagonist believes the change should not only be made in urbanized cities but also from villages like Neikaaranpatti.

Just like how Shakespeare’s Macbeth starts very sensationally with the introduction of the three witches, Aayitha Ezhuthu story starts right from the first second of the movie. It is just that Mani Ratnam takes time to set the dramatic need to the characters; the movie looses the chance to find a place in the viewer’s heart. If the movie fails it is because of this experiment that he has chosen to make. Though this effort may prove costly for him, Indian Cinema would go a long way because of such pioneering efforts. Mani Ratnam proves again that good film-making is an exercise in style.

Guest Blog 9 – Anand Chandrasekharan

This is not a film review. You can catch one (some of them reviewing the filmmaker, than the film) here on LazyGeek, here and here. A prolific filmmaker like Mani Ratnam makes one think, by addressing contemporary issues from a human perspective, albeit to finally deliver a commercial film. And Aayitha Ezhuthu did make one think.

Before we move on to other ruminations, the point is worth making that the movie is unlikely to succeed in Hindi (as Yuva) for the same reasons that Nayak (a remake of Shankar’s blockbuster Tamil movie Mudhalvan) failed to impress. It’s surprising that Mani Ratnam, who has made a career of putting his finger on the urban pulse, did not see through this. A theme like Ram Gopal Varma’s Company (based primarily on a Bombay gang) may have local relevance and interpretations, but a screeneplay like Yuva (based primarily on student leaders and their effect on local politics) is unlikely to have much emotional association among North Indian audiences. The Tamil version is definitely a recipe for a blockbuster, and is unlikely to go the direction of Kannathil Muthamittal or Uyire (which received more critical than box-office acclaim).

The timing is impeccable: it comes at a time when the Indian public, primarily the 700 million living in 700,000 villages have spoken in a collective voice through their electoral franchise that India Shining is a farce, when their daily struggles for “Roti, Kapda, Makaan” and “Paani, Sadak, Bijli” are unceasing. The film’s emphasis that as long as the top 1% of India does not extend its hand to the remaining 99%, no one else will, is well-made. My friend and netCore CEO Rajesh Jain‘s As India Develops posts came to mind.

The movie’s theme, Identity, is beautifully expounded upon. People who complain that Mani ‘Sir’ had little to say, need only look at the subtleties in the film. When Michael Vasant spares Inba Sekar towards the end, disparaging not him but his dirty politics, the themed lyrics rang clear:

Aayutham Yedu, Aanavam Sudu…
Thee Pandam Yedu, Theemaiyai Sudu
Irulai Yeritthu Vidu.
(Kill ego with your weapons…Kill evil with your fire…and use it to extinguish darkness…)

A lot has been said about the film being inspired by the Mexican film Ameros Perros (‘Love’s a Bitch’), Kurasowa’s Rashomon, and even Pulp Fiction. To say that a three-way flashback used in a narration belongs to Quentin Tarantino is to say that Al Gore invented the Internet. Yes, there were techniques of story-telling that were unoriginal. But Aayitha Ezhuthu is definitely a good tasting wine, regardless of the fact that it’s packaged in an old bottle.

What does the coincidence, that forms the crux of AKK, have to do our daily lives? We may not remember the day, but certainly the moment when an incident changed the way we think. It may have been an article, a person, even a thought. But it changes everything. That fallibility of human thinking is brought to life well. Of course, one could not have trusted Mani Ratnam any less. It’s not a new theme in film (Amelie, Signs, and Run Lola Run all expound on this theme…more on these in a separate blog…) but has been handled well here, and leads to an excellent ending which respects the audience and does not hand them an over-simplified resolution to a complex and subtle issue (a la “Main Hoon Na”).

As for the events in the film, it definitely kept the audience engrossed. The black and white morality between Madhavan and Surya’s characters reminded one that for every ‘Gentleman’, there is a ‘Kicha’s Appalam’ to deal with. Madhavan’s Vote for Inba Shekar scene and Surya proving of mathematic formulae in jail and his tiffs with Bharathiraja are going to remain in memory for a long time, be filed away under ‘M’ for Mani Ratnam, and be compared with montages that evoke nostalgic memories even today from Dalapathi and Nayagan. It’s hard to deny that the new breed of stars have arrived in South Indian cinema. It also brought back to memory a cable interview that Tina Brown had with Irshad Manji, the author of “The Trouble with Islam”, where she brings out the concept of “Inshtihaad”, which is another way of fighting against an enemy in Islam, but through peace. She hoped that it would replace “Jihad” as the Islamist way of expressing their anger, and it was amazing to see both her faith in Islam as well as her optimism about the Middle East. Such optimism, the essense of Michael Vasant’s character, is contagious.

The two things that stood out were how well the cast and crew brought out the theme of AKK (the last letter in the Tamil language) and the media hype that preceded the movie’s release. Everything I wondered after seeing Ameros Perros came back after AKK, and was summarized by Vairamuthu’s lyrics in “Hey, Goodbye Nanba”:

Andha Saalai Yil Nee Vandhu Seramal…
6 degree yil yen paarvai saayamal
Vilagi Poyirundhaal thollaiye Illai…. Idhu Vendadha Velai.
(If only you hadn’t been at that street; If only my eyes hadn’t tilted 6 degrees; There would have been no trouble…)

Mani Ratnam would probably be wishing he was a little known director whose work gets discovered each time. The only factor that seems to be selling this movie short is his larger than life image. Expectationos, Perros!

a) I get a call from a guy in Tindivanam for more than four times in my mobile who refuses to believe that I am not AnbuSelvan IPS (Actor Surya).

b) I get a call from an assitant director of a recent movie who again refuses to believe that I am not Gautam ( Director of Kakkha Kakkha).

All this and much more I am expecting in the days to come is just because of the fancy number that I was persistent to get with RPG Cellular. Long after I recieved my number from RPG, Surya spelled the same number by chance, in a hospital scene of Kakkha Kakkha.

I keep getting calls from unheard strangers thinking that the number belonged to Surya who intentionally gave it indirectly to his fans through the movie. The other set of people think it was Gautam who by mistake wrote his own number in the script and hence they are trying desperately to get a chance in this latest movie.

Even now after 8 months of the release of Kakkha Kakkha, a Surya fan kept disturbing me while I was busy watching Aayitha Ezhuthu. Very Irritating !!

Kamalhassan is getting ready for the remake of MunnaBhai M.B.B.S. Today’s pic in Hindu along with Prabhu was a surprise to me. Prabhu plays Arshad Warsi‘s role of ‘Circuit’ in tamil. Circuit is the sidekick of MunnaBhai in the hindi version. After that Vaanam Enna Kezhirikku dance by the duo in Vetri Vizha ( The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum), Prabhu and Kamal come together for Vasool Raja MBBS. Prabhu known for his versatile acting is also good as second hero.

While K. Balachander’s assistant Saran directs the movie, Bharathwaj gets a chance to compose for Kamalhassan which will be a refreshing change. Also with ‘Crazy’ Mohan penning the dialogues, you can be sure for tons of laughs.

Sanjay Dutt was clean and neat in Munnabhai MBBS but Kamal with this chinese monk beard looks comical. While I have no doubts that Kamal will do justice to the role, I am have my own irritation why he would have agreed upon for a remake. A remake is certainly not a crime. We saw that with Gilli. But it certainly isn’t a domain for Kamal’s versatality.

Read more.

If only the elections were held now…at this juncture, we don’t need opinion or exit polls. You know who would create a landslide now.

What a stylish way to do it. Are you with me ?

The fact that the stock markets can react so violently is an ominous reminder that all is not well with them. – quoted from The Hindu’s editorial dated 18th May, 2004.

While the media makes hype out of the millions lost due to stock market crash, The Hindu‘s editorial was mature with a lot of respect to the coming in governement and also without denouncing the outgoing government.

Thats a quality and unbiasedness required in this declining standards of modern day media. With headlines and coverstories discouraging every single prospective investor, the media is racing towards rock-bottom honesty.

It’s not the reporting of such news is getting on the nerves but transforming the news as nail-bitting thrillers to grab eyeballs of the viewers is sickening. Sickening. Read The Hindu’s editorial named Black Monday, that clearly explains the way of putting things.

Got a chance to watch Kamalhassan‘s College drama Nammavar , yesterday in Sun TV. I even watched Bala’s Sethu last night. However, If I choose to talk about it, I’ll be blamed for being biased. So, Ghup Chup.

Nammavar was an extraordinary film in many cases. Kamalhassan seemed to have been normal with out any make-up. Just a 10 day beard and that thick geeky spectacles personified a modern day Proffesor. I wished to have one like him. Couldn’t find though.

Anyway, the point is, Mahesh Mahadevan‘s music for Nammavar was breathtaking. Watching the movie again after a long time, I felt that Mahesh wasn’t praised critcally at the time of Nammavar release. Especially the Waltz music was amazing and still resonates. What a find he was for tamil cinema ? During the time when Rahman was unfolding his musical genius, Mahesh was also doing the same without much notice. Kudos to him. Though he is no more, I wish his music be researched and followed for some quality findings.

Just when I finished watching the movie, I realised that there was a co-incidence of Nammavar and Mahesh Mahadevan. Mahesh could have been the possible source of inspiration for this film. Kamal’s character suffers from Blood Cancer. He comes around with a cool attitude of life. He understands that he has cancer yet he isn’t willing to budge for it. Also he hates someone who pities him for the disease he carries. Interviews with Mahesh’s friends like Mani Ratnam and Kamalhassan have told before that Mahesh was also such a person who was willing to fight the cancer he carried with him and never allowed anyone who would pity him for that. Probably Kamal’s character was directly inspired from Mahesh Mahadevan.

Nammavar was also Kamal’s extravaganza. Be it the scene when he comes with a hi-fi sunglasses or the scene when he pleads to the students to forgive Karan’s mis-behaviour, Kamal proves that he is a self-taught genius. The second-half however went bonkers as it was Kamal Vs Karan. Also in the final scene, the senti stuff went overboard as Kamalhasan says that his ashes be laid in the gardens of the college. Very Artificial. You too Kamal !!

As I bike across the stretch of GST highway from guindy to tambaram, Aayitha Ezhuthu hoardings and banners keep springing up slow and steady. It is not that I am amused for the first time about Mani Ratnam‘s strategy on his film’s promos. I’ve always liked the strategy of slow approach that he takes to keep his audience guessing. Be it Thiruda Thiruda which flopped heavily in Box-Office or be it Roja which sweeped the Box-Office like the Andra Pradesh election assembly results, his strategy has never changed.

Aayitha Ezhuthu’s teasers were out a month back. What has to be conveyed through the teasers are done. Now it’s time to set the ground for more expectations as the movie opens up next week (May 21, 2004). Even the second level of trailers are out on TV Channels. It shows a much detailed description of the three characters and the conflict that happens in the Napier Bridge. Of course, the conflict could me heard and not seen. If you are blinking about what the conflict is wait and watch the movie or read Amores Perros’s synopsis.

Madhavan as Inba Sekhar seems to sweep the Aayitha Ezhuthu trailers with his cool attitude as he appears before the mike in a gathering and says Vote for Inba Sekhar. Many of my friends feel Madhavan and Bachchan will be the best among the six characters of Aayitha Ezhuthu and Yuva. From the trailers it looks like their assumption is right but it’s too early before the release to ignore Surya.

When I was in Satyam theatres to watch Main Hoon Na, I could see the Aayitha Ezhuthu and Yuva posters drawing huge crowds and if you lend your ears there for sometime, you might even get some cool assumptions of the movie. Someone said, that Madhavan liked the character of Inba Sekhar which prompted him to debate with Mani Ratnam for the same role in Yuva too. The other common statement was that Isha Deol looked very old as she pairs Surya in Tamil and Ajay Devgan in the Hindi version. Well, I only wish Mani and his team would endorse these assumptions/facts (??).

And as I watched the new Yuva trailer during the break of Main Hoon Na, I could see Kolkatta shining in Ravi K Chandran’s camera.

You can find some more pictures on my photoblog on how Chennai gears-up to welcome Aayitha Ezhuthu and Yuva.

Celebrating Mother’s Day isn’t a big deal. I have my own personal apprehensions just like millions of others in this country on this issue. Mothers’ day and other celebrated days are just children of this commercialization era. That’s however an old story. It’s been spoken, written and debated all over since the peep of such customs into Indian society. This blog post isn’t about it. Here is a gem I found over the media on the mother’s day.

- Visu’s Arratai Arangam in Sun TV deserves a mention. Rather than just being a yet-another-talkative-show, it has elevated to a forum of outcry of social and economic issues. Often you find people being pompous about their public speaking skills. Instead on focusing on the issues for which they are present to talk, they brag in Ethugai and Monnai like T Rajendar. That’s a huge diversion from the main topic.

This lady, who was talking in favor of parents being the single most important source of social sense for someone, uttered some genuine experiences. She said, during my childhood, I used to come home after classes and a tough play hour. My mom comes out of the kitchen, greeting me. As I hug my mom I could smell oil and other spicy smells from my mom who used to toil in the kitchen from dawn to dusk. Now, in this Singapore, as I can smell a plethora of perfumes around me, I am still in search of that oily, spicy smell of mom. I couldn’t find that.

What a way to put it. Hats off that lady who was genuinely longing for her mom like many others who settled in foreign countries, leaving their mom behind in India.

Guest Blog 8 – Anand Chandrasekharan

Richard Feynman (1911 – forever)
Member of the Los Alamos Project.
Inventor – Quantum Electrodynamics.
Physicist.
Professor at Caltech.
Nobel Laureate.
Bongo drummer.
Safe-cracker.
Painter of still life.
Reader of heiroglyphics.
Poet.

Here’s my favorite Richard Feynman quartet:

I wonder why, I wonder why,
I wonder why I wonder…
I wonder why I wonder why,
I wonder why I wonder.

Happy birthday, Mr Feynman! Your lectures in Physics continue to inspire as much your poetry will…

Guest Blog 7 – Anand Chandrasekharan

Oorai Vittu Veruooru Vandhaalum, unakku ullirukkum Mann Vasam
Naarai Vittu Poo Uthirndhaalum, Nalla Manama Veesum Mann Vasam
Yaarai Marandhaalum, Yenna Muyandralum, Marakka Mudiyadhu Mann Vasam
Paaraikku Naduvula Padinju Kiddakura Eeram Dhaan da Mann Vasam.

What happens when a bunch of talented people get together, and move well beyond personalities and egos to gracefully share the stage and put up a spirited show that compromises neither on quality nor on originality? The audience has a ball of a time. It’s about a week since THILLANA, the popular Bay area music band, did their annual bash (proceeds of which will be used for Vibha‘s projects in India), and also took the opportunity to bid farewell to Alex Babu, one of the guys who brought the band together (and is now moving back to India). Some thoughts:
- The play, which was a spoof on Kamal Hasan‘s Virumandi was distracting at times, but never boring and held the show together, besides making it more than just another musical event. Good job on integrating it with the music! (the villagers singing Kaadu Potta Kaadu from Karuthamma when a visiting teacher asks them to describe their village, hit the spot besides showcasing Alex’s wonderful vocals). The hard work that had gone into the backdrop design for the village setting and the Poikaal Kudurai definitely showed as well.

- The “all-girls” rendering of Acham Illai (from Indira) and how it was interwoven with the play is worth appreciating. It was also cool to see my friends Kavitha (on the drum pads…she was also the female lead in the play) and Padma (Ragavan’s wife, on the keys) do their thing. Good platform for the artistes to avoid the boredom of doing the same thing and allowing all these evidently multi-talented people to bring out their wares.

- Whenever there was slack in the music (on rare occasions), the projection TV would pick up and keep the audience engaged. Members of the audience got a chance to relive the nostalgia and cheer their favorite singers, writers, and actors as the pictures appeared when the songs were belted out. Fun Tv and its creators left a lasting impression and lifted the energy level of the event!

- Some songs deserve a mention: Ragavan‘s (a good friend of mine) rendering of Yesudas’ National award-winning Rama Katha from the Malayalam film Baratham almost brought the original alive (not to mention, his tamil rendering of some parts of the original lyrics). It also made the day of one of my Keralite friends at a Tamil concert! Same for Adho Andha Paravai (Aayirathil Oruvan), an intensely popular and nostalgic yester-years number, and Thee Kuruviyai (from KKS, original by Harini), which is not an easy song to sing live! The ability of the musicians to recapture the arrangements and the orchestration of the originals definitely lifted the quality of the show a notch. A little known fact is the RagaMan recently playbacked for Kanavu Meipada Vendum.

- One thing no one will complain about is lack of originality. Mukundan (Mux) performed a song from his upcoming music album Drive Time (the album definitely deserves a better name for it to sell!), which sounded fresh and had a good mix of Indian and western influences. Mux also was busy arranging all the songs at the event, and one wondered if that sometimes distracted him from his singing. That said, his rendering of Rakkamma from Dalapathi (backed up again by excellent instrumentation) definitely stamped his talent as a singer in his own right. Also, in what is now a Thillana tradition, the RagaMan wrote an original composition Mann Vasam dedicated to Vibha, which reminded one of lyrics from yester-year songs – simple, philosophical, evocative (the lines used above are from that composition).

- Towards the end, they seemed to cater to the crowd a little much. I honestly half-expected Jana Gana Mana and the cries of O Yuva Yuva from Aayitha Ezhuthu to end the concert, and atleast one song from Kadhal Kondein in the repertoire (in honor of the emerging Yuvan Shankar Raja). Folks who did not want to ‘shake it’ had to tune out for the last 20 minutes. Also, the rendering of the two Boys‘ songs (Dating and Boom Boom) and last year’s best song, Uyirin Uyire from Kaakka Kaakka was without the passion and intensity that defines these songs, especially when seen against what was excellent orchestration of these complex, multi-layered tunes.

All said, a full-hearted rendition of three hours plus of quality South Indian film music and all-around entertainment around it, that captured the Mann Vasam and the audience’s imagination.

Now, I understand why Writer Sujatha is averse for his books taking shape as movies. From Gayathri to Karaiyellam Senbhagapoo, Writer Sujatha has communicated his apprehensiveness in transforming his books to movies. Writer Sujatha’s book Irul Varum Neram, based on a real-life situation which happened in Bangalore was fictionalized by him as a novel. Vaanam Vasappadum pitifully joins that long list of attempts of making a movie from novels. Sujatha’s story is very moving and powerful. It’s just that the transformation of a novel to a movie hasn’t happened as expected.

The story deals with the case of a rape and aftermath of the rape. The viewpoint is from the rape victim and so it draws a consummate picture of the pain and hardship, a rape victim undergoes. The media has just briefed this as the story in its reviews. The story also deals in-depth on lives of two teenagers and their spoiled childhood. This dwelling in the mind of the teenager’s childhood that has makes the story a different one.

The movie goes on like pulp-fiction. It weaves through the intersecting stories of a young couple and two spoiled brats. As the movie begins and starts jumping from one story-line to other, Sujatha and PC Sriram get applauded for their skills of taking us through this exciting ride. Few such movies have been taken in Tamil especially in this pulp-fictionary format. However if you ever get to read these crime & killer pulp-magazines casually you would appreciate this style.

The biggest let down in the movie is the screenplay. PC Sriram and Lara’s screenplay is lagging and such a powerful story would require a racy screenplay. Also the editing has let down Sriram’s efforts to bring the story to life. At this juncture when I say that editing has been a let down, frequent songs also take credit for lagging the story.

Mahesh Mahadevan music is the most interesting component in the movie. All the 7 songs are highly melodious. Especially the Harini’s lullabying voice in Megamey might fetch her accolades. Seithi Suda Suda Seithi is a magic. With that high-pitched voice of Ranjith, they could have done a lot in the movie. The song however gets played in the background and goes without notice. However they have at least used this song in the trailers. Vaanam Vasappadumey song is also appreciable just like the duet from Hariharan and Sujatha called Kangal Theendi.

It’s very incidental that this was Mahesh Mahadevan’s last movie. I am sure he will be remembered Poonguil Paadinaal from Nammavar but it is this movie has been his all-time masterpiece. Kudos to him but we are definitely missing a great musician.

The beginning scenes and the Vaanam Vasappadumey song brings a sense of DejaVu. They are heavily inspired by Alai Payuthey. Even though you would compel yourself to disregard this thought, the hero bikes himself bikes with headphones over his head reminding the Alai Payuthey Madhavan.

Karthik Kumar is promising except for some scenes he looks as though he is controlled by the director. Poongothai as the heroine doesn’t contribute much to the movie. Especially her artificial dialogue delivery irritates at time. The two newcomers (not sure if they are new) as two teenagers have acted their heart and soul for the movie. Highly Impressive performance.

PC Sriram’s displays his technical craftery as a cameraman. But I am just left to feel if he could have done better as a director. Especially after his last movie as Kuruthi Punal, it is true that one would have expected much more from him.