In a recent interview to Ananda Vikatan, Gautam Menon talks about Vaaranam Aayiram in length. Vaaranam Aaayiram is rumored to have the storyline of Forrest Gump. This is Oscar Ravichandran’s second big movie of the year after Kamal’s Dasavatharam. The movie’s website is almost ready to go.

Gautam’s calls Vaaranm Aayiram as a man’s saga and he is appreciative of Surya’s effort in the film. The interview doesn’t end there. When the interviewer asks if he is Surya’s director, Gautam blasts kollywood heroes for dicatating terms to directors. He accepts that Sarathkumar in Pachaikilli Muthucharam was a bad choice.

This is what he has to say about Vijay -

இன்னும் சில ஹீரோக்கள் பொழுதுபோகலைன்னா கதை கேட்கக் கூப்பிடுறாங்க. நான் கதை சொல்லி முடிச்சதும், அவங்க எதிர்பார்ப்பு நான் சொன்ன கதைக்கு எதிர்திசையில் இருக்கு. விஜய்கிட்டே கதை சொல்லப்போனேன். அவ்வளவு அமைதியாக, எந்த எதிர்க் கேள்வியும் இல்லாம கதை கேட்டார். சொல்லி முடிச்சதும் ‘அருமையா இருக்கு. உங்களோட வேலை பார்க்கிறதில் ஆர்வமா இருக்கேன். இந்த டிவிடிக்களைப் பாருங்க. இதில் உள்ள கமர்ஷியல் அம்சங்களை உங்க கதையில் கண்டிப்பா சேருங்க’னு அவர் கொடுத்த டிவிடிக்களை வெளியே வந்து பார்த்தேன். ‘திருப்பாச்சி’, ‘சிவகாசி’ டிவிடிதான் அது. என்னத்தைச் சொல்ல..!

BTW, Gautam’s next film is with Ajith. Should that say something about this comment ?

[Click image for a bigger view]

Thanks to Anoop for de-constructing the trailer.

Flying cars, Kudumi mama, Mottai paati, Daler Mehndi, Apollo 13 and the Oval office. It’s an all encompassing, a very shankar-like, trailer. Hurray !!

Himesh sure did his job pretty well, atleast in this trailer. I’m sure Rahman and Kamal, mutually missed each other.

[
[#]

From Kamal’s recent interview -

With an ambitious storyline featuring 10 characters, ‘Dasavatharam’ will have contemporaneous messages encompassing such concerns as the environment, science and faith. “Dasavatharam has a lot of Al Gore in it, and also Ramanujar,” he says.

Describing the film as “honest to the core,” Kamal says he has explored religion at length. “Are we going to continue using the same blunt tool…religion,” he asks.

Is there a strong story line that elevates it from other blockbusters that we have seen in recent times? “For one, there are 10 characters, ranging in scope from a Ramanujar and a Galileo to a particle physicist. Computer graphics bring to life many of the scenes.” ‘Dasavatharam’ has convinced him that audiences were ready for good film stories even a decade earlier.

Writer Sujatha’s dialogues on science of love from Mani Ratnam’s Aayitha Ezhuthu.

And yes, the video was recorded from dvd using the flip video camcorder and runs from flickr. Didn’t you know ?

While I’m aware of the limitations that come along with Rajini in dance sequences, I still think Shankar didn’t do a good job in picturizing this peppy tune of Rahman. Not just that but Rahman lent his voice for this cool number and it had zero creativity.

While listening to this number on the earphone, I particularly enjoy Rahman modulation while he sings,”Naan Naan Naan Superman Thaan” line. Unfortunately, it wasn’t used too well in the movie. Shankar would have been better off making a complete animated song(ofcourse there is this new found graphics studio by Aishwarya which can be profited) transorming Rajini from Billa / Ranga / Baasha to Superman and Spiderman. Would have proved to be a great curtain raiser to Rajini’s Sultan. Something that Kamalhassan tried briefly in Aalavandhaan.

Instead of doing something like that, Shankar and team resorted to doing silly gimmicks with the gun, which Shankar himself had earlier experimented in Mukkala Muqabla song. Pathetic.

Just when I typed Aalavandhaan, I realized this was a Rajini blogpost, following a Kamal one. And this sequence of Rajini blogpost following a Kamal one or viceversa has been happening on this blog for quite sometime. And honestly, sathiyama, I didn’t realize it until now. Man, there seems to be a ghost residing in this blog. Run…..

That is what the newspapers would read the next day, after the launch of Kamal’s Dasavatharam audio album, when Jackie Chan himself will be present to felicitate the occasion. Jackie Chan has a huge fan following in Tamil Nadu and so expect long lines. Its going to be a doorbuster deal at Nehru stadium to get to see the duo.

Galatta reports, that Jackie Chan was said to be “overwhelmed by Kamal’s amazing performance, Chan is believed to have agreed immediately to the proposal”.

Kamal adds to the already growing hype - “It is the biggest project I’ve done. It is the longet project I’ve done and its the hardest project I’ve done.”

More about Jackie Chan’s attendance-

In addition, he also organized a party in Hong Kong to announce his confirmation. The Dasavatharam audio launch is all set to become a gala affair, one of the biggest the Indian film industry has ever seen. Already, Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and ‘Mega Star’ Chiranjeevi have agreed to grace the function. The audio launch will be held in Chennai’s Nehru Stadium in the second week of March.

Everything seems perfect. Kamal is excited. KS Ravi Kumar is excited. Sujatha has always been excited about Dasavatharam. But my only bother is Himesh Reshammiya. Let’s see how he fares on this one.

Jayabharathi, the director of famous 70’s flick Kudisai, who changed some perspectives for Tamil Cinema, cries over spilled milk. In his recent interview to Vikatan, he says that over the last couple of decades, he has been a believer of good Tamil cinema, but it hasn’t reaped many fruits for him.

Having approached more than dozen tamil cinema ‘artists’ including Vadivelu, Vivek, Prakashraj and Rajinikanth, he hasn’t had success converting those meetings into offer for a film.

I’ve haven’t watched Kudisai but I have come across few people(artsy types) swearing on the film to be a one of the few modern Tamil films. Every two months, in Vikatan or Kumudam, there is an old Tamil Cinema technician, a director or crew member, cribs about being left behind with no money to run his life. Its easy to classify him as a loser but there is another angle to it. Irrespective of who cribs about it, the fact remains that cinema isn’t just about art, even in the past. What fuels the handful of good Tamil cinema every year, are those masala flicks that make tons of money.

It’s business guys. Not just some dream sequence like the song, Madai Thiranthu Thaavum Nadhi Alai Naan(one of my all-time favorites). Dreams of good cinema end up being painful and it hurts. It even ruins ones career. Meet Mr. Jayabharathi -

நல்ல சினிமாவின் மீது கவனம் படரப் பேசுகிறாரே என்று பிரகாஷ்ராஜைத் தேடிப் போனேன். ‘வாழ்க்கை யின் வளமான பக்கங்கள் இன்னும் மீதமிருக்கிறது’ என நம்பிக்கை வரும்படி ஏதேதோ பேசினார். ஆனால், இன்றுவரை அவரின் பேச்சுக்கள் எதுவும் உயிர்பெற வில்லை. அதன்பின் அவரைத் தொடர்புகொள்ளக்கூட முடியவில்லை. இன்றைக்கு ஆபத்பாந்தவர்கள் எனப் பேசப்படுகிற சாய்மீராவிலும், கிணற்றுக்குள் போட்ட கல் மாதிரிதான். என்னால் 60 லட்சம் ரூபாயில் அருமையான படத்தைத் தர முடியும். அதிகப் பணம் வேண்டாத, அதேசமயம் படுஇயல்பாக நடிக்கிற நடிகர் களும் என் வசம் இருக்கிறார்கள். கதவுகளும் ஏகமாக இருக்கின்றன. ஆனால், ஒன்றும் திறக்கிறபாடாகக் காணோம்!

தமிழ் சினிமாவின் மேலான படங்களில் என்னை ஈடுபடுத்திக்கொண்டது குற்றமா? இத்தகைய வெறுமை யான சூழ்நிலையில் நான் செய்ய வேண்டியது என்ன? தினமும் அவசியமான வேளைகளில் சாப்பிட வேண்டி யிருக்கிறது. சென்னையின் புறநகரில் வசித்தாலும், மாதம் தவறாமல் வாடகை கொடுக்க வேண்டியிருக்கிறது. உங்களிடம் நான் ஒன்றே ஒன்றுதான் கேட்கிறேன்… என் திறமையைப் பயன்படுத்த எனக்கு ஒரு படம் கொடுங்கள்; அல்லது, பிழைத்துக்கிடக்க ஏதாவது வேலை கொடுங்கள்!”

And those lines from Madai Thiranthu, “இசைக்கென இசைகின்ற ரசிகர்கள் ராஜ்ஜியம்” is a bloody myth, dude.

When I first read that Kunal committed suicide, I thought that someone thoughtful will create a connection to Monal’s suicide. Well, I wasn’t trying to be cynical because it did happen. Kunal and Monal(Simran’s sister) acted together in the movie Paarvai Ondre Pothumey.

Indiglitz sports filmbuffs in-house and they quickly made a connection.

It is sheer coincidence that the heroine of the film ‘Paarvai Onre Pothumey’ Monal too had committed suicide.

Now that someone kick-started the rumor head, I would expect the astrologers union to jump in an take-over from here. They can potentially analyze the chemistry between Kunal and Monal. Incidentally(or spiritually) Kunal and Monal have the ‘nal’ as the ending syllable of their first name. Numerology can be used here. Since they both came from the north west of Chennai, astrology of directions can be put to vigorous analysis.

The IT experts can do data mining of all the celebrities who have commited sucides in the last few years and can publish white papers declaring the resulting pattern matches and suprising ‘findings’.

Media, Enjoy the celebrity’s death.

Billa was painful. Excruciatingly. Even the best guy to do this remake job, Vishnuvardhan, failed, big time. With Billa, Ajith has exhausted all his options. What’s left ?

Go back to the drawing board(if there is one), and he should rethink his options. He should be looking at his career and verify his career highs. Aasai, Kathal Kottai, Kadhal Mannan, Vaali and Dheena. The rest of his films are pure crap or moderately interesting films. All the above films are major hits, with due credits to the director/story/screenplay. Isn’t it time to get a class in acting(the one that includes dialogue delivery) ? Seriously, no jokes.

The only other way, Ajith can pick up his career is comparing himself to Vijay, which is invariably happening, thanks to the fan clubs. But this wouldn’t be fruitful to him. Why ?

Vijay’s major success stems from the fact that he has accepted his limitations and started to tread on the path that has been laid by yester year heroes with similar limitations. Vijay should thank Rajini for being a veteran on this route. And he does.

Can Ajith pick-up the heroic path of Vijay. NO. Why ? Because heroism doesn’t happen. One has to create it. Not a single scene of Billa, Ajith was trying to be heroic, including the scene where Ajith escapes from the bridge by diving down. There isn’t a movie where I’ve seen Ajith as heroic as Vijay. And that’s why he shouldn’t be compared to Vijay.

Part of Ajith’s success comes from his cool personality, lover-boy image, a typical middle-class south indian boy. A good family drama, a neat down-to earth comedy film can do the magic. There are hundreds of stories and tons of directors waiting for Ajith to make this happen. And Ajith has been quite successful to pick up fresh talent. It’s just that he has shunned them for some time now.

There are two directors whom I really think can give Ajith a break provided Ajith changes his mindset and starts to concentrate on his areas of improvement. Not Mani Ratnam. Not Shankar. Go Figure.

Previous Ajith Kumar Rant.