Jul 05, 2005 06:27 PM
3179 Views
(Updated Aug 06, 2005 12:39 PM)
There's this term de javu - which means sense of feeling of what you are gonna get- perhaps of what you have seen before. when trailers unfolded one felt something was missing. why isn't shankar making it sleeker? Is it looking like....something u have seen?
a month later, on one sat evening as I sat after coughing rs. 200 for a ticker I was apprehensive. the film reel opened in what opened to a look-alike or original of the mylapore tank...and then came the hero - just like that - u feel , hey, why didn't shankar let the camera unfold itslef...and within seconds vivek and sadah have been introduced...thats it.
and before u say A-N-N-I-Y- A-N , in ten minutes we know of a conservative iyengar guy- AMBI - , a stickler for rules- newspaper, the Hindu, of course to be folded properly ...traffic signals to be followed etc etc. and in minutes the first song is out.
then we see the real india- or chennai- slightly overdone, or over repeated - a guy doesn't entertain a blood and gore accident victim into his new car....ambi is hassled to say the least and is pacified by his parents taht the bad guys will be taken care of. Needless to say the culprit is trampled by a bullocks and its rider , this guy with long hair.....and there is a jumble left behind ..in sanskrit .
ambi serenades this girl- next-door, nandini - and is rejected. More killings happen to hapless guys who dish out buttermilk instead of paid-for curd in railiway meals and so do the sanskrit jumbles. A police officer and the hero's sidekick, enquire while masquerading as passers on, while questioning the viewers sensiblity.
Ambi is rejected by nandini and comes a cool dude Remo who prances with a yen for yana.......Nandini falls for him . while this is on ambi is beaten up and there arises him transformed into the long haired killer and......lost me? Oh, lets cut the story short....cut to interval.
remo continues romancing with nandini until she confesses to him that she is planning to cheat the hapless chennai municipality of rs 1 lakh or thereabouts by tax evasion. he transforms to the killer and after a half hour of chase - which includes a superb fight sequence a la MATRIX, but looks terribly out of place- is treated in a mental hospital. we realise - thru flashbacks- that remo is ambi is the killer......as result of a childhood (what else?) shock ambi is this meek stickler for rules and when he cannot suffer the world an alterego takes over- which is anniyan, the evil killer who meats out the society villains their just deserts....and becomes remo to romance with nandini...... Ho hum!!
Reels and dialogues later he gets caught l- but cannot be convicted- and is sent for cure. two years later he is back...cured? well, that's what u think....but, good news, there ends the movie.
Well so that's that- in one word shankar introduces multiple-personality-disorder and borrows heavily from ' Cape fear' and novels like ' Tell me your dreams' to tell us a story. Is this the same guy who entertained us in gentleman, kathalan, Indian, mudhalvana, jeans...even the utterfly forgettable Boys ? He fails in holding the story - save for the last 15 minutes thanks to vikram. what went wrong are the pluses that u normally find in a shankar film that make it worth repeat viewing:
Screenplay - sad , doesn't hold you. even the mandatory flashback is weak.
Theme- Repeats; even dialogues. Certain scenes are similar to 'Indian', 'Gentleman'
Songs- not hummable; am not saying Harris jaayraj aint good- but not near the ARR tunes in shankar's earlier films
Picturisation- nothing make you dance in theatres..even 'andankakka...'
Comedy- pathetic jokes....
Thrills- mistimed like the kungfu fight- u are confused here
Grandeur- has spent money- but the 'garden at newzealand' etc don't somehow add to awe inspiring
Gimmicks- has tried a few like 'painted streets' etc are too flat- none to write home
the pluses- well Vikram holds the film. He has put an inspired triple-role performance. Sada is saada (ordinary). Vivek hams and prakash raj's masquerades are confusing. None of the others are worth mentioning.
But what about shankar- I had gone to watch him- well, in short, when compared to earlier films shankar the director has become an 'anniyan' (stranger) to himself.
p.s dated 19th july
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heard from reliable sources that the movie is 'FED'. that the theateres are showing FULL HOUSES, ahving taken the film for what they call in trade parlance as MG (Minimum Guarantee) and are 'stuck' with playing the film- they cant remove it as they are liable to play the film for a certain no of days. audience in mayajal (chennai) found it having onl;y 20-30% capacity on a sunday.
