9PM,GV YISHUN CINEMA, Singapore…Boys…First day….Evening show.
My friend wants to buy a popcorn. “You wont have time to eat it…it’s a shankar movie”
Facts we know from the promotions ---teen movie about 5 boys and a gal with some romance – graphics – they make big and get some award in the end. Then??
The silver screen lights up….we sit straight for our surprise!
Still- Narration sequence introduction of the boys and the gal.
“Is that Shankar’s voice??”
Girlfriend song with a digital girlfriend
“aah…there he does it again”
Boys meet “Mangalam sir (Vivek)” in a wine shop n manage to take him home with omelets n full meals vomit. In return to the favor, vivek gives them link to a hooker. Each of the boys comes out of the room n boasts a lotsa crap about his time with her. All these happens in the heros home.
“YUCK!!”
The guys die for a smile from the gal. She comes to them for rescue from a Hulk…..and the Boys do their best to show heroism in front of the gal n atlast get the look they were yearning for. Of course they get pinned down by the hulk later on.
“well..tis ok…lets c wot happens next”
As expected, they Boy n the Gal fall in love and the parents are against coz they don’t want their kids to spoil their future as they did!!! The boy and gal manage show their love for each other by scribbling on the wall…and spilling rice on the street. The parents in turn, show their anger by using their momento to clean waste. As per the teen law, the guy’s friends fall in never ending love with the gal’s friends singing Titanic songs. The parents turn to kaali and veerappan and osama and what not??
“Wotta marocharithra!!!”
In comes n earthquake n the kids!! manage to fool their parents to escape to Tirupati. The hero and heroine tie not with friends cheering and “Maangalyam....” in the background
“Havent we seen a similar stuff before in a hit movie??”
Vivek is always there to help for anything from money to car to tripati to Iyer. All of them get arrested on their way back. The frame shows GAP in green letters.
“Okie…..he gives us time to breathe before he starts off with the actual story”
The teens swear in the police station that they will stick together and win in life and love. The parents wash them out to some Mangalam sir. Then guys and the gal find a hideout in a dungeon for a song sequence to follow.
“Hmmmm…..bottles, screws and cans dancing is no different than a skeleton dancing in jeans”
Vivek is there again to get them part time jobs and they manage to survive. They get the Big idea of making cassettes and they manage to make their first one a bajan hit.
“Gud…what next?”
A terrorist group comes from no where and they do an album for them. The top brass in country’s intelligence nail the boys down under POTA act. A sequence of horrible tortures follows that reminds Kadhalan and Shankars series of articles about his own experiences in a famous tamil weekly. Nothing is shown by way of enquiry or anything. They get released suddenly with a waiting vivek explaining how he had to talk upto home secretary level to get them out.
“Where is that Popcorn??? Can we get one more ??”
The get ousted from their colleges and are left with no choice but to make it big in music by making Pop albums. Vivek(again!!) gets them to a BIG MNC music company. The guy there signs a contract with them after a couple of “please sirs” and songs.
“Life is so easy…huh??”
The guys have their so called TREAT with lots of alcohol around where the girl even prepares a half boil to help them enjoy!! In the party they pull each others legs and finally end up blabbering about their close encounter with the hooker. The girl gets angry and goes back to the parents and a waiting American-grown guy who is ready to marry her even after 6 divorces!!! She even throws away her Thaali and swears that she had returned as she had went.
“Wots wring with this guy???”
The friends go in search of that hooker to bring her and confess to the gal that nothing has happened that night. One of the friends gets killed!!! in his attempt to reach her. Mudalvan’s amma gets a chance to cry her guts out here as the mother of the dead boy.
The company threatens to cancel their contracts without the girl’s voice. The boys realize their mistake. The hero sacrifices his love by signing a divorce paper to make the girl sing with them.
“That’s it!!!!”
They make the album. It becomes a hit and as if everyone was waiting…..it gets selected as the best album of the year and they get the best in every category. They cry at the ceremony for their dead pal.
“Let me start replying my sms instead of watching the screen”
A court scene for divorce…and none other than Solomon Papayya is the judge. Unfortunately, he could give the verdict only after a recess time since this was a very very complicated case!! In the gap, vivek manages to show some snaps of girls who are ready to marry the hero. This ignites the heronies “possessiveness” and she jumps on him in the court’s compound itself and fights with him and finally they get locked in a kiss.
I am far away out of the cinema hall by the time it ended. Better go by bus than taking a cab and save some money
“So..where is the shankar surprise??” my friend asked
“Even Shankar can make such a bad movie….and thats the surprise” I replied.
I am an ardent fan of Shankar. No doubt about it. I loved all his movies and have a collection of the CDs.
Positive points first
The music. Truly refreshing. Even the ayyapan songs are great.
The camera work
Art direction and costumes
Thankfully, the new faces have given their best shot in performance
But,
Is this not the umpteenth teen movie and romantic movie? The negative features.
The heroine is shown doing her B.Sc and aspires to be a doctor!!! Are we missing something here??
How come the hero’s friends fall in love with the heroine’s friends as if it was pre-destined.
How come a hero clever enough to sell tickets in black to get back the money spent dint cross check with the gal before running stark naked in mount road?
Is such crazy and foolish act enough to impress the girls that she immediately signs off her love for him? She sings “love is such a big mistake” and falls in love the next moment.
Is Vivek the owner of ICIC bank? He drains out money like anything.
Aren’t today’s parents more concerned about their sons and daughters than just scolding and shutting them in?
Wont there be any enquiry or anything for those who have been arrested under POTA act??
Is it so easy to impress a music company and get the best music album award?
Why does the friend tries do some circus act in the running bus? Ok..he has located the hooker…cant he wait till the bus stops at some stopping??
Why do they need the same “Rani” after all? They could have brought any woman and made her confess.
Are just great song sequences and graphics which we have seen again and again in his movies enough to impress the tamil audience?
Shankar’s characters use to be intelligent, clever and brave. Munna doesn’t follow kiccha, senapathi or pugalendhi in anyway.
continued in comments section.....
