Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Its rather sedate
I feel kind of sedated and rejuvenated after a small hiatus that was required for me. I am working towards my next short, you can call it a PSA(Public service Add) about a socially relevant concept :). Being stupid is coming towards a close very soon. I also did a small corporate film which is expected to be out very soon. Time is going thick and fast and planning to catch up with it. I had time to watch a few movies in HD. Forrest gump, curious case of benjamin button and zodiac. Catching up with friends and having a ball of the time. Office is calling me from tomorrow. Its all crap :( over there!. Will keep you posted guys :)
Saturday, March 13, 2010
VTV - The Review
Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya ( The verses of the song Vennilave vennilave taken from the Rajiv Menon movie Minsara Kanavu) hyped to be the best love story after Mani Sir's alaipayuthey and gautham's very own debut feature Minnale and has already created a huge fan following in facebook. One in every three profiles i have visited in facebook have become a fan of the movie. Status messages in facebook are like
' After a long time if i have cried in a film that's VTV'
'This Gautham film has made me smile and cry at the same time'
' Rahman has given us a great RR as well as Songs'
' Simbhu's career has two phases, Pre and Post VTV'
To top it all K.Balachander sir has written a letter to gautham appreciating the film.
VTV is a one line story about a guy and a girl falling in love. This has been the one line for 1000+ films in Indian history. Gautham has chosen actors, changed them to the setup and got a respectable performance from them. ARR is the background of the film and has given mind blowing tracks and an Ok kind of a heavy Background score. I found a few sequences where BGM's where dominating the story. VTV is an A R Rahman Musical agreed, not at the heights of dominating the film. The sequence where Mannipaya song comes in the movie sung by Shreya Ghosal and the legend himself needs applauds. Hosaana and Omana Penne is already an anthem among youth,
VTV is a well written film. The high points of VTV is the interval block and the Climax. Few people did not understand the climax still they liked the film.
The story starts from the interval block and comes to the interval block during the end of first half. Gautham needs to be applauded for keeping the climax of most of the film's in the interval block and carrying forward the film in the second half. The film has an interesting finale that takes a minute to realize. If you could turn around and see a girl near you, she would be Jessy(Trisha) for you. Her character exactly depicts the urban girl's mind set. Her character is the antagonist in the film. Even though the story required a lag, the second half was very lagging. Manoj Paramahamsa has given beautiful visuals for the film as well as Antony's edit.
Varanam Ayiram is Gautham's best work till date and it is. VTV is not a different love story, its a very common love story that happens for everyone of you and that's why it makes you laugh and cry. Karthik( Simbhu) does not look like an Assistant director there is no modulation with the voice. Simbhu the actor and Hero is what we see in the movie. His looks, performance have all changed a bit.
Coming to the Gossips. This film resembles more of the Ajith-Tabu part of Kandukonden Kandukoden, Rajeev Menon's second film might have been inspired from Gautham's story. It was Gautham who assisted Rajiv in the film.
Initially a new lead was supposed to act in the film, later the part went to Simbhu. Hence, the image make over of sorts worked. The film works great in the interval block , songs and the finale. We have got a good love story from Gautham Menon but is that what we wanted for a director of his calibre?
' After a long time if i have cried in a film that's VTV'
'This Gautham film has made me smile and cry at the same time'
' Rahman has given us a great RR as well as Songs'
' Simbhu's career has two phases, Pre and Post VTV'
To top it all K.Balachander sir has written a letter to gautham appreciating the film.
VTV is a one line story about a guy and a girl falling in love. This has been the one line for 1000+ films in Indian history. Gautham has chosen actors, changed them to the setup and got a respectable performance from them. ARR is the background of the film and has given mind blowing tracks and an Ok kind of a heavy Background score. I found a few sequences where BGM's where dominating the story. VTV is an A R Rahman Musical agreed, not at the heights of dominating the film. The sequence where Mannipaya song comes in the movie sung by Shreya Ghosal and the legend himself needs applauds. Hosaana and Omana Penne is already an anthem among youth,
VTV is a well written film. The high points of VTV is the interval block and the Climax. Few people did not understand the climax still they liked the film.
The story starts from the interval block and comes to the interval block during the end of first half. Gautham needs to be applauded for keeping the climax of most of the film's in the interval block and carrying forward the film in the second half. The film has an interesting finale that takes a minute to realize. If you could turn around and see a girl near you, she would be Jessy(Trisha) for you. Her character exactly depicts the urban girl's mind set. Her character is the antagonist in the film. Even though the story required a lag, the second half was very lagging. Manoj Paramahamsa has given beautiful visuals for the film as well as Antony's edit.
Varanam Ayiram is Gautham's best work till date and it is. VTV is not a different love story, its a very common love story that happens for everyone of you and that's why it makes you laugh and cry. Karthik( Simbhu) does not look like an Assistant director there is no modulation with the voice. Simbhu the actor and Hero is what we see in the movie. His looks, performance have all changed a bit.
Coming to the Gossips. This film resembles more of the Ajith-Tabu part of Kandukonden Kandukoden, Rajeev Menon's second film might have been inspired from Gautham's story. It was Gautham who assisted Rajiv in the film.
Initially a new lead was supposed to act in the film, later the part went to Simbhu. Hence, the image make over of sorts worked. The film works great in the interval block , songs and the finale. We have got a good love story from Gautham Menon but is that what we wanted for a director of his calibre?
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
pudupettai - survivial of the fittest
PUDUPETTAI - The Tagline "the survival of the fittest" is a gangster movie written and directed by selvaraghavan. The film is heavily inspired from Scarface and city of god, is considered to be one of the best films of the decade in Indian cinema. Its been five years since the release of the film and still its one of the masterpieces of Indian cinema. This update is not about the story of the film as many you would have seen it numerous times.
Selvaraghavan uses two key guys in his technical crew Yuvan and Arvind Krishna. The Soundtrack of the film released five months before the release of the film, like all the Selvaraghavan films that has come out. The soundtrack covered 10 tracks overall with 6 songs and 4 instrumentals. The entire music which includes the Re-Recording has been composed at Chapraya symphony orchestra in Bangkok. People inside the industry are literally convinced that its Yuvan's and Selva's best work till date. Kamal Hassan Sir has sung Neruppu vayinil song for the film, with the visuals inspired from the song in Scarface where Al Pacino fights criminals. Oru naalil (It All comes down to this) composed and sung by Yuvan himself was the song of the year. Lyrics were written by Na. Muthukumar was very much inspiring. This is one of the different, underrated and exceptional mix and mastering of tracks that we have heard after a long time. Try to hear it with an I-Pod once to understand the feel.
Pudhupettai is the first Tamil film shot in Super 35mm format. Super 35-mm packs more details in a frame, wherein the frame is somewhat big than any other normal film. This kind of format, goes in with more detailing with a larger image area. Its a very different visual experience with matt based color correction and different color tones for different moods. If you could have a look, Scenes of dhanush in the jail will have a greener, reddish tones whereas in the scenes like selling dope would have a yellowish look. This is considered to Arvind Krishna's best works along with 7/g rainbow colony , pachai Kili Muthu charam, and kuselan. Arvind Sir has used low key lighting and understandably flat lighting in most of his movies till date.
The film was shot twice with different story lines. First one was inspired from city of god which had dhanush very little screen time than the present one. Due to in differences, the film was re shot again, this time heavily inspired from Brain de Palma's scarface. Most of the sequences have the same kind of a look and making. This film is a magical kind of an experience and won various accolades at film festivals. Pudhupettai was Sneha's and Dhanush's best work till date. Dhanush's best without a doubt. Selva Creates those strong characters that leaves a deep impact of you. The film is criticized for its violence and blood gore and the intense graphical detail of the goons in chennai. This is deserved to be in your DVD library for a long time to come. Please do not miss the DVD, heavily recommended.
Selvaraghavan uses two key guys in his technical crew Yuvan and Arvind Krishna. The Soundtrack of the film released five months before the release of the film, like all the Selvaraghavan films that has come out. The soundtrack covered 10 tracks overall with 6 songs and 4 instrumentals. The entire music which includes the Re-Recording has been composed at Chapraya symphony orchestra in Bangkok. People inside the industry are literally convinced that its Yuvan's and Selva's best work till date. Kamal Hassan Sir has sung Neruppu vayinil song for the film, with the visuals inspired from the song in Scarface where Al Pacino fights criminals. Oru naalil (It All comes down to this) composed and sung by Yuvan himself was the song of the year. Lyrics were written by Na. Muthukumar was very much inspiring. This is one of the different, underrated and exceptional mix and mastering of tracks that we have heard after a long time. Try to hear it with an I-Pod once to understand the feel.
Pudhupettai is the first Tamil film shot in Super 35mm format. Super 35-mm packs more details in a frame, wherein the frame is somewhat big than any other normal film. This kind of format, goes in with more detailing with a larger image area. Its a very different visual experience with matt based color correction and different color tones for different moods. If you could have a look, Scenes of dhanush in the jail will have a greener, reddish tones whereas in the scenes like selling dope would have a yellowish look. This is considered to Arvind Krishna's best works along with 7/g rainbow colony , pachai Kili Muthu charam, and kuselan. Arvind Sir has used low key lighting and understandably flat lighting in most of his movies till date.
The film was shot twice with different story lines. First one was inspired from city of god which had dhanush very little screen time than the present one. Due to in differences, the film was re shot again, this time heavily inspired from Brain de Palma's scarface. Most of the sequences have the same kind of a look and making. This film is a magical kind of an experience and won various accolades at film festivals. Pudhupettai was Sneha's and Dhanush's best work till date. Dhanush's best without a doubt. Selva Creates those strong characters that leaves a deep impact of you. The film is criticized for its violence and blood gore and the intense graphical detail of the goons in chennai. This is deserved to be in your DVD library for a long time to come. Please do not miss the DVD, heavily recommended.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Tamil Eelam issue & films!
Kannathil Muthamittal ( A peck on the cheek) and theeviravadi( Terrorist ) are the two films that brought the Tamil Eelam war onto celluloid beautifully. The former was directed by our own Master film maker Mani Ratnam and the latter by Mani Ratnam's favourite cinematographer , the master lensman Santosh sivan. Mani Ratnam once quoted saying to a producer that " Why should the cinematographer be changed, can we change the lead actor rajini in the film instead " ? . This happened during the pre-production of Thalapathi which was the start of the Santosh Sivan & Mani Ratnam's association. The Duo later went to work a list of critically acclaimed films like Roja, Iruvar, Dil Se and Raavan.
This post just shows light upon both the films and the way it was made. Both the films are critically acclaimed and got many awards from film festivals world wide. Kannathil Muthamittal is a poignant tale about a young girl's search for her biological mother in the backdrop of the Tamil Eelam/ srilankan Civil war. Mani Ratnam has given us a beautiful tale about love and seperation with a rich palette of characters in the backdrop of a civil war. One wonders how he comes up with such bold, brave themes one after the other. Starting from the Kashmir problem or the satyavan savithri story of Roja, hindi-muslim riots of Bombay , MGR-Kalaignar friendship in Iruvar, Terrorism in Dil se. All the stories are about a tale of friendship and love in the background of war.
Kannathil Muthamittal captured how a family suffers in srilanka to find the Kid's biological mother with the growing tension of war. This is essentially about the J.D. Chakravarthy - Nandita das story in srilanka as well as the Madhavan- Simran story in chennai. The growth of both the couple's life in a time span of 15 Years. There are a few sequences in the movie that will stay in your heart for a long time, Keerthana the lead girl, finding girl's at her age having a pistol at her hands fighting war, The vidai kodu engal naade song sung by MS Vishwanathan sir when the srilankan army literally demolishes the entire village of maankulam, the climax confrontation between the mother and the child, visuals of the Vellai Pookal song sung by the A R Rahman himself, A srilankan tamil speaking guy giving his life by running himself into an army brigade. Its those sequences that shows light on the tamil eelam war and the human's affected by it. Its a strong moral based theme that touches a chord and sparks a tear from your eyes.
The genius of Mani sir lies in his choice of actors and the production of the film. Have you imagined madhavan playing a dad of three children with glasses on? . It is Simran's best performance we all agree. She has given a very subtle performance that deserves credits. The show stealer has been indeed Keerthana, Parthiban's daugther who has got the best debut and acknowledged rightly so with a national award. A few questions arise in the subconscious mind on how both madhavan and simran convinced themselve to tell the child the truth. How come keerthana understands the complexity of the issue and searches for her mother. Its a visual spectacle and stays in our hearts as one of the best we would have seen.
The film was a brave attempt from a director of commercial main stream cinema. It was very much a significant piece of art aesthetically and culturally. The film itself was an inspiration from sujatha's life. Sujatha was played by Madhavan a real life inspiration from Mani sir. It has been rumoured that, the screenplay and story was written by Sujatha. This is a visually brilliant work handled by Ravi K chandran, edited by Sreekar Prasad and composed by A R Rahman. Ravi K chandran, Sreekar Prasad, AR Rahman, Sound designer A S laxmi Narayan, lyricist vairmuthu and Mani Ratnam got six well deserved national awards for their product. Leave alone the national awards. The film was India's offical entry onto the 2004's cannes film fest and won best film at the los angeles film fest, jerusalem film fest.
Coming to the best part, the film's sound track. Its an A R Rahman's master piece for a Mani Ratnam film and the rest is history. This is a hugely diverse album having 7 songs composed by AR Rahman and recorded at his very own panchatan studios. Vellai Pookal one of AR Rahman's best composition and has also introduced our very own chinmayi with this album. She has sung the title track for the movie, oru deivam thanda poove. The album also features vidai kodu engal naade sung by M.S.V sir. Interesting that AR Rahman has used silence effectively in the Background score.
Hats off Mani Sir :)
This post just shows light upon both the films and the way it was made. Both the films are critically acclaimed and got many awards from film festivals world wide. Kannathil Muthamittal is a poignant tale about a young girl's search for her biological mother in the backdrop of the Tamil Eelam/ srilankan Civil war. Mani Ratnam has given us a beautiful tale about love and seperation with a rich palette of characters in the backdrop of a civil war. One wonders how he comes up with such bold, brave themes one after the other. Starting from the Kashmir problem or the satyavan savithri story of Roja, hindi-muslim riots of Bombay , MGR-Kalaignar friendship in Iruvar, Terrorism in Dil se. All the stories are about a tale of friendship and love in the background of war.
Kannathil Muthamittal captured how a family suffers in srilanka to find the Kid's biological mother with the growing tension of war. This is essentially about the J.D. Chakravarthy - Nandita das story in srilanka as well as the Madhavan- Simran story in chennai. The growth of both the couple's life in a time span of 15 Years. There are a few sequences in the movie that will stay in your heart for a long time, Keerthana the lead girl, finding girl's at her age having a pistol at her hands fighting war, The vidai kodu engal naade song sung by MS Vishwanathan sir when the srilankan army literally demolishes the entire village of maankulam, the climax confrontation between the mother and the child, visuals of the Vellai Pookal song sung by the A R Rahman himself, A srilankan tamil speaking guy giving his life by running himself into an army brigade. Its those sequences that shows light on the tamil eelam war and the human's affected by it. Its a strong moral based theme that touches a chord and sparks a tear from your eyes.
The genius of Mani sir lies in his choice of actors and the production of the film. Have you imagined madhavan playing a dad of three children with glasses on? . It is Simran's best performance we all agree. She has given a very subtle performance that deserves credits. The show stealer has been indeed Keerthana, Parthiban's daugther who has got the best debut and acknowledged rightly so with a national award. A few questions arise in the subconscious mind on how both madhavan and simran convinced themselve to tell the child the truth. How come keerthana understands the complexity of the issue and searches for her mother. Its a visual spectacle and stays in our hearts as one of the best we would have seen.
The film was a brave attempt from a director of commercial main stream cinema. It was very much a significant piece of art aesthetically and culturally. The film itself was an inspiration from sujatha's life. Sujatha was played by Madhavan a real life inspiration from Mani sir. It has been rumoured that, the screenplay and story was written by Sujatha. This is a visually brilliant work handled by Ravi K chandran, edited by Sreekar Prasad and composed by A R Rahman. Ravi K chandran, Sreekar Prasad, AR Rahman, Sound designer A S laxmi Narayan, lyricist vairmuthu and Mani Ratnam got six well deserved national awards for their product. Leave alone the national awards. The film was India's offical entry onto the 2004's cannes film fest and won best film at the los angeles film fest, jerusalem film fest.
Coming to the best part, the film's sound track. Its an A R Rahman's master piece for a Mani Ratnam film and the rest is history. This is a hugely diverse album having 7 songs composed by AR Rahman and recorded at his very own panchatan studios. Vellai Pookal one of AR Rahman's best composition and has also introduced our very own chinmayi with this album. She has sung the title track for the movie, oru deivam thanda poove. The album also features vidai kodu engal naade sung by M.S.V sir. Interesting that AR Rahman has used silence effectively in the Background score.
Hats off Mani Sir :)
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Ishqiya
I am very much happy write about a few positive things happening in the professional front. I had written lyrics for an album that had 6 songs, for which i was part of one song. The album is getting released this saturday at kamaraj
hall nandanam. The music was done by three music composers and mixed by Vishal, who is a composer himself. I have been working on the script of saranalayam for a long time and we are planning to take it to the next level by finding the producers. Saranalayam has been a dream project for me, the editor Prasanna, the composer Vishal and the DOP george. Story boarding will happen for the project soon.
This week i saw ishqiya, i cant really comment about the story, as i dont understand a few dialogues. It has a combination of hindi and urdu. The real punjabi slang attached to it. Vidya Balan mesmerizes on screen and proves that, she can single handedly take a film on her shoulders. Everyone have given great performances specially vidya & Arshad warsi. I do not have any guts to comment about the performance of an actor above par like nasserudin sir. If you do not know proper hindi, its not possible to understand the film. Please do watch the film & hear the soundtrack of ishqiya for vishal B's awesome composition's. If there are some soundtracks which you cannot ignore then it's got to be Ishqiya and Striker. See you soon. Lets discuss the rest later! :)
hall nandanam. The music was done by three music composers and mixed by Vishal, who is a composer himself. I have been working on the script of saranalayam for a long time and we are planning to take it to the next level by finding the producers. Saranalayam has been a dream project for me, the editor Prasanna, the composer Vishal and the DOP george. Story boarding will happen for the project soon.
This week i saw ishqiya, i cant really comment about the story, as i dont understand a few dialogues. It has a combination of hindi and urdu. The real punjabi slang attached to it. Vidya Balan mesmerizes on screen and proves that, she can single handedly take a film on her shoulders. Everyone have given great performances specially vidya & Arshad warsi. I do not have any guts to comment about the performance of an actor above par like nasserudin sir. If you do not know proper hindi, its not possible to understand the film. Please do watch the film & hear the soundtrack of ishqiya for vishal B's awesome composition's. If there are some soundtracks which you cannot ignore then it's got to be Ishqiya and Striker. See you soon. Lets discuss the rest later! :)
Monday, February 8, 2010
Striker - an amateur's film review
After four years of hibernation from the hindi film industry, Sidarth is back with the film Striker, set in the ghetto's of Malvani a slum in Mumbai. His previous outing has been the Cult film Rang De Basanthi & the character Karan Singhania inspired everyone to wear Jean Jackets and Ray-Ban Eye Gears. Striker is an off beat attempt from chandan Arora, the director, deals with the life of a carrom player during the 70's & 80's to the early 90's.
The story is about SuryaKanth(Sidarth) finding his life as a carrom player in the slum dwelling of Malvani. The film traces his struggles to support his family , his fate under the hands of Jalell the local Don played by aditya Panscholi. He chooses carrom as his profession without any choice due to the circumstances he is in. Its Surya's search on what life has to offer for him, forms the rest of the film.
The best part of the film is the casting. The film has a great cast in the form of sidarth, Ankur Vikal, aditya pancholi, Anupham Kher, Seema Biswas, Vidya Malvade & Padma Priya. Everyone has worked their heart out for the film. The soundtrack consists of 8 songs composed by six music directors. Cham Cham, Pia Saanvara, Yun Hua and Bombay Bombay are worth hearing to repeatedly. You cant miss the soundtrack. A lot of effort has been put to make the soundtrack look fresh. The soundtrack has songs composed by Amit Trivedi who gave Dev-d and Iktara from Wake up sid, Blaaze has rapped for two songs, Yuvan makes his bollywood debut with Striker. Lyricist swanand Kirkire & Vishal Baratwaj has given a track each. The pick of the lot has been Shailendra Barve with his two mindblowing tracks. Soundtrack of striker would be the best soundtrack you would hear for a long time.
Art direction and cinematography has gone hand in hand. The work of re-creating the ghetto's and capturing the frames requires a lot of skill. Both the Art director & the D.O.P delivers. Since the film is inspired from real life accounts, the writer-director have planned to show it as realistic as possible. The detailing of the film requires a special mention. Film Maker chandan has opted to use flashbacks considering the film is a Neo-Noir film.
This have paid bad dividents. Using a straight screenplay approach would have been more appropriate for the film. The Hindi-Muslim riots that happens in the end of the film, comes out of the blues. Writing a story & making the audience believe the story is more important. A Taut Screenplay would have made Striker a much more better film. Considering the state of hindi cinema, We must accept small films like striker.
The story is about SuryaKanth(Sidarth) finding his life as a carrom player in the slum dwelling of Malvani. The film traces his struggles to support his family , his fate under the hands of Jalell the local Don played by aditya Panscholi. He chooses carrom as his profession without any choice due to the circumstances he is in. Its Surya's search on what life has to offer for him, forms the rest of the film.
The best part of the film is the casting. The film has a great cast in the form of sidarth, Ankur Vikal, aditya pancholi, Anupham Kher, Seema Biswas, Vidya Malvade & Padma Priya. Everyone has worked their heart out for the film. The soundtrack consists of 8 songs composed by six music directors. Cham Cham, Pia Saanvara, Yun Hua and Bombay Bombay are worth hearing to repeatedly. You cant miss the soundtrack. A lot of effort has been put to make the soundtrack look fresh. The soundtrack has songs composed by Amit Trivedi who gave Dev-d and Iktara from Wake up sid, Blaaze has rapped for two songs, Yuvan makes his bollywood debut with Striker. Lyricist swanand Kirkire & Vishal Baratwaj has given a track each. The pick of the lot has been Shailendra Barve with his two mindblowing tracks. Soundtrack of striker would be the best soundtrack you would hear for a long time.
Art direction and cinematography has gone hand in hand. The work of re-creating the ghetto's and capturing the frames requires a lot of skill. Both the Art director & the D.O.P delivers. Since the film is inspired from real life accounts, the writer-director have planned to show it as realistic as possible. The detailing of the film requires a special mention. Film Maker chandan has opted to use flashbacks considering the film is a Neo-Noir film.
This have paid bad dividents. Using a straight screenplay approach would have been more appropriate for the film. The Hindi-Muslim riots that happens in the end of the film, comes out of the blues. Writing a story & making the audience believe the story is more important. A Taut Screenplay would have made Striker a much more better film. Considering the state of hindi cinema, We must accept small films like striker.
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