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உத்தமவில்லன் இரண்டாம் முறை. எவ்வளவு அழகான, ஆழமான, நேர்த்தியான,  நேர்மையான படைப்பு. எவ்வளவு உழைப்பு அதில் அடங்கியிருக்கிறது. என்னென்னவோ படங்கள் ஓடுகின்றது, இந்த படத்தை மக்கள் நிராகரித்ததை ஏனோ ஏற்றுக்கொள்ள மனம் மறுக்கிறது. இன்றைய கால மக்களுடைய ரசனை எவ்வளவு தரம் தாழ்ந்து விட்டது என்று நினைக்கும் பொழுது வருத்தம் அளிக்கின்றது.

i
insufferable, intolerable, idiotic

Watched few films in last two weeks. zero-to-zero-baked movies like Thodari, Remo, Devi etc, but I found a priceless gem in Joker. What a film! Raju Murugan nailed it so boldly and beautifully. The film left me in tears and could not sleep for couple of days, hugely impacted me. It is a slap on the face for every politician for how they are ruining our country in the name of reforms. Everything was right from writing, screenplay, acting, cinematography. Guru Somasundaram as Mannar Mannan deserves a huge applause. A special pat to the director for discovering actress Ramya Pandiyan (Malliga). What a find!! Music was fine only if you know it did not belong to this film. May be the director told him another urban story to Sean Roldan. Too much of (urban) guitar for this rural setting. Despite that, it does not much affect the film's credibility/narration as a film's overall plot and screenplay is so deep that it does not allow us to distract.

One good thing nowadays is we get to watch many/frequent novel films unlike in the past where we have to search or get WOM from those who saw it. Excellent ideas, well executed films with relatively new actors/actresses. Even those days we saw new actors/actress, but we can clearly identify that this is their debut film from their shy/inhibited (or over the top) body language/acting, but this generation of actors/actresses are way beyond all these, thanks to the new-age directors who knew exactly what they wanted and discover their team wisely, just that music becomes irrelevant for many directors.

Finally KutramE Dhandanai!! What a film!! Manikandan Easily the film of the year (2016) for me along with Visaaranai.  The best part I like about the film was the duration It is a slap on every director on how to make a film by not testing audiences patience with unnecessary scenes. How in the world in just 93 minutes a beautiful story like this can be told? He is straightaway on to the subject right from the first minute and he engages us the whole 93 minutes. Brilliant screenplay, editing, cinematography, casting and of course the music. I already watched the film thrice now (back to back) just to relish the score.

I also read Sureshji's article now. Great article and I agree with his analysis. Wiki says the film is a 'crime psychological thriller'. Some say it is just a 'crime thriller', some say it is a 'romantic thriller', some say it is a 'murder mystery' and so on... There is much more to it. But is this the first film in the history of cinema that they cannot put a finger what this film genre is about?  If one is not so sure about the film genre itself, how one can comment about the music, whether it is good or bad? And they are called critics. Wow!

****SPOILER ALERT****
To me, as the title says, it has crime, but it is definitely not a thriller. The thriller part comes only for few seconds (which Suresh ji correctly points out). It is not romantic either. There are couple of scenes which involves Vidarth and Pooja, a scene which involves Vidarth and Aishwarya (at the beach). The latter is hardly romantic. The lunch scene with the former, when he resigns the job, when they meet at the streets. Hardly few minutes here and there.

There is "suspense" (which none pointed out) on who killed her, there is a related "drama" towards that (which again no one pointed out). There is "betrayal/blackmail", there is "defiance", there is "குமுறல்" (no better word in English to put). There is lot more. Losing eyes is not just the only punishment he got for the crime, he cannot escape from the guilt (குற்ற உணர்ச்சி) of the crime in his whole life, ever is the biggest punishment (he breaks down at the end because of this reason, not for losing his eyes). And there is the inner voice in the form of Nasser.
****SPOILER ALERT ENDS****

It is highly complex to score for such a film which consists of multiple genres. That's the main reason Manikandan came to Maestro. Since Maestro is a master of blending genres, no one other than him can compose music for such a film. He knows it thoroughly. As someone said to watch the film without music to understand the director's vision. It would be a huge blunder to do so. In 93 minutes of the film, the score without dialogues is for 30 minutes (imagine the scope for music) which tells us how bland the film would be without music.  Music is an integral part of the film, just like other departments.

Remember how Maestro immediately told the director, that the film is 'Abstract'. You cannot pinpoint a genre. The score will obviously be abstract. Maestro aptly scores for those crime, suspense (with big horns and accentuated strings and cellos) and romantic portions (with some sublime guitar pieces), but at the same time, he also scores for the drama which surrounds it. Yet he keeps the main theme around the mood of குற்ற உணர்ச்சி. How can you express குற்ற உணர்ச்சி in music? It has again so many variations. That's where you need Maestro. The beauty is the slower version will express that குற்ற உணர்ச்சி feeling, while the faster version has a different mood as he is prepared to take the risk (of crime and black mail). Hear the main theme, you will weep. It cannot be more abstract than this. The opening and end credits gives the complete picture of the film in few minutes. Just hear the music, it will guide you through the film brilliantly. A complete soul cleanser. One of the finest scores in Indian film history   (not to mention the other finest scores are also by him only).

Even if one does not want to watch the film, hear the music as a separate entity through the below link, you will realize what it is. Thanks a lot to Navin Mozart for uploading such rare pieces. Without his services, we will be poorer in terms of music listening and appreciation.

Watched Achcham Yenbathu Madamaiyada and Chennai 28 II.

Kind of mixed feelings on both of the films.

As you might have observed that I am a big fan of romantic movies, but this time it was kind of mixed bag. I am not sure if this to do with casting, or their inabilities (in acting) or that was director's intention (of how the acting should come out). Last time with NEPV, Jeeva quite didn't really come out well with romance and drama. But somehow Gautam Menon sneaked through. This time, I felt the initial 1 hour of love and romance appeared plastic. Yes, Manjima Mohan is super cute (at certain angles) and her expressions could be the main reasons for the youth to get attracted. But the way interaction (dialogues)/expressions happens between Simbu and her did not come out naturally. When he expresses his love for the second time, again her expressions were shocking (even if the moment was wrong). She has to improve much in acting (or Gautam Menon asked her do under-act, not sure). Song placements (with all the songs falling in first half itself) also tells us that for this kind of romantic crime thriller, Gautham Menon was in some kind of "compromised" situation. For this kind of film, I (as an audience) would have given more preference to the score rather than the songs. Since Rahman is not much known for the score, he gave away five songs to compensate for the score is what I feel. Even there, I am not sure if justice was done. I really liked RaasaaLi (except for the fact that visuals did not match the song at all). Charanam melody is not original It is a rip off of muththai tharu paththi thirunagai (T R Papa's original tune for Arunagirnthar's Thiruppugazh for the film Arunagirinathar (1964) starring TMS). Could have taken more effort to at-least hide it. Overall a nice song!! AvaLum naanum tune (sounds like 70's MSV'ish) is quite bland, but an interesting interlude. In thaLLipOgaathE, after the start to the song, I was expecting the song will start, but looks like that was the whole song itself. Sid Sriram added more miseries in the form of intended (western) abasvarams (along the lines of AaromalE and AdiyE). Imagine for this kind of (romantic) travel, how such songs should be!! Again picturization of that song! It is indeed disappointing that even after 25 years in the industry, ARR is not even able to learn/educate himself to understand/sense the pulse of the film and do the score. I hate to says this, but background score was absolutely horrible (and funny), especially when the film changes the mood in second half. But no surprises, there were no complaints. May be he is clever enough to understand that score do not add any material value nor multiple hearings (from listeners) nor topping the charts, so best not to put any/more effort on that front. To me films GVM like these, Kaakka Kaakka, PachchaikkiLi muthuchcharam, vEttaiyaadu viLaiyaadu and this one (and may be his next venture with Vikram too), indeed would have been another experience if GVM had chosen right music director who could do a better score, but I certainly feel he has compromised (as we already saw the pressure from his co-producers etc on whom to select for his films).

I liked RaasaaLi, Manjima's costumes, the crime thriller portions (except the horrible climax). Definitely watchable once.

Chennai 28 II is a time-pass film, nothing much to add. It was quite hilarious in few scenes, that's about it. Part I was way better (because of Ranjith?). It is indeed surprising Yuvan is not seen at all. May be he is in his lean patch. Nowadays not hearing much about his music.

guess they scrapped Brangan blog, nicely done.

on NEET, hits all the right notes

watched a bizarre sci-fi cum thriller "maayavan" 
with mostly unknown star cast who cannot act even 
if threatened under gun point. The movie is 
directed by C.V.Kumar who is also the producer of 
some notable recent films like "Soodhu kavvum", 
"Pizza 1". Now, the reason for my interest in this 
director is, he seems to be an IR fan too. Atleast at 
3 places in the movie, there is IR reference. 
1. Psychiatrist heroine advises emotionally 
disturbed hero to de-stress with some tools and 
techniques, one of them being listening to iR 
songs. 2. The movie , with its main theme line 
being "living on for ever", opens in the year 2037 
with an IR song getting played in the background. 
May be the director hints us about the longevity of 
IR songs here. 3. The hero beamingly hands over 
an IR CD to his friend telling he just heard the CD.
While these new age directors have so much 
reverence for our man, why do they hesitate to 
book him is something I cannot fathom.

நடிகையர் திலகம் (தெலுங்கில் மகா நடி) 

சாவித்திரியின் வாழ்க்கைக்கதையை எடுத்திருக்கிறார்கள். 

பறந்து பறந்து அவரும் ஜெமினியும் பாடும் ஒரு டூயட் தவிர மற்ற எந்த இடத்திலும் எனக்கு அலுக்கவில்லை - குறிப்பாக எப்போது கருப்பு-வெள்ளை வந்தாலும் சிலிர்ப்பு உண்டானது! அதிலும் மலர்ந்தும் மலராத சில நொடிகள் வந்த போது கண்கள் கலங்கி விட்டன.

அற்புதமான நடிகை - அவரது வாழ்க்கையில் சந்தித்த மகிழ்ச்சிகள் இன்னல்கள் என்று எல்லாவற்றையும் காட்டி அவரது தன்னம்பிக்கையை உயர்த்திப்பிடித்து முடிக்கிறார்கள். வாழ்க!

கூடவே பயணம் செய்யும் கற்பனைக்கதையும் (சமந்தா எழுத்தாளராக) குழப்பமில்லை!

தெலுங்கு தெரிந்தவர்கள் இன்னும் கூடுதல் ரசித்திருப்பார்கள்! ஜெமினியைக் கிழித்துப்போட்டிருக்கிறார்கள். சிவாஜியைக் காட்டவில்லை என்பதோடு பிராப்தத்தின் தோல்வி குறிப்பாக வருவதால் அங்கும் கொஞ்சம் அடி தான். 

இப்படியெல்லாம் வைத்துத் தமிழில் வெளியிட அவர்களுக்கு நல்ல தைரியம் தான் - மெச்சலாம்!

kadaikkutty singam
javvu chooyinggum.

Madura veeran.
PGMuthaiah's village action film with Jallikattu backdrop and vijaykanth's son as the hero.
Well done masala..
Seems like Muthaiah is not a fan of Pa.Ranjith - has directly made fun of Kabali with Mottai Rajendran character.
Even if he is irritated by Pa.Ranjith's politics, it has still impelled him to deliver a film that deals with caste conflict
 as a crucial driving force. He bats for how Jallikattu is not a 'big deal' criticism as professed by many pro Dalit
 activists in social media. Overall I liked the movie. Quite a breezy watch and Vijaykanth's son has carried himself rather gracefully..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gawbprjrze0

One of the best speeches..by Jananathan...