Geo’s Talkies – OK Kanmani

‪#‎OKKanmani‬ is vintage Mani Ratnam, even if it sounds like a cliche. The GodFather of modern romance at various points of time right from Mouna Raagam right up to Alaipayuthey has written a story that involves a man and woman of today, wonderfully played by Nithya Menen as Tara Kalingarayan and nicely portrayed by Dulquer Salman as Aditya Varadharajan.

Conversations over cell phones, professional aspirations and goals, values (some would say the lack of it) all have been woven into the story. He layers these troupes with those of an ageing couple faced with their own problems in day to day life. Its almost like a plant blossoming under a giant tree the two couples separated by age. The movie is also about Prakash's Raj's Ganapathy, in one of his finest roles ever, and Leela Samson's Bhavani though the trailers focus on Adhi-Tara.

The hip upper class crowd, for a change isn't portrayed as scheming and lacking in moral and ethical values. After a series of botched up female acting calls, the ace auteur nails it this time with his cast. Ramya Subramanian gets a good role to play in her first full scale movie outing almost like Swarnamalya and Medha got in Alaipayuthey. Buses, trains, rain, sea front, telephone calls, bikes all get a fresh take in this story. Though Mani's characters are mostly upper-middle class / upper class they always travel by public transport.

The story is light weight, entertaining and lacks serious drama or tension building moments. AR Rahman's re-recording (an Indianism for background score) has a higher amount of piano this time and the BGM is co-credited to Qutub-e-Kripa (KMMC composers). PC Sreeram's camera is inventive in it's angles, particularly featuring Adhi and Tara. The first series of conversations between the couple is beautifully staged and immaculately captured. Another Madras Talkies' regular Sreekar Prasad has edited the movie.

This movie is Mani Ratnam giving his fans a re-arrangement of his troupes, to people who felt he strayed away from his strengths as a story teller. [Asides: The movies didn't have to be rated U/A. "Pollachi Mahalingam", "Kalingarayar", the "TN-66 J" registered Audi and the name itself makes up a lot of references to Kovai aka Coimbatore. For some of us there is no other place like Cbe].

Geo’s talkies – Kadal

Its an exciting prospect when Mani Ratnam makes a movie that isn’t being made in Hindi in parallel. One of Mani Ratnam’s strong points about a movie is how grounded in the milieu that the story is set in is.  Jeyamohan’s writing on “Angadi Theru” and “Naan Kadavul” were good to put it mildly. Both stories were gritty, grounded and hard hitting. The latter had a lovely philosophical and religious subtext that ran in parallel to the narrative. Therefore when Jeyamohan teams up with Mani Ratnam expectations are surely going to peak, who’d not want to see what the master of modern day urban romance (in as artistically it can be within the boundaries of the mainstream) do to Jeyamohan’s story.

This is a story about good vs evil, about Sam and Berchmans. Sam Fernando, a scion of a rich family wants to become a priest, goes to a seminary where he meets Berchmans, who is from a poor family, the place in the seminary being his meal ticket. The clash of personalities manifest right at the outset with Berchmans’ playful prank playing nature contrasted by Sam’s silence and frugal eating habits. Sam happens to catch Berchmans, both sworn to celibacy, with another woman and there begins the journey of Berchmans wanting his revenge on Sam. He spouts lines about the Satan stopping short of calling him a fallen angel, but you get it by now.

The story moves to a fishing hamlet on coastal Tamil Nadu. A small boy is taking a nap, lying on top of his mother. When a man comes knocking and asks the boy to go out and latches the door behind him we realize that his mother is a prostitute. A few seconds later the lust borne man rushes out of the hut after discovering that the lady’s been dead for a while. The small fellow goes back and tries to wake his mother and goes back to hugging her corpse. The clergy refuse a place in the Church’s cemetry to the dead woman which results in her being buried by the sea, her leg having to be broken to be fit into what’s her coffin.

The simile this brings is to a prostitute who couldn’t keep her legs closed, it hits you hard. This is not the Mani Ratnam you know. At it’s best this could be Bala’s territory. But then you realize this is the Mani Ratnam trying to push boundaries. The kid gives a priceless expression mourning the death of his Mother looking into the camera. When he lands up at the house of who he thinks is his Father, the cinematography is raw, you can see the cracks in the wall, almost smell the dry fish that is laid out to dry in the verandah. The little boy, named Thomas, grows up in the same village, ridiculed and ostracized by the local populace.

This is when Sam, who has now become a priest, lands. Sam wants to reinvigorate faith in the fishing community that has lost it’s communion with God. He goes about setting his Church and manages to weave his way into the heart of the boy and the community. The Priest now has a son, a Father becoming a father to put it in a colloquial way. In a story of good vs evil how long can you move the narrative without the antagonist in it. Berchmans, now  a wealthy fishing contractor, lands on the shores where Sam lives, shot by a rival gang and left to die.  Sam nurses him back to life and Berchmans plots his moves in the fight against good to establish his supremacy.

Sam gets thrown in jail for murder which plays out as an accident while he’s being tried by the congregation on allegations of immoral behaviour involving Serena, a superb and short portrayal by Lakshmi Manchu. The condemnation, judgement and arrest plays out like The Passion of the Christ in how it unfolds and the imagery used.  Thomas falls for Beatrice (called Bea), a young girls living with nuns in a monastery, she’s apparently some sort of a nurse or paramedic. Thomas, who is orphaned yet again, is taken into the fold by evil incarnate Berchmans. He’s a sinner, he later confesses to his beau, who is playing hopscotch. She says he’s forgiven, that’s all it takes for him to redeem himself. But has he completely? The rest of the movie is about how the fight of good and evil plays out and who wins in the end.

The complete nonchalance at how some artistic, political and social issues are mentioned casually in the movie is a delight. Berchmans killing Thomas’ father, who lands in Thomas’ arms to breathe his last after having spent his whole life disowning him is poetic. And there after Berchmans mentioning it casually as a death due to firing by the other side, a reference to the Sri Lankan navy which is always in the news for firing on Indian fisherman, is subtle. The now powerful Thomas being able to exhume his Mother’s remains from the beach and give her a burial in the Church’s cemetry is a nuanced portrayal of the double standards that the Clergy mete out to the poor.

This story has done what few mainstream movies manage to do and that is to not explain everything moronically. Between what’s shown on screen are gaps which are filled in the mind. Sam is never shown conducting a mass or giving a Sunday message in oratorical flourish to establish how he wins over his flock. Berchmans deceit in using Serena to accuse Sam isn’t spoon fed. AR Rahman’s music (songs and background score) is fabulous. Chithirai Nila plays when Thomas loses his Mother in the beginning of the movie and again when he loses his Father. Magudi is the title card song, it’s also the “falling of Thomas” song. Adiye is the love lorn youth’s lament song. Nenjukulle plays out amidst chatter. Moongil thottam is classic Mani having his fun on the beach. However, the songs comes at points where the story is paused for the music videos to play out, that’s a bummer. Nee illai is the end credits song.

Rajiv Menon’s cinematography is excellent, but do we need DI in every frame that the skin tones, the sky, water and the horizon look “photoshopped”? One has to mention that the steady cam work was top notch all through the movie. Art direction is just fascinating in this movie. Sashidhar Adappa, not the regular Sameer Chanda, does the production work and it stands out in a non-obtrusive manner all through the movie. Be it the Kasimedu type fishing stalls on the beach, the churches or the boats. The dialogues are in a dialect that is unique to the Southern parts of Coastal Tamil Nadu which many might find a little difficult to keep up with.

Arvind Swamy is wonderful as Father Sam Fernando but it’s Arjun Sharja who takes the honours for the best part in the movie. He lives the role he’s playing and his eyes sparkle with venom when he espouses vengeance. Gautam Karthik performs decently, though this isn’t an all out star-kids-debut movie or subject, he manages to hold his own. Thulasi Nair has a nice and unique smile, but one smile cannot a full movie make. Her performance is woefully inadequate which leaves me wondering if the romantic and spiritual angle would have gotten more depth if her role was portrayed by a more consummate actress? I also wonder if the character was written as “child-like” as an after thought to keep with the actress’ juvenile portrayal? Why does Mani cast such woefully inadequate actresses in his movie? This after casting excellent talent like Revathi, Shobana, Amala, Saranya in the past!

Mani Ratnam is also someone who stretches this suspension of disbelief aspect with respect to locations in every movie. He continues the same in this movie by shooting in Kasimedu, Manappadu, Dhanushkodi and backwaters in Alapuzha (Chitira Kayal, Vembanad Lake) to edit them together as one place. Is the church shown in the end titles Kuruvilangad St Mary’s Forane Church? And the church shown in the medical camp Cheriapally in Kottayam?

Kadal is a wonderfully layered attempt at charting out a new territory  in terms of content and execution.

Geo’s Talkies - Skyfall

“This is the end” sings Adele when James Bond falls of a train, that’s passing a viaduct, into a river having been shot by one of his own and the opening credits begin. Sam Mendes sets the tone right at this point on what is to come. The pre-credit sequences are high octane with chases on four wheels and two wheels and that mandatory train which always seem to have the CAT equivalent of L&T Proclain and some stunning cars that have to end up as crushed metal.

Before getting shot 007 was attempting to retrieve a stolen hard disk that contained the list of NATO operatives across the world and MI-6 continues to pursue the target to retrieve the data before the cover of the field operatives are blown. In Julian Assange style the antagonist reveals five names every week putting pressure on MI-6 and M who is not just fighting a battle with an unknown enemy but also keeping political pressure from inside the UK at bay.

How 007 comes back and saves the organisation from the antagonist forms the rest of the story. The antagonist is one of the cleverest villains Bond has had to face in the last 50 years, who also has a homophobic streak that plays humorously. The mandatory Bond girls are there, one of them, as it always happens, gets killed brutally. There is no mention of any physical intimacy between Bond and the other though the lines they speak are risqué. The Ashton Martin DB5 (BMT 216A) which first appeared in GoldFinger (*ing Sean Connery) makes it’s appearance in this one.

Q now is a computer geek who still needs Bond’s brain to figure the name of a tube station that’s involved in a core plot point in the movie. The gun he passes on to Bond should be made mandatory to own, why wouldn’t anyone want to possess a gun that won’t fire without the owner’s finger prints on the trigger?

Thomas Newman’s first attempt at scoring for the Bond franchisee is a welcome change, the music  is void of the bravado we’ve come to associate with David Arnold’s score. Except for the legendary Monty Norman’s James Bond Theme which plays in the OST as arranged by David Arnold, Thomas goes ahead and weaves his own tapestry around the drama which makes the score subtle, synthesized in parts and engaging. It’s only fair to Sam that he brought Thomas into the movie after their successful collaboration on The Road to Perdition, American Beauty and Revolutionary Road.

Roger Deakin’s cinematography captures the mood of every scene lucidly and the latter scenes in Scotland thankfully aren’t postcards for Scotland Tourism but are stark and vivid to carry forward the narrative. Sam Mendes is no Michael Apted (The World is not enough) or Martin Campbell (Golden Eye, Casino Royale). Therefore this Bond movie is more of a drama with bursts of superb action sequences. Skyfall is a must watch.

Geo’s talkies – Departures (Japanese)

Departures was the winner in the best foreign film category at the Oscars in 1999. The movie is based on a novel titled Coffinman and was directed by Yojiro Takita and has English subtitles.

Daigo Kobayashi is a cellist with a modern Japanese orchestra which closes down due to lack of patronage. This leaves Daigo without a job and forces him to sell his costly and professional cello, move to the town he was born in to occupy the house left back by his deceased Mother. Daigo responds to an advertisement about a job with Sasaki and manages to bag it only to realize it wasn’t what he thought it to be. The job is to prepare dead bodies for burial, encoffination is the term used by some.

Reluctant Daigo learns the trade from his boss Sasaki, a man of few words but who portrays immense respect for the dead and living, who meticulously work on dead bodies with respect to wash, clean, clothe and make them look their best in the last few moments left on Earth. Daigo’s wife Mika doesn’t like his job when she get’s to know it, he becomes a pariah with the only other association he’s shown to have in the movie.

Daigo nurtures an almost perfect relationship with his boss and eventually learns to respect and practise his trade with art like precision. Having raised by a single mother, he nurses a grudge for his Father who deserted them while he was a child. His wife leaves him asking him to decide if he wants to continue the profession or live with her.

There isn’t too much dramatic tension in the narrative, all such setups are resolved before they can sink in. The movie has been shot very beautifully with classical or classical-like orchestral music to back up the shots. The third movement (popularly known as Ode to Joy) from Beethoven’s 9th plays in it’s full 6 track glory in the early section of the movie showing Daigo’s orchestra. Daigo find more music and looks inward as his learning of his trade progresses.

The ending reunites Daigo back with his wife and brings closure to his inner turmoil in a very nice way. The Japanese have made an art of folding paper, which goes by the name Origami. Even routine and mundane activities like manufacturing in an assembly line is practiced like an art in Japan. It’s hence not very surprising to see how much of a care and devotion is laid out to prepare dead people and give them a fitting farewell from this world.

There are many scenes that stand out due to content that’s emotional or soul stirring. A dead wife’s husband crying “Naomi”, Daigo’s boss Sasaki’s methods while working, Mika starting to take pride in her husband’s profession, the Japanese people’s liking for good food, all have been portrayed exquisitely. A scene depicting salmon trying to swim up a river while dead one’s float downstream is profound in meaning. The scene where Sasaki & Daigo show up 5 minutes late to be shouted at mirrors the fact that the Japanese are sticklers for punctuality.

Departures is a must watch on any movie lover’s list, for the way characters have been laid out and made to play; around the theme of mortal certainity, of death and loss, yet would make you exclaims “What a beautiful movie!” instead of anything negative.

Geo’s Talkies – Kerala Cafe

Kerala Cafe is a collection of 10 short films filmed by different directors and technicians while Ranjith steers the overall idea and concept and also produces the film. I have to start this post with a disclaimer. The only other movies of similar nature I’ve seen are Paris, Je’ t aime & New York, I love you. Thanks to Joshua who made me see the former, the movie was very good while the latter wasn’t a laudable effort.

Ranjith is a prolific script writer and director who over the past decade or two exhibited expertise in writing scripts to cater to the masses and also scripts which tread the line between art and popularity rather carefully. Some stories he has written / adapted for the screen are lilting and poetic. The list of directors comprises people who direct popular mass entertainers and people who make sensible movies that appeal to the class audience. The central theme of Kerala Cafe is journey (yatra) and all short films incorporate this into their theme.

Nostalgia is the first short film starring Dileep, Navya Nair directed by M Padmakumar, shot by Anil Nair based on a poem Naaduvazhikal . Two minutes into this short film you are shaken by the contrast of feelings in the protagonist played by Dileep who is an NRI from Dubai visiting his hometown in Kerala. Navya Nair plays his wife is the cynic in the frame who sees through Dileep’s actions. Sudeesh plays the role of Dileep’s friend in his hometown who works as a waiter in Kerala Cafe.

Island Express written and directed by Shankar Ramakrishnan has been shot on film by S Kumar. Based on the derailment and loss of 100+ lives when the Island Express derailed from the Peruman bridge in Kollam district of Kerala, this film brings together characters who have lost a loved one on that ill fated night. Sukumari, Maniyan Pilla Raju, Jayasuriya, Prithviraj, Rahman, Geethu Christie and Kani play warm roles in this short, each one having lived through the loss visits the accident spot. Maniyanpilla Raju plays the role of the engine driver from the night of the accident, to even attempt to describe all the subtle emotions on his face would be an exercise in futility.

Lalitham Hiranmayam is the next short directed by Shaji Kailas, stars Suresh Gopi, Jyothirmayi & Dhanya Mary Varghese. Rajesh Jayaraman writes the story while GSujith Vasudev captures the visuals on film. Suresh Gopi and Jyothirmayi are a married couple with a girl child, disaster strikes in the form of a confession Suresh Gopi does to his wife about an affair he’s been having with Dhanya Mary Varghese. This short was the one big surprise to me personally, I never expected Shaji Kailas, known for mass masala entertainers, to demonstrate skill and craft in narrating the travails of a man torn between love in a manner that is poetic and subtle devoid of swooshes one is normally used to associate with his name.

Mritunjayam is a story by Ahmed Sidhique, directed by Uday Ananthan, shot by Hari Nair. It’s a thriller, an IB officer seeks the help of his half sister to crack a case of murder in a haunted old anchestral mansion. Thilakan as the custodian and Rima Kallingal as his granddaughter light up the screen. Anoop Menon plays the IB officer and Meera Nandhan plays his half sister. This short is full of solid thrills, be prepared to get spooked. Audiophiles can use this short to setup sound levels on their sub woofer.

Happy Journey stars Jagathy Sreekumar, Nithya Menon and Bindhu Panicker’s voice. Written and directed by Anjali Menon, this short has been shot by MJ Radhakrishnan. A lecherous co-passenger played  by Jagathy get’s the experience of his life when the teenager he’s been feeling up on a journey from Ernakulam to Kozhikode (Calicut) turns out to be a suicide bomber or so she says. There is palpable tension if you don’t double guess the direction the narrative is going.

Aviraamam written and directed by B Unnikrishnan, shot by Shamdat is the story of Siddhique and Shwetha Menon. IT businessman Siddhique is neck deep in dept due to the the recession. One fine morning he decides to take his life after packing off his wife and two kids to their grandparents house. There has to raw sensuality when Shwetha Menon is on screen in a Ranjith production, there is. However at the end of this short the difference between a good and bad actor is shown when Siddhique and Shwetha are shown on screen, one excels in conveying remorse, pain and the other leaves us confused.

Off Season is directed by Shyamaprasad, written by Joshua Newton, shot by Azhagappan. Suraj Venjaaramood narrates the story of a Portuguese couple which sorts of gives out an accurate picture of the backpacking foreigners we keep bumping into on trains and buses, the types that dont drive into a 5 star hotel the moment they land. This short is the funniest in the whole bouquet.

Bridge is a story by TR Unni, shot by Suresh Rajan and directed by Anwar Rasheed. It takes us in parallel through the life of a kid and an old lady. The kid adores a kitten with whom he plays, his Dad throws the kitten out of the house causing heartbreak to the little fellow. On the other side of the bridge is Saleem Kumar and Kalpana, dhobis by profession. They struggle to make ends meet and Saleem Kumar’s mother is getting too old to manage in a poor man’s house. The title is probably an allusion to the connection it makes to two different strata or segments in society.

Makal directed by Revathi is a story by Deedi Damodaran. Canned by Madhu Ambat, this short is a story of adoption, exploitation of the girl child where the naive and gullible are taken for a ride by the well heeled. One cant have anything less when someone as capable as Revathi is wielding the megaphone I guess.

Puramkaazchakal is an adaptation of CV Sreeraman’s story by Lal Jose, Vijay Ulaganathan plays the role of cinematographer.  Sreenivasan takes a bus to Chalakudy via Malakkapara. Midway through the journey joins Mammootty, who appears impatient and arrogant much to the irritation of the crew and passengers. Mammootty is the only superstar in India who doesn’t distract me from his role, any role he plays I see the character and not the star. In a master stroke of a narrative this is the best short in the whole collection to me.

A big thumbs up to Ranjith for this fine effort, this is a laudable effort and needs to be encouraged in the interest of good cinema.

Geo’s Talkies – Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya

Almost a decade after “Minnale”, Gautam Menon’s debut movie as a director in Tamil cinema comes another love story. The movies Gautam directed after the first weren’t out and out romantic movies though romance played a nice part in the overall narrative.

Initially reported by the media as “Chennaiyil oru mazhaikaalam”, the movie took the title of “Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya” when it was confirmed that Silambarasan was being cast to play the male lead. “Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya” is a nice warm love story, it’s takes you through the life of Karthik and Jessie. The former is a Mechanical Engineer by education who aspires to become a filmmaker, the parallels one can draw to Gautam’s education and profession are just too obvious.

Karthik also plays cricket and practices boxing as a hobby, which really turns out to be an excuse to a superbly set action sequence in the middle of the movie. Jessie is a young IT professional in Chennai, loves mathematics and we don’t get to know anything more about her.  Karthik is instantly smitten by her right from the first time he sees her. Of course, the fact that Karthik and his family live in the ground floor of Jessie’s house gives him ample opportunities to ogle at her every now and then.

So here’s the first act play out on screen, you have a premise and two smart, charming and beautiful people who inevitably have to fall for each other. What’s going to be different with this movie is that this is Gautam Menon’s story, someone who has fascinating attention for detail and can write at least some characters in 3 dimensions. So conflict comes in the form of 1) religion: Jessie is Syrian Catholic Malayali Christian and Karthik is Hindu, Vellalar; 2) age: Jessie’s a year older than Karthik; 3) will: Karthik is completely enamoured by Jessie while Jessie is slightly more of a realist.

Karthik get’s introduced to KS Ravikumar through Cinematographer Ganesh and get a shot at interning under him. How does Karthik convince Jessie about his love? Does Karthik break into the big league with his film making? These are core plot points whose resolution can’t be spelled out in a blog and spoil the experience for you.

Silambarasan as Karthik has tried his best to portray on screen his characters sans histrionics. He’s done a good job at emoting, however I still have bones to pick at his dialogue delivery. Trisha Krishnan as Jessie is a pretty sight, she emotes slightly better but has a long way to go in that department. I thought she looked awful in at least two close up shots.

Full credits should go to the director and the dress designer for dressing up Trisha in immaculate drapes of saris, superbly cut and fit salwars and some very elegant western attire. Babu Antony plays Jessie’s Father and Kittu plays Karthik’s Father.

The opening title sequences are innovative and appear to have been filmed on the Vembanad Lake, the same place where the Rajiv Gandhi snake boat race is held with much fanfare every year. Manoj Parahamsa has canned the backwaters of Kuttanad in all it’s splendour wonderfully for this movie, it can easily pass off as advertisement for God’s own country’s tourism department.

AR Rahman’s songs have already been a rage, this movie has one of his most complete background scores for Indian movies. I’m still not able to recollect a melody from the score however I remember enjoying their richness. They didn’t distract me from the narrative and they probably helped take the narrative forward. I got to mention about the 5.1 mix which wasn’t distractive even once, that’s rare for a Tamil movie and full credit for that should go to KJ Singh.

Finally kudos to Gautam Vasudev Menon on writing a nice warm love story which isn’t all sugary and fluffy and keeping it’s decent enough without the usual trappings of masala cinema like a parallel comedy track and an item number. “Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya” is an honest effort, worth watching in the halls for it’s clean content, decent performances and a nice love story.

Trivia:

1) Clever references to Rahman’s hit music pieces from the past, “Mustafa Mustafa” plays on when a reference to friendship is made between the lead pair and “Pa sa ni sa” (sung by Shankar Mahadevan) from Bombay is talked about in a similar scene where lead pairs eyes meet.
2) The church that is featured in this movie is St Mary’s Forane Church, Pulinkunnu, Alapuzha district. One has to drive down the Alapuzha to Changanasserry road to reach this place, probably 20 or so kms away.
3) For a change “Amazing grace” is played when Jessie is ushered into the Church for her wedding, usually it’s Wagner’s wedding march. Mendelssohn’s wedding march features in the song “Anbil Avan” though.
4) In Syrian Catholic Churches the engagement or manasuchodhyam is mandatory before a wedding. In the movie Jessie directly get’s ready to be married which can be considered a cinematic liberty.
5) Gautam Menon himself has dubbed for Jerry, Jessie’s brother. Chinmayi Sripada has dubbed for Trisha. Chinmayi’s tamil is spot on, but Malayalam leaves a lot to be desired. Case in point: First time when Jessie talks Malayalam on screen and then the lines she says at her Granny’s place when Karthik is in police custody.
6) Silambarasan continue his Ajith reverance with a reference to the Thalai and Billa in a conversation with Ganesh.
7) I’m wondering if the difference in age thing in this movie is yet another attempt at portraying Silambarasan’s own dalliance with the superstar’s elder daughter in the past.
8) KS Ravikumar steals the show in every scene he is featured in. Also nice self deprecating humour when Ganesh says to Karthik that Gautam Menon makes movies over a long time and with English dialogues.
9) St Alphonsa is seen in the frame in the dining room of Jessie’s house and at a bus stop in Pulinkunnu. Is this an attempt to hint the time this scene is set in? In 2009 Blessed Alphonsa was declared a Saint and could be seen at every nook and corner in Central Kerala.
10) Naga Chaithanya & Samantha play the lead roles in Telugu version of this movie, they also play a cameo in Karthik’s movie in the Tamil version.

Geo's Talkies - Anbe Sivam

’Anbe Sivam’, as interesting as the title sounds is a movie who’s essence is captured in it’s title, Love is God.

The story begins in an airport in Orissa where both Nalla, a disfigured, not good looking communist leader and Aras, a smart, suave and globalised yuppie are waiting for a flight which eventually get’s cancelled due to storm. They are forced to share a hotel room where all shades of both characters are aptly portrayed on screen. Aras desperately wants to get back home because he’s going to get married in four days. Nalla realistically takes Aras through the world that they are in which is just too dangerous and dirty for a yuppie like Aras who cannot understand why his mobile won’t work or his credit card is not accepted. Interspersed among all the opening scenes are liberal doses of humour, slapstick at it’s hilarious best or should I say worst.

The story gains momentum with the storm intensifying in Orissa and Nalla and Aras take up the journey together to Chennai by rail and road. Here we are exposed to Nalla’s life, the Nalla that was. The audience is transported to the world of trade unionism, Nalla’s street plays, his friends, his romance with the mill owners daughter and his idealogies, which are very marxist. Somewhere down the line, things don’t work out as they have to, Nalla gets disfigured in an accident, he loses his love and somehow escapes death by an inch. It’s this Nalla that starts to realise the divine power. Coming back to reality, Nalla and Aras become witness to a train accident and Aras comes back to the real world after bearing witness to gore and bloodshed. In the end he marries his girl and life moves on, watch out what really happens in the movie.

The main focus of this movie largely revolves around globalisation, faith, ideologies and love for the human being. Kamal Hassan as Nalla does what he does best, act, and believe me when you see the disfigured Nalla it’ll send shivers down your spine, he’s put his heart and soul into the role. Madhavan as Aras does a good job, no one else could have shared frame with Kamal and not ended up looking like a joker. Nasser as the hypocritical believer in God, who swears by God’s name in revenge does a splendid job. Art direction by Prabhakar is one of the strongest points of the movie, be it the flooded railway station and roads in Orissa, the mill protests in Coimbatore, the train accident in Andra, all have been re-created excellently. Vidyasagar’s music is a mix of Classical Symphonies and Vidyasagar’s own background score and five songs of which the title song and the street play song stand out.

Cinematography by Arthur Wilson is good though he didn’t have great sceneries to picturise, he’s done justice to every frame. Kamal Hassan has done the story and screenplay, one should commend him for the story but the screenplay is fudged, he must have got lost in a whirlpool of ideas and couldn’t decide on which to highlight. Sundar C is the director of this movie, this is clear in the comedy scenes that make up one half of the movie, but the later half looks like it was ghost-directed by Kamal himself. It’s just too unlike Sundar's earlier works and that’s what makes me suspicious. Lyrics are top class, by Vairamuthu. Here’s a sample from the title song:

Yaar yaar sivam, nee naan sivam(Who is God? Me and you, we are God)

Vazhvay thavam, anbe sivam (Life is a penence, Love is God)

Aathiham pesum adiyalkellam sivamay anbaagum(For the believer God is love)

Naathikam pesum nallavarkellam anbay sivamaagum(For the non believer love is God)

Idhayam enbadhu sathithaan enral erithazhal thinruvidum(If the heart is only flesh, it’ll be burnt by fire)

Anbin karuvi idhayam enral saavai venruvidum(If love originates from the heart, it’ll win over death)

Anbin paadhai serthavannukku mudivay illaiada(There’s no end for the person who takes the path of love)

Manathin neelam ethuvo athuvay vaazhivin neelamada(Life is as long as your mind)

# Plz bear with my crass translation(trans-literation), I know just enough Tamil to understand what it means.

’Anbe Sivam’, definitely watchable for the contrasting views it projects and the non-judgemental stance taken, but every frame has Kamal Hassan and that’s what is a not so positive point.

[This review was originally written and posted on mouthshut.com on the 27th of Jan 2003]

Geo's Talkies - Ocean's 12

After putting up the review of Ocean's 13 I thought putting up the Ocean's 12 review done earlier in Moutshut would be appropriate. So here's the review written on the 7th of Feb 2005.

Anybody who understands the dynamics of film making would agree that more difficult than making a successful movie is making a sequel. Steven Soderberg’s version of Rat pack eleven titled ’Oceans’ Eleven’ not only made millions at the box office but prompted the director to work on a sequel to it, aptly titled ’Oceans’ Twelve’.

Story

George Clooney as Danny Ocean and Julia Roberts as Tess are spending their ’second third anniversary’ in Europe. They get rattled by the presence of Benedict (Andy Garcia) demanding the return of the $160 million with interest they siphoned his casino in the previous movie. Benedict manages to globe trot and meet all members of the Oceans’ Eleven team to make sure the message is driven loud and clear. Brad Pitt as Rusty is recuperating from a failed romance with Isabel Lahiri played by the svelte Catherine Zeta Jones. Isabel works for the police force and is all determined to nail theives and the reason for this is something from her past.

Ocean, Rusty and the whole team decide to hit something in Europe to pay off their bucks to Benedict since hitting any place in the US would be walking into a death trap. The one question they have to find an answer to is to identify potential places that could help them make up this gigantic sum in a time span of one week. The added thrill to these situations is that Benedict had been alerted by Night Fox played by the dashing Vincent Cassel whose only motive here is to be proved as the best thief the world has ever seen. Linus Caldwell played by Matt Damon wants to play a much larger role this time around and it is hilarious to watch him on screen.

The story moves a bit slowly across Europe until the big deal is set despite some initial failures. This movie is full of surprises despite the presence of visual clues all over. Julia Roberts excels in comedy in a scene where she plays ’herself’ opposite Bruce Willis. Mind you, you need to listen to each word that is spoke to savor the humor and I am sure one would chuckle for the full length of the movie. After getting beaten to the first heist, Oceans team take up a challenge by Night Fox to steal a faberge egg. Do Ocean and his team make it through this challenge? Is Night Fox the better of the two? Is the premise set for yet another sequel, a la Oceans Thirteen?

Crew

Script by George Nolfi is the weakest part of this movie with things having kept at a slow pace in the beginning, but hey it’s never easy to write a decent continuation to a hugely successful heist movie. David Holmes’ music is there for one simple reason, functionality. You can hear Hip - Hop, Rock and the traditional hollywood piano - string combo in shades, but the movie is all about a different contemporary(not techno) sound aptly used in one flash back scene ance the end titles. This film was canned and directed by Steven Soderberg and he’s done a neat job, he never expected any critics to rave about this move I guess. But he will definitely smile his way to the box office since the audience would enjoy this movie.

Epilogue

This is a fun-movie, all the actors are wonderful on screen and exude a terrible sense of lethargy and chemistry that they don’t appear to be acting. The camera simply happens to be a voyeur in the lives of these people exposing their daily sides to us. It is a daunting task to shoot with big names in a movie that just about 2 hrs long. But all characters have enough screen time to warrant their names in the credits. George Clooney swims through the role with his calm demeanour and his on screen ramblings with . Brad Pitt does what he does best, charms his way into Jones’ heart. Andy Garcia has been wasted with having nothing to do expect walk into people’s lives.

Though cinema is a form of art, at times one simply needs to throw logic and stop looking for the tangible to enjoy a movie. Forget reading all this, simply rent this DVD/VCD or catch it in a theater. You won’t have to regret this experience if pure entertainment is what you are looking for despite that the fact that Oceans Eleven is a better movie. The end shows that there is indeed a possibility for Oceans Thirteen.

Geo's Talkies - Ocean's 13

"Ocean's 13" is a welcome third installment to the Ocean's series of movies produced by Jerry Weintrub and Steven Soderberg. As with all the Ocean's movies there's a lot of hilarious one liners in this one too. Reuben Tishkoff (Elliot Gould) get's kicked out of a lucrative hotel-casino project by his partner Willy Banks (Al Pacino) which gives Reuben a heart attack and confinement to bed. The rest 10 member regroup and pledge to take revenge in their typical style.

They conspire to hit Willy's hotel on it's opening night and turn the tables back on him and how? Rigged slot machines, dices, blackjacks. A plot is also hatched up to make the visit of the reviewer from Five Diamonds (like 5 stars) hell - chemical infested rooms, sick food and rude service. Add to this already mixed plot Terry Benedict and you know where we are heading. A small part by the Night Fox himself adds to the curiosity. The end is a foregone conclusion for all of us who are familiar with the series but how do that conjure it up is certainly a treat to watch.

I'd like to mention Ram here because he in a way piqued my interest onto the second movie and we saw it in Carnatic theaters without being able to understand a word of the dialog because of the crappy way the sound stage was setup there. I'm sure like Ram there would be many of you who'd take an instant liking to the third installment. One should have watched Ocean's 11 to completely enjoy this movie although it's not necessary to have seen Ocean's 12.

These guys have managed to take a jibe at Oprah Winfrey show and have exhibited the sensitive side of men in a satirical manner. George Clooney takes jibe at Brad Pitt in the end of the movie about settling down and having children, the resemblance to real life is so thin here. The only reason for Al Pacino to be in this movie is either because he was paid well or is a friend of the producers, his character simply exists for the Ocean's team to punch into. Steven Soderberg makes an appearance in the movie as Gecko, the genius behind the Casino's security systems.

And if you've not realized till now the women are absent in this edition. Ellen Barkins in the addition but she's got nothing much do than strut her stuff around the screen and get cozy with Matt in the end. I'll try and post some hilarious lines when I get to lay my hands on the DVD.

Geo's Talkies - Sivaji the boss

"Sivaji the boss" is Shankar's first directorial venture with the one and only Super star in India, Rajinikanth. It's tough to make a movie with Rajinikanth, there's a certain expectation from the audience and double guessing that is a herculaean task. Mani Ratnam would have spent a lot of time scripting "Thalapathy" because he had to keep Rajini's screen image in mind and also give Mammooty equal screen prominence, that was a good effort. Shankar plays to the gallery with Sivaji, there's everything the masses need. And there is Rajinikanth who remains the numero uno in the movie. For a change we are spared of the sister and mother sentiment which I welcome wholeheartedly.

I don't want to spell the story here, it's a typical Shankar socio-commercial story. An NRI comes back to India and wants to reform the system, he hits road blocks. How does he overcome all of them to make his mark? That's the story. You have oodles of humor, the one's with Shreya's parents are extremely silly to say the least. Vivek plays the hero most of the times stealing punch lines which Rajini should be delivering, the change is good. Thankfully Vivek's character has not been reduced to a caricature. That's one good thing about comedians acting with Rajini, they are not belittled. Shreya has just a little more to do than looking pretty in the songs dressed in the most skimpiest of dresses. There's lots of curves on display here, they say it's for the masses, it's also for the classes. Rajini dons umpteen looks in this movie which themselves make the movie repeat watch worthy, each look is unique and would sound outrageous on paper, but Rajini/Shankar have carried it off with elan and style.

AR Rahman plays another vital role with a superb soundtrack which is new and well recorded. The background score has obviously been done with a lot of time and attention paid to it. I loved the choral Sivaji title chant, if they brought it out on CD's it would be a nice disc to own. Thotta Tharani's sets are huge, they are magnificient but to me they all looked misplaced. Thotta Tharani is a master in his craft but maybe it's just me who is not able to see reason for those opulent sets. KV Anand's camera does a good job at capturing the images. This movie stars all Shankar regulars - Raghuvaran (cast against type, who could imagine the Anthony in Basha becoming one of his trusted men?), Cochin Haneefa (cliched bad guy), Manivannan (Father).

Vadivukkarasi (cast against type as the Mother, the granny role in Arunachalam lingers fresh in our memory), Solomon Pappaiyya, Raja, SunTVnews reader (can't recollect her name) and Suman who takes the villains character complete the cast. Nayanthara skips her way into the opening song in skimpy costumes showing ample cleavage, this actress has lost oodles of weight. This is a Rajinikanth movie, no looking above, below or beyond that. Suspension of disbelief is not an option, one has to keep one's logic at home and simply get immersed in the magic, that's what a Rajini movie is all about. "Sivaji" without any doubt could turn into the biggest blockbuster in recent times.

Trivia

# Watch out for Shankhar, KV Anand and Thotta Tharani on screen in the middle of "Ballaelakka"

# Mimicry by Mayilsamy, Chinni Jayanth and Damu in the end is short and hilarious.

# Rajini using the guitar as a gun a la Desperado style in the "Athiradi" song.

# Mercedes Benz stretch limo bearing a Pollachi registration number plate.

# Rajini's SUV's registration number totalling 8 (TN-09 AZ 98), surely this vehicle belongs to Shankar given his penchant for the number 8.

# Binny mills compound used in one of the action sequences where the villain comes with money, will filmmakers finally stop using this place. 3 out of the four movies I saw last are shot here.

Sivaji the boss

Every single news channel last night was fixed on Rajinikanth and the magic he creates on screen. I'm slated to watch 'Sivaji' in 'Central Theaters' at 1400 hrs today. After this screening I intend to catch the evening show in 'Shanthi Theaters' with my office folks. Quite a prospect this is, watch out for the review of this movie in the next 12-16 hrs.

Big B - movie

Being a fan of Mamooty and not wanting to miss a chance of watching 'Big B' (malayalam) in Central Theaters (Coimbatore), I went for the night show on Saturday. To say that this movie was bad would be an understatement. This movie was awful. Earlier last week Benoy Chettan had recommended 'Big B' over 'Chota Mumbai' (starring Mohanlal). I should watch the latter and see how it fares.

"Big B" is simply a collection of disconnected images masquerading as a movie. It's a story lifted off the Mark Wahlberg starrer "Four Brothers". It's pace is dismally slow, the screenplay is a jinx which doesn't settle down nor redeem itself. Songs in the movie are good and the action sequences are shot well. Background score is done well too but I felt it was too loud and the surrounds in the cinema hall were pounded for all and sundry. I'll stop here with a quote from a review on this movie in sify.com.

Mammootty's Big-B, is a stylish and technically savvy film from cinematographer turned director Amal Neerad. It is a fast paced entertainer, which is packaged like Amal's guru Ram Gopal Varma films, aimed at the youth audience.

What a farce!

What are the odds? 13 to 1

After the thoroughly enjoyable Oceans 11 and Oceans 12 comes the final part of the trilogy from Steven Soderbergh aptly titled Oceans 13. If Oceans 11 was better that the old version, Oceans 12 took if further and was an entertaining movie. The premise of Oceans 13 appears to be interesting and that makes it a movie to look forward to not for it's oscar value but for simple entertainment.

When one member of the team get's cheated in a business deal all others join together to take revenge soliciting the help of Terry (Andy Garcia). The idea is to bankrupt a casino run by Al Pacino (who cheats Reuben) on it's opening night. This time it's not for the money but for revenge. The absence of Catherine Zeta Jones and Julia Roberts is going to be a minue, but Al Pacino's entry should raise the bar a few notches higher. Andy Garcia and Al Pacino will be seen in the same movie after "The Godfather III".

Disclaimer - Story snippets is based on leaks on the internet, this may or maynot be the actual story in the final version of the film expected to release in June 2007.

An update on 'After The End'

This series is yet to go online because I thought of putting up the sound clips in addition to writing about them. Currently I am trying to capture the sound and put them up as MP3's on this blog for readers to listen to the score too. This series will go online in not later than a week from now.

Geo's Talkies - Salaam-e-Ishq

Nikhil Advani's second movie after the super duper 'Kal Ho Na Ho' [I am certainly not a fan of the movie but loved the music] promised an interesting premise. Six couples and their lives with love as the underlining aspect. After viewing the movie, I am not only utterly dissapointed at the half baked story but also wonder how the screenplay was conjured up.

The story is about love in people of different age groups and sensibilities. John Abraham / Vidya Balan are couple who are married for 2 yrs. Anil Kapoor / Juhi Chawla are married for 15 yrs with two kids. Arbaaz Khan / Isha Kopikkar are newly wedded. Akshaye Khanna / Ayesha Takia are to be wedded soon. Govinda is a taxi driver who gets into love, how? Priyanka Chopra is an aspiring starlet who will also fall in love, how?

The premise is certainly interesting but the story is a hogwash. Music is the highlight of this movie. I couldn't stand the individual climax each couple had on screen, surely Nikhil Advani needs a ruthless editor who can butcher meaningless and worthless length of film which otherwise plays on in the name of character exposition but does anything but that. I salute Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy for sitting through the story session and coming up with decent tunes.

All actors except Govinda, Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla are horrible actors. Vidya and Priyanka are the least bad ones. John's emotions are surprisingly less wooden. Salaam-E-Ishq is a good idea gone all horribly wrong due to the lack of a coherent screenplay and a strong story. Salman Khan is wasted in a meaningless role and Arbaaz Khan / Isha Koppikar are in miniscule roles where they attempt to consummate their marriage on screen.

If you want to see how multiple stories can be stitched into a decent movie, watch 'Crash'. And for heavens sake movies like this should avoid insulting viewers intelligence by showing 'somewhere in London', 'somewhere near Delhi' etc, yikes, the audience is hardly confused all along the movie. The filmmakers certainly are.

I wouldn't be least surprised if this movie turned into a box office hit.

79th Academy Award Nominations

The nominations for the 79th Academy Awards (OSCAR) are out and this is one of those years when John Williams' score hasn't made it to the list because he didn't have any releases in 2006. Movies nominated for original score are :

“Babel” (Paramount and Paramount Vantage) Gustavo Santaolalla
“The Good German” (Warner Bros.) Thomas Newman
“Notes on a Scandal” (Fox Searchlight) Philip Glass
“Pan’s Labyrinth” (Picturehouse) Javier Navarrete
“The Queen” (Miramax, Pathé and Granada) Alexandre Desplat

Sadly AR Rahman's songs too failed to figure in the original song for a motion picture list. The following are the one's nominated :

“I Need to Wake Up” from “An Inconvenient Truth”, Music and Lyric by Melissa Etheridge
“Listen” from “Dreamgirls”, Music by Henry Krieger and Scott CutlerLyric by Anne Preven
“Love You I Do” from “Dreamgirls”, Music by Henry KriegerLyric by Siedah Garrett
“Our Town” from “Cars”, Music and Lyric by Randy Newman [My favourite]
“Patience” from “Dreamgirls”, Music by Henry KriegerLyric by Willie Reale

"Apocalypto" figures in both the sound editing and sound mixing nominations and it should win the Oscars despite the presence of heavy weight competition from "Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest" and "Blood Diamond". I wouldn't be surprised if the sound mixing award went to 'Dreamgirls' though. The visual effects award would most certainly go to the minds that worked on "Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest", "Superman" and "Poseidon" are the others nominated in this category.

The best animated feature film of the year award should go to "Cars". "Happy Feat" is a strong contender and so is "Monster House". "Water" directed by Deepa Mehta makes it to the final list in the best foreign film category, I don't know the odds of this movie winning the oscar, but I hear it's got a good chance. Interestingly it was Canada's official entry in this category. "Rang De Basanti" apparently didn't make it to the final list. Go through the full list of nominations and take your pick, let's hope the academy finally breaks the oscar jinx and gives Martin Scorsese the oscar for best director.

Geo's Talkies - Dil Chahta Hai

Dil Chahtha Hai is a primarily about three guys, Akaash, Siddharth and Sameer. All three are from well to do families and they are shown to be the best of friends. They party together, travel together and have fun. Akaash does not really believe in love, he’s more of a realist who believes he has no time to romance. Sameer has time only to fall in and out of love, everytime he falls in love he strives hard to keep it glowing but alas, it never works. Siddharth is an artist with the third eye, he sees what normal people don’t see. He lives in a world of his own and is the type of guy even if we’ve known for years would still not have known him, paradoxically.

The usual stuff that happens between college students like parties, date fundas, crushes, jokes are shown superbly in this movie. The friendship hit’s a speedbreaker when Siddharth begins to develop feelings for an older women, Tara, who’s a divorcee with a grown up child who comes to live in Akaash’s locality and has an eye for art and alcohol. Akaash and Siddharth get distanced over a freak remark by Akaash over their relationship and the movie treads a new course from here. Siddharth takes up art full time, Sameer get’s into business with his Dad and so does Akaash.

Akaash goes to Australia where he meets Shalini with whom he’s already blooped a meeting in a graduation party when in college. Akaash get’s into business professionally & personally and in the process he finds himself inextricably in love with Shalini who’s already engaged with Rohit, an arrogant and overtly possessive son of Shalini’s father’s business partner, why she wants to marry him is also shown in the movie, a la Hindi film style. Meanwhile, Sameer finds love in Pooja after turning down a proposal to marry her because he was averse to the idea of an arranged marriage.

The story actually begins with Tara being taken to a hospital where she is waiting her death on account of a damaged liver. It progresses from there where all these items are presented in flashback sequences. Tara dies leaving Siddharth broken hearted, Akaash apologises to Siddharth and the three become friends again, and if you thought this is where the story ended you just jumped the gun. Months later Siddharth finds love in the form of Akaash’s ex-flame Deepa and all’s well end’s well.

I usually don’t like to spell out the story of a movie but this movie’s highlight is in the way the characters are presented on screen, how they behave and strike a rapport with the audiences. Another reason for making the story public was because this is a fairly old movie. DCH’s team has done a lot of study in etching the characters, we can find very real characters one notable example apart from the main cast being Priya, a cameo by ex-VJ Suchitra Pillai. She simply lives her role exhibiting the upperclass aura that we can usually see around.

There are some scenes that require special mention, one being Akaash’s phone call to Sameer asking him to put him on to Siddharth to apologise. Akaash’s transition from a joker to a serious viewer in an Opera house with Shalini. Akaash, Sameer and Siddharth sitting on a wall of a ruins of a fort in Goa. The most hilarious scene is when Sameer who’s dating a foreigner Christine in Goa is shown groaning and moaning in a bedroom with all kinds of dress and lingerie strewn around, no, it’s not what you are thinking!!!

Director Farhan Akthar has created a mark for him with his debut, his innovative style of presenting the story needs special mention. Editing by Sreekar Prasad is good, very smooth. Ravi K Chandran’s camera work is more than excellent, it’s fabulous. There’s a dominant color tone to signify the youthful feel of the movie. Nakul Kamte has done superb work with the sound, we have lot’s of silences and the foley artists have filled in the gaps. Shot using sync sound, the result is stunning.

Music of this movie is one of the best that came out that year, credits must go to Shankhar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani & Loy Mendonsa for the songs and scintillating background scores. The background scores are a mix of techno-rock, piano-flute-guitar pieces and they are apt and mesmerising. Aamir Khan as Akaash, Saif Ali Khan as Sameer, Akshaye Khanna as Siddharth, Preity Zinta as Shalini, Sonali Kulkarni as Pooja, Dimple Kapadia as Tara gell into their role quite perfectly. Dimple Kapadia has got the most intense eyes in the film industry but this performance is not a superlative one, just the usual one.

Overall this was the best movie to have released then, if you have not seen it then you have missed great entertainment.

[Published originally on the 30th of December 2002 on mouthshut.com]

Geo's Talkies - Parineeta

Vidhu Vinod Chopra is one of the few directors in India who’s got it all to call himself a good director. His movies have had good music, excellent cinematography and a good script to take the story forward. For the novices, he roped in Sanjay Leela Bhansali to direct his songs in ’1942 A love story’. The script is credited to him in this movie and he’s done the screenplay with Pradeep Sarkar. Who is Pradeep Sarkar? With over a 1000 ad movies under his belt, Pradeep Sarkar is the director of this movie. I wonder if a non-Bengali could have done justice to this story.

The original story ’Parineeta’ (Married woman) was penned by Saratchandra Chatterjee, the same person who did ’Devdas’. It begins in 1962 in calcutta where we see Shekhar getting ready for what appears to be his wedding. 30 seconds into the movie a jump cut takes you to what’s running on his mind and that’s Lolitha, his childhood buddy and sweetheart. Lolitha as we later understand has grown up with Shekhar and they’ve been close to each other as cheese and bread. Her parents die when she’s young and she grows up in an uncles place who are Shekhar’s neighbours.

Shekhar’s father, Navin is a construction baron as it’s typical to people from West Bengal. He’s a man known for his ruthless ambition and strict demeanour. Lolitha has an adorable sister, aptly enacted by Raima Sen. She’s always full of life. Enter Girish, almost God like and acts like a saviour, helps Lolitha’s uncles family out of a financial mess antagonising Shekhar’s Dad in the process who manages to engineer a split between the lead characters. Shekhar ends up loosing the two things he loved most in his life, his music and his wife.

Did I say wife? You need to see the movie to know how Lolitha becomes Shekhar’s wife, the scenes depicting this are sheer poetry. Shekhar meanwhile agrees to wed Gayathri Tantia, the daughter of another wealthy baron. At this point the story comes back to the present. Girish’s one sided love for Lolitha, Koel’s (Lolitha’s sister) admiration and crush on Girish, Shekhar’s love for Lolitha and Lolitha’s love for Shekhar, everything is so nicely portrayed in the movie without going over the top. Everything is so subtle but clear.

Though the movie goes back and forth in time, there in no difficult in the audience understanding the transition because of the beautiful execution hence removing the need for ’some time ago’, ’present day’ etc. The strength of this movie is that it is based on a solid foundation, i.e., the original book written by Saratchandra Chatterjee. The screen writers have adapted the story beautifully to the 60’s, the book is originally set in the beginning of the 20th century. Production design by Apocalypse Filmworks, Pradeep Sarkar’s ad company, is top notch. A lot of hard work and money has gone into re-creating Calcutta of the sixties.

Saif Ali Khan who portrays the role of Shekhar brilliantly bringing out the repulsiveness, angst, jealousy, short temper and shows that he’s pampered but with infinite love for his beloved which is understated. If one wonders how can Saif fit into an almost period character this one is a sterling example. Sanjay Dutt is all that Saif’s character is not, we have seen him in similar characters in the past, this is is unique though. Vidya Balan enacts the role of Lolitha to perfection, at one point she makes you feel so bad for the dialog writers because you end up only seeing her, we can hardly listen. She brings out myriad amount of emotions and subtle gestures on her face which light up the screen.

Sabyasachi Chakravarthy plays the role of Navin Rai to perfection, one needs to pay attention to the effortless transition he makes between Hindi and English on screen. He looks, lives and breathes life into his character. There’s nothing one can blame on the actors, this should be one of the movies with the most appropriate cast who don the roles to perfection. Cinematography by Nataraja Subramanian (he’s worked with Pradeep on ads before) captures Calcutta for what it is, Howrah bridge in dusk, Trams on the road, large havelis lit up to show all their splendour, darkness that seem like they are being drawn on screen while they are actually the absence of light. A thousand standing ovations to the cinematographer for the brilliantly capturing the visuals on screen.

Another aspect that strikes you is the use of sound. I saw this movie on a DVD that had a dts encoded soundtrack. When one says dts, immediately you hear helicopters going all over you, gun shots, woosh’s, etc come to one’s mind. This movie is a good example of using technology to create a wholesome ambience sans the loud sound effects one usually relates to it. When you see something on screen, you also hear it. Good use of sound helps in taking the audience right into what’s hapenning on screen, the durga pooja in the movie is an example of this aspect. Biswadeep Chatterjee scores full marks for sound design and recording.

If I have to pick a bone at the director, I’d say the ending was a bit over the top, especially the main guy demolishing a wall with people around him going ’do it Shekhar’, ’come on shekhar’. The speed at which things move when Shekhar get into business is real fast and the director hasn’t wasted any time in developing that part of his character. Diya Mirza essays the role of looking good as Gayathri and nothing much to say about her, we don’t expect much either. Rekha comes in a nice cameo as a Jazz singer in Moulin Rouge, nothing much to talk about it except that she’s done a good job.

Music director Shantanu Moitra has excelled in the simple and hummable tunes he’s created. They are appropriate and fit into the movie perfectly.Pradeep Sarkar is the man of the moment in this movie, all his experience has gone into making this movie which shows. A man who is making his first feature in his early 50’s is not an easy task, but all the experience he’s had has shown in getting the screenplay done and keeping off from the in-your-face commercial tamasha.

On the whole ’Parineeta’ is surely one of the best modern movies that are commercial but still try to strike a balance between what’s logical and aesthetic without getting over the top and crass. ’Parineeta’ is a class apart from the usual bollywood fare, now for all you who are curios about what hapenned to Shekhar’s wife, does he get her? What happens to Girish’s love? Where does Koel fit into all this? Go see the movie or still better buy a VCD or DVD, it sure is worth the price.

[Published originally on the 13th of October 2005 on mouthshut.com]

Geo's Talkies - The Shawshank Redemption

What makes a movie spectacular, a cut above from the rest? A good story, a clear screenplay, neat performances, technically sound which includes the faculties of music, cinematography, editing, art direction and production. There are a lot of movie which might fit into one of these genres - action thrillers, suspense thrillers, romance, musicals. There are a couple of genres where we don’t have a tight narrative, where the director takes the liberty to move things at his pace, we could call them drama.

Drama is a tricky slot to be in because apart from all that the movie has, it has to relate to the human spirit in some way to be special. ’The Shawshank Redemption’ is an excellent movie by that standards. It’s a story about this banker played by Tim Robbins(Andy) who’s imprisoned for the murder of his wife, over the course of the movie we get to know more about the murder.

In the prison the movie introduces us to a variety of characters. Morgan Freeman as Red who plays the role of a convict serving a life sentence fits into the character perfectly and so does Bob Gunton as Warden Norton, the hypocrite Bible-obsessed disciplinarian. The film moves highlighting all aspects of prison life, the not-so good and bad side, like Andy being sexually abused. The film begins to show glimmers of hope when Andy begins to get into the system and tries to work it for the good of the prisoners.

There is also a very interesting insight into the murder of Andy’s wifes’ murder when a new convict comes in and things get a bit worse from then. But the real treat is in the last 15 minutes when all things fall right where they have to be and elicit a very positive reaction from each one of us. This is where the film truly wins and this is where the director has proved his mettle.

Frank Darabont had shown a lot of promise with this movie in the mid nineties, though this film failed to get an Oscar despite being nominated for more than one categories does not in any way diminish it’s sheen, we all know about the Oscar’s and how they can be manipulated. Stephen King’s book was translated into this beautiful movie is another achievement, given the fact that Stephen King always dwells with supernatural concepts. The same writer-director team came up with ’The Green Mile’ years later shows the talent in the director, the writers talent is not a question here since it’s been proved more than once in the past.

Music in this movie can be compared to Tim Robbins performance, one could call it under-stated. Given the concept of the movie Thomas Newman has done a splendid work, either this movie could have provided one big theme that went with the concept or it could have a number of themes that went with the story and the music director has chosen to do the latter which fits into the soundscape perfectly, so finally we have one person to carry on the Alfred Newman legacy. Special mention has to be made about the scene in which Andy plays the duet ’’Sull’aria... Che soave zeffiretto ’’ from opera ’’Le nozze di Figaro’’(The Marriage of Figaro composed by Mozart) , as audiences we can feel the freedom that Andy speaks about and that’s what Opera is all about.
Roger Deakins, the cinematographer has also executed his task very well, we have optimally lit(should I say darkened) prison scenes and a beautiful helicopter aerial shot of the prison which is breath-taking, editing has also been done deftly and a very novel method of transition between scenes heightens the narrative, like the sound of gavel in the court and clanking of doors in the prison.
'Fear can hold you prisoner, Hope can set you free’, says the tag line and I doubt whether we’d have anything to contrast it, this is one movie everyone must see to know what goes into making a good film. If I had to pick the top movies of all time, I’m sure ’The Shawshank Redemption’ would make it to the list without any second thoughts.

[Published originally on the 30th of October 2002 on mouthshut.com]

Music and movies - After "The End"

Music in the movies always play a vital role and I am sure most if not all of us walk out of the cinema hall as the end titles start rolling in. There are cinema halls which simply stop projecting as soon as the credits start to roll which is unfortunate too. It makes sense to them to save on electricity and stop showing something which the audience is least interested in. On a personal level, most of the end titles of movies have some of the best music from the movie backing up the credits and I thought why not write about some of them which I've seen and tended to like. With this in mind, we'll be rolling out a new series titled After "The End" which has nothing to do with the Apocalypse or Armageddon, but will only try to talk about the music that underscores the movie credits after we've seen 'The End' on screen. I hope to post the first opinion on this service by the end of this week.