Kandhasamy - A Saturday Evening Wasted

I wanted to watch Kaminey over the weekend. But my colleague got me a booked in Cineworld, Broad Street, Birmingham for the Saturday 4:30 PM show of Kandhasamy. With the wine i had on Friday night still lingering and working on official tasks in fits and starts, i ended up getting ready only at 4 PM. Broad Street being 11 miles from Solihull i ended up taking taxi. I had to pay the thrice the amount of the movie's ticket for the taxi!! Cursing myself i settled in the multiplex seat with a 3Pound regular coke.

The first thing that strikes one of such big budget Tamil movies ( Anniyan, Sivaji, Dasavatharam and now Kandhasamy) is how much lavishly they are made. The richness from the money spent comes out in no uncertain terms in the costumes, sets, locales, cars, songs and frames. Especially cinematography has improved leaps and bounds. I mean the cinematography of some of these Tamil movies is far better than the best Bollywood can offer.

But what's infuriating is the strict adherence to the archaic masala movie formula. It is the same commercial formula which has been beaten to death over the last two decades. It is as though a song in a foreign locale or a Vadivelu comedy track scene needs to be compulsorily inserted after being on the main storyline for five to ten minutes. The screenplay of this movie is in shambles. Contrast this one to the racy pace at which Shankar delivers Anniyan and Sivaji, both anti-corruption themed movies. This movie is a collage of disjointed sequences. I'm also getting tired of the run of the mill anti-corruption/'rob the rich feed the poor' movies in Tamil.

It is nauseating to watch the hypocrisy of trying to balance the prime motivation of feeding the aspirations of the burgeoning middle-class and at the same time trying to play to its sense of guilt of doing nothing to the abundant squalor/poverty it finds itself surrounded with. After some spectacularly extravagant shots in Mexico, the hero starts lecturing by showing us a series of photographs depicting poverty in India. Sigh...

Vikram, a two-time national award winner (For Sethu and Pithamagan), is getting into an image trap post the success of Anniyan. By comparison Surya is far more versatile.

Shreya is Kollywod's answer to Shakira. With her new hair-do she looks chic.

Perhaps the only reason one should watch this movie is for the remix song 'Bambara Kannalae':-) If you can't sway to the beat of this song then forget it.....I gather this song is quite big these days in the South Indian party circles, how much ever small it may be. Sample the lyrics:-)

Yen Peru Meenakumari
Yen ooru Kanyakumaari
Polaama Kudhira savaaari
Sailaama samban kacheri

Naan pattu pattu pattu pattu sundhari
nee thottu thottu thottu thottu thottu nee pullari

Kaaikari thottahthila naan kathiri
Aangila madhathila naan january
Pambara Kannaaley Kaadhal ....
Ohdura nadhiyinile naan kaaviri
Asaiva saapaatula naan aan kari
Pambara Pambara pambara pambara .....

KamalHaasan's Poem

I was browsing Era.Murugan's website. Era.Murugan is one of the new age Tamil writers, who btw writes well. It comes out that he works for HCL BPO as principal consultant. Sujatha is his mentor. He has done dialogues for Kamal's upcoming flick 'Unnai Pol Oruvan'. His poems regularly appear in Ananda Vikatan. I distinctly remember reading a poem titled 'AadhalAl AlarugirAn' by Era.Murugan in AV few years back. In his website he has published one of Kamal's poem titled 'Nanban'. I know Kamal writes poems. Regarding Kamal's poetic skills, camouflage/under currents/veiled messages/giving room for different interpretations are all hallmarks of a well written poem and Kamal has them in plenty. Also, Themal, Jaadhikuri, padikAram, MIsai nuni...these are distinctly Kamal words.

It's an intelligent poem. He sees himself as his Nanban. Once you read the poem from this context you will be pleasantly surprised. I concede that the usage of the term 'Jaadhikuri' is unnecessary. However, you will have to give it to him when it comes to how versatile he is and how much justification he does to each and every thing he gets into

http://www.eramurukan.in/tamil/magazines.php