Good & Bad films

There are always two kind of films Good films & Bad films. Its doesnt matter if its a short , docu or a feature. It also doesnt matter if its commerical or Art. I watched Hari's singam and Juan Antonio Bardem's the death of a cyclist at the same day within a space of 8 hours. The death of a cyclist is a key film in spanish film making history as it had a story that worked for me on several layers. Each and every cinema must have a great setup in the first five minutes and a dramatic ending according to syd field, the GOD in screenplays. Death of a cyclist exactly had the same combined with an excellent multi layered script and inspiring performances specially from the female lead. The unexpected suspense happens once everything gets solved. The beauty of this film in its last twenty minutes. Do watch it if you have a copy or download one. Dont even try buying one, you cant find it. :(

Coming to singam, Like all Hari films its built around 50 characters with one big band of villians. This is Suirya at his best. Suirya is the numero Uno in my book. He does everything comfortably well. It's pure commercialism with interesting scenes. Leave alone the editing and Music and cinematography the film looks like a decent outing. It also proves that no matter whatever the content is , It also doesnt matter if its beleivable or not, a good packing will work at the box office.

I watched Life in a metro recently for the upteenth time, still i am falling in love with the film even though one part of it is lifted from the Hollywood classic The Apartment. All the characters have done

a wonderful job and made the performances look effortless.

darren afnosky

A film can be well made with a shoe string budget of 60,000$ , a finest example is darren afnosky's Pi.

This film is basically about a mathematician trying to find a relation with Pi. Its a process of discovery and self discovery. Shot in Black and white with a pixellite kind

of a look. Its really fascinating to find out how Afnosky's mind works. He goes for a debut with a bizzare kind of a script seasoned with a noirish look and excellent performances.

I have'nt seen any film noir shot this beautifully off late. The music is heavy and metal with uncharacteristic sounds throughout the film. I was also struck by the use of Voice Overs, I meant the visual was aesthetic to the voice overs. Fade to white was also used liberally in the movie. After an inspiring debut, he came with a cult film Requim for a dream, another sensational film, truly one of the films that blew my mind starring jared leto and jennifer connely . Its all about drugs, drugs and drugs alone. Great Soundtrack , Great performances, low key lighting, fast cuts and one excellent script combined to form requim for a dream under the master's vision .

Watch out this space for more :)

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 :)

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?

fight club & calvin hobbes

http://metaphilm.com/philm.php?id=29_0_2_0 - check this article

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.

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 :)