* I know what you googled for and why you are here. Please hit the next link on the search, coz this isn’t surely the place where you want to be.
On the other hand, if you were truly looking for a review of the movie, please read on. It isn’t really a “review” per se, but just my 2 cents on it. Enjoy! *
pic courtesy – indiaglitz
There could be spoilers, depending on how eager you are, so read with caution.I donno what came over me to go watch this movie on Saturday. I had read reviews of it being “brilliant” that I got looped into going to the movies – paying a hefty $11 and watching it.
My first shock was going a few minutes late and seeing half the seats empty! That should’ve been my cue. The second shock was that I was mistakenly under the impression that it was about cops, and murder. No, it was about r – a – p – e, murder, a hint of sexual preferences, and gory details to boot.
I HATE the whole r – a – p – e thing. It’s a heinous crime and robs the victim of dignity, one that’s been over-used by moviedom. I suffered enough of such celluloid crap in the 80’s, and to see it played over now again, was plain sickening. I watch Law&Order SVU, CI, CSI and such genre. Yes, there’s some amount of molestation of varying degrees, but the crime is never shown explicitly. It’s the after that’s what’s important. The solving of the crime and bringing the person responsible to justice is what the average reader cares about. If the deed was to be highlighted, we all know where to go.
They show crime scenes, dead bodies, n – u – d – e dead bodies, bloody hands, blood in different shades, skeletons, maggots, little pinkies tied to strings with lemons and green chillies and hung at thresholds. Thankfully, sepia, black and white, and different editing skills do a fine mash of such glories. [on an aside, I had the rock lady’s son all of 9 years sitting next to me watching with intensity translating the language and story in his head, as I cringe at every thing I deem inappropriate for him! People, there’s a reason why movie ratings are there in the first place!]
This was a desi CSI. Kamal’s analytical skills, and instincts are played upon and yes, there is a fair amount of logic involved in unravelling the mystery. The psychopath and his sidekick are overplayed. Daniel [he plays officer in kaaka kaaka, and its telugu version] is made to rant and rave, with long hair masking any emotion the poor guy showed on his face. The scene where they face-off is good, though too wordy. It was bloody too. Frankly, the movie should’ve gotten over after that scene. Fast forward the songs [yes, we have songs in a thriller movie] and we could’ve wrapped up in an 1.45mts. Perfect.
The cameraman had a blast, and he is the saving grace when capturing incidents. New York looked gorgeous. Absolutely. That was a fine element along with the background score when they show NY in all its splendor, the nightlife, the lights, and the crowds. Fall colors are vibrant on desi screen 🙂
Kamalhassan looks good as his real self. The king of makeup and disguises/costumes [beat only by Raven Simone] notched it down to be his usual middle-aged self. He does his role well. I mean, frankly, the character couldn’t afford melodrama, and he played it to the tee. As a cop with a smart gun in hand, he did use quite a bit of brawn dealing with thugs. A few fight scenes were un-necessary.
Jyothika is her pretty self, crying appropriately and doing her thing. Her character’s baggage made some amount of sense, but I truly and literally rolled my eyes when pompous K says to her “inda nimishattulendu neeyum Maya, ennodiya sothhu” [from this moment, you and maya belong to me] and Jo has a smug shy smile on her face! What the heck?
Prakashraj is an amazing actor, and he does a remarkable job as a father discovering his daughter’s dead body. Kamalini is very attractive, though why she appears and disappears so hastily is anyone’s guess.
It’s a good movie if you
- a die-hard Kamal/Gautham fan.
- have never seen/read a single detective fiction movie/book
Otherwise, the movie is just okay.
and oh, the few times Kamal’s phone rang, I was qute startled, and hurriedly dug through my bag for my phone. He had the same ring tone as I did. ‘hello moto’ was quite bizarre. Just so you know, Ive changed mine to a standard one.
Nice write up!
Me wait for DVD..!
😐 Wow.
I gave up watching Indian movies a long, *long* time ago.
Every once in a while, someone would drag me to watch one (for instance, my profs so badly wanted to watch Sholay and we watched it in the lab on a projector! It was *awesome*!). But mostly, the new ones are a strict no, unless it’s comedy or ridiculous stuff — the regular stuff, and the whole plunder/pillage thing is totally crap in most Indian movies.
And even if I did watch Indian movies, South Indian, barring Malayalam, are a strict no-no. Bengali and Malayalam are nice, Hindi is okay once in a while. Tamil/Telugu — *shudder*!
madsies – yea, dvd is just fine, if you HAVE to see it. 🙂
metlin- I hear you. We go through cycles of watching desi movies – a few of them and we are so sick of the usual, that we go through long gaps. These days I am forced to coz I have to stay updated *one of the “perks” of being in fashion biz
Malyalam and Bengali are very “real” – too real, when I want to just be silly and not tax my brain. Telugu is coz the husband thrives on them! 😐
I hardly watch tamil, this was a definite deviant.
Sholay is an all-time awesome movie. Just to rattle you – I hear they are remaking sholay *wicked grin*
me too saw it, but not on the big screen 🙂
I liked the movie except for the Kamal-Jo romance scenes…. enakku pudikkala!! Kamalini was there probably to Kamal being a middle-aged widower, nothin more I guess 🙂
WHAT?!?!?!?!
Please don’t tell me that. PLEASE DON’T TELL ME THAT!
😐
*finds a hole and sticks his head inside*
KC- I tend to over-analyze and disect every little aspect of a movie. Since I watch other detective/cop mysteries I nit-picked a bit 🙂
Jo-Kamal were such a misfit.
metlin – hehe, that’s the new trend. Theyve done remix of songs, so now it’s the movies turn.
Hope the project doesnt take off!
This is in part a response to the rape scene you were talking about, but the way I see it, most Tam/Telugu movies are exercises in fulfilling certain male adolescent fantasies that, despite being male, and adolescent at a certain point of time, I want no part of.
My world has fantasies and wishes sure, but it also has clear consequences for our actions, and that’s something that your contemporary K/Tollywood writer can’t get his mind to. It isn’t just that this is escapist entertainment — all narratives are, by definition, escapist — but that it is escapist in such a ridiculous way. It reduces all humans to caricatures, and all human emotions to misplaced anger; in the process, it dissipates the human condition into a horribly misrepresented macro-simulcrum, if you will; it’s almost like going all the way to Agra to look at a cheap replica of the Taj, and not the real thing.
I’m not really against Indian movies per se, being Indian, I think Indian movies have the unique ability to affect me, whether positively or negatively, at a much more fundamental level than Hollywood movies can, but as long as moviemakers don’t truly appreciate the sheer craft of doing cinema, I won’t hold my breath for desi fare.
And oh, Kamalini Mukherjee is da bomb, period.
cyd – whoaaa! okayy 🙂 ditto to all the rape/adolescent fantasies. I was extremely surprised that it was being used now as in 2006. Movies have come a long way wrt to storylines, photography, editing and even to the extent that some of the guys are girls are quite good-looking [compared to NTR, rajendra parasad, – u get the point]
I was a huge art movie freak, till recently when I’ve sorted a movie into segments. The likeables to the ones I clean avoid/abhor and hence block.
Have you seen Kamalini’s telugu movie? That was original. I forget the name. The Kammula guy directed it. Word is that she’s done with movies. I’d say good move for her! Though am sure you will beg to differ 🙂
Kamilini in telugu must watch – Anand, Godavari and apparently some movie with that dancer guy – whats that ..hmmm..yea some dance man…forget it now….
oh! great review to discourage my mum who’s been INSISTING we watch it! but then she IS a kamal fan 🙁
madsies – This movie, she looks a lot more glamorous. Anand was low-budget.
mangs – Kamal fans will enjoy it. In this movie, he is as natural as can be. Just that can she take him looking old 😀
yeah… gautham could have avoided the gory details… as i didn’t watch it on big-screen, it wasn’t too repulsive 🙂
He he he. You need my Craptastic! 🙂
inder – big-screen has its flaws 🙁
twisted – nice seeing you around.
your crpatastic is hilarious and extremely useful. You really should consider working on making it a reality as others suggested it. 🙂
ugh this movie was god awful. i closed my eyes for half the movie. afterwards all i could think of was the guy who wrote the script is a total sicko. to be honest i did not like kaakha kaakha/gharshana either.