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 – Onayum Aatukuttiyum

Tamil Cinema has been going through a wonderful period recently where anyone who has a good story – even decent story -  to narrate is getting the avenue to make his or her movie. The audience is surprisingly receptive to these movies from rank newcomers in an industry that is dominated by stars, big production houses and larger than life premises. Cinema was always supposed to be the common man’s escape from his daily grind, which is true to a large extent but should cinema be slotted within or constrained by such platitudes ?"

In a year where even a Mani Ratnam’s movie had to bite dust at the theatres came Mysskin’s “Onayum Aatukuttiyum”. Mysskin is an intelligent filmmaker, too intelligent some would say. In this movie he brings the story of a medical college student whose life gets intermeshed in a vicious web of crime and deceit. On his way back home after a night of studies at his friend’s house, Chandru finds a man lying on the road with bullet-shot wounds. Earlier a lot of people pass by the hapless man, the usual apathy we exhibit at this situation is portrayed starkly. People who stop to see if the man has life and leave when they see he has. People who shoot pictures for social media. People who don’t want to do anything about a wounded man on the road.

The system is the next on Mysskin’s list. Chandru isn’t able to get medical attention to the wounded man in a hospital, neither is he able to get the law enforcement’s attention. One of the police men even steal the wounded man’s watch right behind Chandru’s back. Sheer desperation forces Chandru to take the man home and treat his wound with help from his Professor, who himself is bereaved that night, an event that seems to play a role in the Professor deciding to help Chandru perform the medical procedures after initially rebuking him sharply for acting irresponsibly.

The Crime Branch lands on Chandru’s house the next day because the wounded man was Wolf, who was fleeing after being shot by the police in an “encounter”. Wolf, according to the Police, is a most wanted criminal with over 14 murders to his name which includes a blind teenager. A lot of these facts help us join the dots together in the third act of the movie. Chandru and his elder Brother are taken into Police custody, unofficially, while Chandru’s sister in law is kept under house arrest.

The Police characters have been sketched well. We are used to templates of either too good or too bad cops in uniform in Cinema. Here you have a mix of policemen. The corrupt officer who is hand in glove with another dreaded criminals. Tons of policemen on night beats, manning check points, who are scared as we’d be at such times. High ranking officer who want to help Chandru but hesitates due to passive pressure from his juniors and yet when circumstances change has no qualms in calling a hit to rid the society of an alleged dreaded criminal.

The best writing comes in the form of a CB-CID duo who read between the lines all through the movie to pursue their own course of finding Wolf. One of these two has a brilliant dialogue explaining to his superior officer why he won’t let Chandru escape Police custody, despite the custody being unlawful. When the Wolf wants to meet Chandru the Police hatch a plan to eliminate him. Is the Wolf stupid enough to walk into a trap laid out by the Police ? Why does the Wolf want to meet Chandru ? The rest of the movie is about how Chandru is used by the police as a lamb to lure the wolf and how Wolf navigates the quagmire.

This movie has been shot entirely in the night, not the usual DI work of turning a day shot into night. Ilaiyaraja’s foreground score, as the titles put it, support the movie ably. Mysskin’s martial arts background set the stage for some brilliant action choreography, complete with two samurai’s nailed to each other in the end. Mysskin even stretches the Onaay trait by showing Wolf with a tail. God is an underlying character all through the movie showing up on the wall Chandru runs past, as screams from Policemen who get shot, in the cemetery etc. “Onaayum Aatukuttiyum” is a brilliant attempt from a filmmaker who is completely in control of his form and technique, a Tamil movie that can rival any other good thriller from anywhere else in the world.

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 – 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 - In the Loop, Eeram, State of Play

"In the Loop" is a delightful British comedy on state of affairs in today's world which satirizes the machinations of world leaders and in the process provides solid laughs. This is a movie that highlights the complete ignorance, stupidity and pathetic levels of understanding that manifest bureaucrats in higher echelons of power.

A British minister who suffers from foot in the mouth syndrome, who thinks the war in Iraq is "unforeseeable". A Director of communications in the ministry who's got a vicious and profane tongue. Cross over to the US and you meet their counterparts who are scheming, silly and outright stupid at times and you have a sure fire recipe for laughter. This movie has a one line story, it's more about the actions that are weaved around it and the "impending war" a reference to the conflict in the middle east (Iraq). For the one's that like comedy that's not contrived or artificial this one is a must watch movie.

"Eeram" is a good movie to comes out from the stable of S Pictures directed by another newbie. All movies produced by this production house have had reasonably good content and neat execution and this movie is no different despite the paranormal tint in the story. A murder in an upper middle class dwelling raises eyebrows with the majortiy alluding to the woman's infidelity as the cause for it.

The fact that the investigating officer is a person who wanted to marry the woman murdered when he was in college adds to the intrigue and from there it becomes a case of 'whodunnit'. The ending is a tad disappointing however the movie is way better than most of the one's that get released every Friday.

"State of play" is a superb thriller which starts off with the murder of a staff in Senator Stephen Collins' office, this staff was the chief researcher for the committee which was reviewing a particular company's role in providing home land security, an example of in-sourcing if one could call it so. Things get murky when the senator's friend, a journalist with the Washington Globe investigates two murders and starts to see a link in them.

Things take a dramatic turn there and the movie hits out in many directions before reaching it's finale. This is a plot heavy movie which works incredibly well, a must watch for the one's that seeks thrills and suspense.

Geo's Talkies - Angels and Demons

"Angels & Demons filmed by Ron Howard is roughly based on the book by the same name written by Dan Brown", I'd like to begin writing about this movie by stating this loud and clear. This book was written before 'The Da Vinci Code' while the movie starts off at some point after 'The Da Vinci Code' with references to this movie atleast twice on screen, once when the Priest from Vatican comes to Robert Langdon asking for his help and again when Robert Langdon meets the Camerlango.

The movie starts off with the funeral of a pope with the Vatican in mourning, this wasn't part of the book. After a quick refresher on the processes followed we move to CERN where production of antimatter is in progress under the supervision of Fr.Silvano and Dr.Vittoria. The priest is killed and antimatter is stolen. A priest from the Catholic church meets Robert and solicits his help in helping them find the Illuminati who it is suspected are behind the theft of the antimatter and the threat to four kidnapped cardinals who are also known as the 'preferati'.

To spell out the story completely would be to state too much of plot which is best enjoyed on screen if one hasn't read the book already. The movie uses the books premise as it's foundation and branches out though keeping most of the plotting around the murders in Rome intact. It deviates majorly in the way Robert is brought into the story, it doesn't talk about Camerlango's filial relationship with the deceased pope, the assasin is no longer Arab probably to stay within the realm of political correctness nor is there a hint of an attraction between Robert and Vittoria.

The movie is racy, it hits the ground running. The audience is taken rapidly from one plot to another without any delay without making the screenplay fuzzy. I particularly liked every scene in which the characters referred to 'The Da Vinci Code', they were well conceived. The first shot on screen began with music used in 'The Da Vinci Code', the main motif that was played when Robert finds the rose beneath the Louvre in Paris is one of Hans Zimmer's works and he's brought it back here to improvise it further and take it a step ahead using the choir, stupendous effort. This theme is used in multiple instances in the movie, it takes a different tonal color at some points because of the way it's treated each time.

After Vittoria rips a page off Galileo's Veritas from the Vatican Archives the lead characters set off towards the first church in Rome, the racy music remain a steps ahead of them in the 5/8 time signature, this is an original piece which is superbly written and orchestrated, awesome stuff. I can't state for sure if this movie's music is better than 'The Da Vinci Code' as I strongly count 'The Da Vinci Code' to be one of Hans Zimmer's best scores written for the screen. The way each motif is taken from the previous movie and reworked in this one is too good. A solo violin plays many motifs and the most interesting exposition is when it plays the old motif, lilting stuff. In the credits I saw Joshua Bell's name listed which sort of proved why the solo violin was superior.

Since most of Vatican is either CG or shot on a stage I didn't find too much of brilliance in camera work, all the action scenes were well shot and the night scenes were well lit and shot making it very difficult to spot the CG in them. At a little over 2 hours this movie is faster than the time you actually spend in the hall. I guess this is Ron Howard's way of atoning for 'The Da Vinci Code', I'm kidding. Watch this one, surely worth it and sit back in the hall when the end credits roll, you'll get to hear the full score from the old movie re-orchestrated along with Joshua Bell's violin. If your curiosity is piqued buy the book and read it.

Geo's Talkies - Naan Kadavul (I'm God - Tamil)

I have a particular fondness for a film director who writes his own story. There's a sense of conceiving an idea, carrying it in one's mind allowing it to grow and finally giving birth to it by seeing it play on screen, there's a motherhood cycle related to it. Today there are as many director's who take another person's story and get the movie to work as are director's who write the story and screenplay and direct the movie for the big screen. 

Bala belongs to the latter group, after interning with Balu Mahendra this young man from Madurai debuted with the superhit 'Sethu' which was as middle as a mainstream Thamizh movie could become gave a fresh lease of life to a hitherto unknown actor who has been the voice of many on screen, Vikram. Bala's fourth directorial attempt 'Naan Kadavul', which translates into 'I am God', starts promisingly. When the protagonist utters 'Aham Bhramasmi' a couple of minutes into the film it sets expectations and also get's the viewer all excited to get a sense of how far a mainstream movie can go to work around the concept without having to bother about formula and without tinkering with logic. 

The movie opens gloriously in Kasi, 'Om Sivoham' plays as the title sequences play out, visuals of the Ganges in Kasi are sights to behold. Here's a father in search of his son he gave up in Kasi 14 yrs ago heeding to astrological advice hoping for better fortunes for his family. Accompanied by his daughter he reaches a famous priest in Kasi who helps him out despite abhoring the thought that a father gave up his son listening to superstition.

Rudhran is the son the father has been searching for, he's an Aghori (see trivia for more) now. Rudhran is sent by his Guru back to his hometown to return after renouncing his worldly connections. Rudhran arrives in his hometown in Southern Tamilnadu to his mother. The mother doesn't get the son's love nor can they understand the methods to his madness - blowing the conch and playing rustic drums in the middle of the night, smoking ganja etc.

Thandavan (notice the resemble to 'Andavan' meaning God in Tamil) uses beggars to earn his living, he's the head of a large begging mafia in this small town. He earns large amounts of money getting people to beg and doesn't give a damn about human life. He beats the one's that dare question, he deforms and multilates them. Murugesan works for Thandavan and is assigned a group of beggars who collect the highest among their peers by begging in the foothills of a hill top temple - Malaikkovil.

One night in search of ganja Rudhran arrives to the hill top to find other ascetics (some real, some fake) smoking to their glory. This hill become his abode from here on. He mouthes filth and sanskrit shlokas when questioned and is revered and feared by the folks around him. Amsavalli is a blind beggar with a sweet voice, she's stolen from her group of small timers who don the roles of MGR, Sivaji, Rajini, Nayanthara etc to make money and is taken to Thandavan. Here enters Nair from Kerala who runs a large begging group in places of religious interest in Kerala, Nair wants a change of faces to improve collections and hence takes people from Thandavan to Kerala.

Nair comes back to Malaikkovil with a proposal to make money with Amsavalli hoping to sell her off to a rich but completely deformed person who'd never have any woman bed with him due to the gory nature of his face. Amsavalli is left in the hill top temple by Murugesan and his accomplice hoping to save her from the ill that is to visit her and pleading the God there to save her. Rudhran answers their prayers, he takes on Nair and kills him. This infuriates Thandavan who mutilates Amsavalli's face. How Rudhran takes on all the evil he sees around him complete the narrative.

Arya comes out tops as Rudhran, the key here being in the fact that he doesn't have to emote too much. He brings in a completely different mannerism and body language to the aghori ascetic's character and the long beard and hair complement the persona of the character he is playing. Pooja, the glamour girl we all are used to, surprises us with her portrayal of Amsavalli. Shod of any glamour and with darkened complexion and lenses to blind her vision she does a good job of portraying the character of a blind beggar. Her north indian accent lends a wee bit more of credibility to the role she's playing though many see it as a handicap. Arya and Pooja have got the roles of their life time in this movie. Despite this one can't but imagine how it would have been should a more competent pair of actors were chosen to esssay these roles.

Every other character in this movie is aptly cast, there's no one who is miscast or who doesn't play the part well. I'm not able to name the person who played Thandavan, he's menacing and the very look of him on screen builds a huge amount of hatred in our hearts. Bala has reportedly used real beggars to act in this movie for a monthly salary of 2500/month. It shows on screen and most of them play their part rather beautifully. 

There's an underlying tinge of humor in some scenes and despite the rather sordid state of affairs we see on screen some lines made me laugh rather loudly. The way the beggars laughed and made fun of the world around them brought both a smile and a tear to one's eyes. I had a minor problem with the dialogues in the beginning of the movie when it sounded very dramatic in that the characters mouthed them like it was a stage drama.  Arthur Wilson's cinematography is the other high point of this movie. The opening in Kasi is outstanding. The camera literally crawls in and out of scenes majorly, most of the shooting is done from below the knee level which adds another layer of mystique to an already mystic movie.

Ilaiyaraja's music elevates this movie one notch more. The songs are superbly written and tuned. I couldn't pick one number which didn't fit the mood of a scene or which wasn't melodic enough. The background music was superlative to say the least. Here's a movie where Harris could learn a thing or two about writing for action scenes. Raja Sir's score for the action is apt and fits the thematic needs perfectly. The dialogs are laced with lewd and vulgar language when one sees it from a prudish metro dweller's point of view but one shouldn't expect anything less from a fare that is so grounded in reality. 

All the Tamil swear phrases have been beeped out but a particular swear word in Hindi which would translate into 'sister violater' wasn't beeped out. Is it that the Censor board folks in Chennai don't know enough Hindi? Given the large influx of IT professional from various parts of the country into Chennai this swear word should be rather widely known. It's rare that an actor get's an author backed role, Arya certainly get's to play the most challenging role of his career. The way he's introduced on screen while he's doing seershasan is so bold. On the low side Arya's character is not completely explored, there is no mention of what's he thinking or how he's tuned to see things, we have to assume that as an aghori he's broken off all his material leanings including his family which deserted him 14 yrs ago. The logic given towards the end for moksha for a character who begs redemption is hardly plausible.

Extras don't have any role to play in a scene in Indian movies. They simply have to stick to a marked position with a particular look on their face which an AD gives them. This movie breaks that routine. I'd like to mention a very short scene of a beggar crawling in a bus asking for alms during a song sequence. In the background you see the insides of the bus, the camera looking into the front where a conductor is changing the board of the bus, the back reads 'Bus Station' implying that this bus is leaving to a suburb or village nearby. The conductor picks his bag and moves ahead to issue tickets. All this happens in a couple of seconds but to keep a scene so dynamic takes a lot of rehearsal and vision and Bala has it. It's small things such as these that elevate 'Naan Kadavul' to a good movie. 

This is not a pop corn movie. This movie arrests it's viewer. You can't take your eyes off the screen. You are either repelled by the scenes you see or are engrossed in it in a non voyeuristic manner. The star behind 'Naan Kadavul' is Bala, the writer/director. It takes a lot of courage and guts to take a story about beggars and their problems and project it on screen. On paper it's not viable at all and no producer worth his salt would spend a penny on a project that looks so doomed. I hope this movie is seen by as many people as possible for the sheer magnitude of thoughts condensed into it. At a little over 2 hrs this is a lot shorters than the normal postcard swiss dramas we see churned out by our filmfolk.

Trivia:

# Aghori sanyasis see them as a symbol of Lord Shiva as per Hindu mythology. They are rumoured to indulge in cannibalism. 

# Aghori sanyasis believe in the perfectness of Lord Shiva and the fact that he is responsible for everything in this world - animate and inanimate.

# Corpses are freed off their curse by Aghori sanyasis to allow them attain moksha hence liberating them from their cycle of reincarnation.

# Aghori sanyasis can be distinguished from others by the way they smear ash left after incarceration of a corpse on their faces and body.

# The scenes in Kasi were shot in the real Kasi on the banks of the Ganges.

# The scenes depicting Malaikkovil were shot at Thenkarai near Kumbakarai in Theni district of Tamilnadu.

# The water falls shown near Malaikkovil is Kumbakarai falls in Theni district. This area was known to be naxalite prone but fast developing into a tourist spot recently.

Geo's Talkies - Ghajini

It's nice to see the menacing villian return to the screen in a hindi potboiler. Ghajini for one could be the first movie that's named after the antagonist which is not only what's not seen normally but also unique when you have a superstar playing the role of the protagonist. Ghajini should have been called Sanjay or Sanju (Bah, I'm kidding !!!!).

Sanjay Singhaniya (Aamir Khan) is a foreign educated industrialist who is at the helm of affairs of AirVoice a mobile service provider. Kalpana (Asin Mary Thottumkal) is a small time model doing ad shoots for Tinnu Anand. Kalpana is bubbly, ready to help and full of joy. In a classic case of mistaken identity during the course of an interview with a journalist from a yellow magazine Kalpana blurts out that she's Sanjay Singhaniya's love interest. Sanjay is furious at all the press he's been getting and sets out to meet Kalpana only to be floored by the lady in red tops and white pants. They become friends with Sanjay choosing not to reveal his true identity to Kalpana not knowing how she'd react to it.

Sanjay proposes to Kalpana who accepts his love after some introspection not knowing that this was the real Sanjay indeed. A chance encounter with some child trafficers on a train get's Kalpana right into the eye of a huge organ harvesting and human trafficing storm which eventually get's her killed right in front of Sanjay's eyes in a gruesome manner. An attack on Sanjay during this episode removes his power to remember leaving him just the capacity to remember anything for 15 minutes at a stretch. This is not the real short term memory loss but it's okay, it's not meant to be a documentary.

Director AR Murugadoss has acknowledged the inspiration from Memento directed by Christoper Nolan. I wouldn't see why he'd have to do that, Memento had a non-linear narrative, Ghajini is pretty linear with flashbacks intercut into the narrative. Memento demanded some serious viewing and worked the brain while Ghajini is a movie that demands your logic to be left at home and good it's so. Ghajini has everything packed into an almost 3 hr theater experience, there's action, romance, thrills. Weren't these what were part of a good hindi fare? As an entertainer Ghajini does entertain, it's not a serious movie, it's a sandwich which is pepperred with everything for everyone.

Aamir the 'superstar' shines in Ghajini especially in the scenes where he shows rage and animalistic behaviour when he recollects his past. This is the Aamir Khan that set's the cash registers ringing. Asin is okay as Kalpana, she does go over the top and in atleast two instances sounded like a (cliched) Madrasi (despite hailing from Ernakulam). I'm sure everyone would love the bubbly person she's portrayed on screen. How far can she go in an industry that is never in short of bikini clad cleavage exposed hip gyrating actresses remains to be seen. I did not see an iota of romantic chemistry between Aamir and Asin on screen which didn't augur well for the experience as I'm supposed to weep with the hero. Jiah Khan is adequate in the role of Sunita, a medical student who get's interested in Sanjay's case. Pradeep Rawat plays Ghajini is menacing and outright scary, you don't ever want to see him in real life.

Ravi K Chandran's superlative camera work takes Ghajini to another level. The songs are exquisitely shot and the color palette always fits the mood of a scene. The very last frame of the movie is a DOP showing off what he can do with nature and photoshop (not really !!!). Anthony (from the South) has edited the movie, I thought some of the cuts were annoying, especially the fast one's. Anthony probably saw only the action part of this movie and forgot that at it's core was a sweet romance, decent job though. Sound design has been credited to Resul Pookutty and H Sridhar was also working on this movie till he passed away in Dec 2008. The sound at times was too loud which is typically how our theaters set up the volumes but the sound design part of it sounded spot on, given the fact that this movie was shot in sync-sound. Peter Hein's (and Stun Siva who took over when Peter left) action is well choreographed.

Ghajini is surely worth a watch with it's heady mix of romance, thrills, suspense, music and action.

Trivia

# AirVoice headquarters shown in the movie appears to be Ascendas Tech Park, ITPL, Bangalore. Since AOL, Bangalore was credited in the beginning of the movie the office shown in the movie is probably AOL's support floor.

# Aamir uses Samsung cell phones throughout the movie.

# The closing action scenes have been shot in Hyderabad.

# In Asin's introductory scene where she's shown helping physically challenged school children leaves keep falling which look like 'maple', has anyone seen maple leaves in India?

Geo's Talkies - Bommalattam

"Yen iniya Thamizh makkalay, ungal paasathirkuriya Bharathiraaja pesugiraen". When Bharathiraaja addressed the audiences in his movies at it's opening with his characteristic line it was a promise of good cinema, one could be sure that here was a fare that was going to be earthy and entertaining. Kizhakku Cheemaiyilae, Karuthamma, Kadal Pookkal, Anthimantharai, Muthal Mariyathai, Kadalora Kavithaigal were good examples, I've deliberately left out movies that were made and released before 1985.

This movie tells the story of Rana played by Nana Patekar, a fiercely passionate movie director, almost a reel life version of the real Bharathiraaja. He's shown to be prone to temper tantrums, has a wife who is not giving any respite. Inside the man is a person who loves cinema completely. Minutes before the preview of his newest movie 'Cinema' the heroine of the movie is killed in a car accident with Rana escaping, the audience is made to believe that this was a murder? Why? What's the motive? Why would a skilled director like Rana commit a murder without an alibi? The mystery unfolds in the closing moments of the movie attempting to keep the suspense alive until then.

I won't even tell about Arjun who plays Vikram, a "CBI officer". It's good to know that the CBI does the investigation of accident deaths in Chennai city. The Chennai City Police is probably too busy with the traffic arrangements that they've outsourced this task to the CBI. How else could you explain Vikram showing up on the accident spot minutes after the accident? Or maybe CBI stands for Chennai Bureau of Investigation, you'll never know with names mind you. It was Madras before, it's Chennai now. Coimbatore was Kovai always, so was Tiruchy (Trichy), Thanjavur (Tanjore), Puduchery (Pondicherry), it's very likely that the C in CBI was Chennai and not Central.

If this was a movie written and directed by a debutant one could give him a chance for goofing up the car numbers when Rana is chased by the press before the launch of his movie, the front of the car's plate shows a TN-06 registration while the rear shows a MH-06 registration. During flashback the numbers are back to MH-06 on both sides, wow, this is a mystery which the producer could take up in a sequel. Lot is expected from a person of Bharathiraaja's calibre, he's carved a niche for himself and I still believe no one can narrate a story set in a rural town like him. No one can bring out emotions of a brother & sister like him, all these require melodrama in varying amounts. A slick thriller needs action, it's needs a racy screenplay which is not jerky or full of holes, it needs suspense and a good finale. This movie has none of the above, it's fast, but it's fast like a town bus doing 90 kmph on village roads, you keep getting pushed around, your head bangs the sealing, you get a bum ache.

There are tiny surprises, probably to compensate for the 50 bucks one pays to get to see it. The heroine Rukmini is a revelation, Nana Patekar does what he's known for which is 'act'. Nizhalgal Ravi's dubbing for him was a little over done. Himesh's music is a damp squib, Monty's background score had a couple of nice tunes. It was nice to see "Audiography - H Shridhar" on screen despite the fact that the sound effects were overdone. Give us another earthy fare Mr.Bharathiraaja, we deserve better for being your fans over the years.

Geo's Talkies - Vaarnam Aayiram

Vaaranam Aayiram is about the relationship between a father and a son, the whole movie is shown from the son's perspective. All the other relationships blend well into the whole theme and lend their own color to the story. The father is Krishnan and the son is Surya, both characters are played by Surya. Simran is Malini, Surya's mother and Krishnan's wife and Shreya is Surya's sister. The movie opens on a rather sombre note with the death of Krishnan and the news is broken to Surya who is on his way with a team of commandos for some sort of a rescue operation. Surya recollects some incidents in his father's life and his which moulded their respective personalities.

Krishnan's college romance with Simran is shown in a beautiful song, the production work at this time is perfect and one get's to see Datsun, Standard, Herald, Plymouth cars from an era bygone. We then move into Surya's life and see him grow up, as a school kid, as a college student who is not good at studies, as a guitarist, as an entrepreneur, his first love and the loss he faces, as an addicct to alcohol and drugs, as a fighter who regains his life, various shades of a person's life which unfold in a rather nice way on screen. Sameera Reddy plays Meghna, Surya's first love. Although I didn't find her very pretty in the introduction scene in the train, Meghna in the US was stunning and outright beautiful. Divya Spandana plays Ramya, Surya's sister Shreya's best friend who becomes Surya's wife later on in the movie. There's hardly any suspense and hence I don't mind revealing the complete plot in this blog.

The story is very warm and melodramatic, a little too nice for a father and son relationship I should say. Nevertheless the effort is laudable and this is by no means an inferior movie, it's actually a good movie and with a little more effort during writing and editing this could have been an excellent movie. The second half of the movie was rather tedious and gave a bum ache (borrowed this phrase from Ridley Scott who says you know the audience is feeling the pain when you see them shifting in their seat). Gautam Vasudev Menon needs commendation for attempting a movie of this scale and getting it right with the casting and production. Simran always was an underutilized actress and very rarely does she get a role to play, this is one such role where she performs like the one she got in Kannathil Muththamittal.

Surya who plays both the father and son is perfect in the father's role and apt in the son's role. Watching Surya as Krishnan is a revelation on screen, I consciously had to remind myself that was Surya indeed. He has given the father's character a lot of subtle movements and a slightly different body language which gels well. Surya plays the son's character pretty much like he's done before sans the theatrics. Nothing ground breaking in this, mind you Surya is still one of the better actors in the newer lot. Sameera will remain in the minds of the audience longer because of the nature of her screen character. She's pretty, aptly cast and has some acting to do which she tries. Divya's role is short, not too much is written for her and she's always been someone who can emote reasonably.

Harris Jayaraj delivers melodic tunes for this movie some of which linger on in the mind even after you've left the movie hall. The background score was comsi comsa. It was apt in some situations but absolutely out of bounds in some, case in point - the rescue done by Surya in Delhi had shoddy background music. Action scenes are jerky which seems to be a problem with the use of steadicam. Rathavelu's camera is majorly superb, I particularly liked the clever use of the camera in double act scenes, the camera becomes one character in those. Anthony who usually is a deft editor seems to have allowed Gautam to dictate terms to him with the final print which probably is why the movie is a little over 3 hrs long. Thankfully since I saw the movie outside Tamilnadu I was able to see the full version, the one running in Tamilnadu is only 2hrs30mins long.

On the whole this is a good movie and definitely worth a watch, I'm sure many father's and son's will be able to similarities in their life and this movie. I'm looking forward to watching this movie this weekend with my Dad, should be worth the while.

Trivia

# I'm reasonably sure the college shown in the 'Munthinam' song with Krishnan (father's role) is Tamilnadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore as I remember seeing this film crew in 2007 there.

# Gautam's attention to detail in a shot is always top notch, I've written about this in a previous review too. When Krishnan is shown as living in Calicut (Kozhikode) there's is a Mathrubhumi calendar (most read newspaper in Kerala) hung on the wall. A song showing Surya (son's role) in Chennai also has a billboard showing Solidaire TV and Arnold's Commando. A cut out of Kamal Hasan's Sathya (directed by Suresh Krishna) is shown outside a cinema hall in a song sequence.

# Recreating the Madras Central railway station and the buckingham canal bridge was a a little sloppy, as was Spencers (not Spencer Plaza Mall).

# Binny mills, Chennai which was featured in previous Gautam movies is present in this one too.

# All Gautam movies have had a strong anti-eve-teasing stance, Surya beats up an eve-teaser which seems to occurs at the same location where Kakha kakha had a similar scene, both movies had the heroine in the frame too.

# Meghna (Sameera's character) is shown as getting injured and subsequently killed in Oklahoma, this incident happened in April 1995 and there are original file shots of the gutted building.

# I just couldn't see calling 'kiddo' as normal for the time this movie is set in, this is a very american phrase. There's a higher amount of English in the script which could turn off non English speaking audiences because there are no subtitles, this is not a mass movie either!

Geo's talkies - Quantum of Solace

'Bond, James Bond' - That was the phrase that usually one saw on screen minutes after the movie opened. Then the audience is taken on a whirlwind tour of a situation setting the stage for Bond to intervene. Before taking off on his journey there's the mandatory meeting Bond has with M which is usually witty. Then Bond meets Q who introduces Bond to one sophisticated gadget or another. Before Casino Royale happened all these were part of the rules for making a James Bond movie. With Casino Royale director Martin Campbell took a completely radical take at the Bond franchisee, the result was refreshing. Here you got to see the evolution of a normal man into a fighting machine. Here was a man who could fall in love.

Quantum of Solace's story starts from where Casino Royale left off. Bond is in hot pursuit of Mr.White possible to take revenge for the death of Vesper. Mr.White is the head of a global organization called Quantum and Bond takes him into custody. From here Bond take off on a journey across the globe chasing Mathieu who is part of Quantum and is setting the stage for a coup in Bolivia to take control of the water in the country and profit from it. Bond meets Camille and though there's a hint of some romance between them nothing comes up on screen which is refreshing. There's nothing new or radical in the story or the theme so nothing much to talk about it. The action which the movie begins with is staged well but the editing was jerky, the transitions are faster than a second which makes the action seem fuzzy. I was not able to understand what was going on in the first action scene and the boat chase scene till it ended.

I was disappointed with this movie, I expect some more drama and character development which didn't happen at all. The humor was wry and funny, that's the high point. The music was top notch. The proverbial Bond title song that usher in the movie was a dissappointment, Alicia Keys & Jack White (Another way to die). I think they should have simply let David Arnold collaborate with someone like he did on Casino Royale. Marc Foster directs this movie and somehow lacks to bring in the vibrancy associated with Bond movies. Marc Foster is a brilliant director (remember Finding Neverland) no doubts, but is he upto the task of doing a Bond movie which needs not just high art but also elements which would appeal to a large section of the movie going crowd and not just the arthouse types.

The action that takes place during the Opera in Austria is top class well shot stuff. There are high points in this movie no two minds on that. The movie has an open ending so that the next part can being from where this ends. This movie is certainly worth one watch, not too sure if anyone would want to own a DVD of it.