Everyday Musings

It's nice to see you take a balanced thought o...

2012-01-03T16:19:17.733-08:00

It's nice to see you take a balanced thought out stance on criticism. It *is* hard to be gauged and judged, but it happens and in the end only our attitude matters.:)

Happy New Year!

rads

lol, its neither the review period, nor its near y...

2011-12-07T18:47:02.666-08:00

lol, its neither the review period, nor its near your bday, then why this kolaver ;) but on a serious note, oh yeah i thoroughly get it... whenever things get relative and when you start looking over your shoulders and others passing you, it hurts a bit.... but I just feel that if someone beats u in this race, you are doing the same thing to someone else in another.... the thing that matters is which race has the most audience

Liked ur last line....

2011-12-05T10:38:45.042-08:00

Liked ur last line....

end of the year blues, huh?

2011-12-05T10:32:32.811-08:00

end of the year blues, huh?

I suggest you make a poem out of this...

2011-12-05T10:01:18.263-08:00

I suggest you make a poem out of this...

Did u try Sudoku to distract urself? Or, my favou...

2010-12-13T21:40:41.894-08:00

Did u try Sudoku to distract urself?

Or, my favourite is wikipedia. Atleast u get to learn something. Although...at times, that is more distracting. :P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_economy

2010-12-13T13:28:38.949-08:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_economy

@Titash: You think so? These days I find it hard ...

2010-12-12T22:53:34.253-08:00

@Titash:

You think so? These days I find it hard to focus on anything for more than 10 minutes. Damn social media.

@Titash: You think so? These days I find it hard ...

2010-12-12T22:53:25.161-08:00

@Titash:

You think so? These days I find it hard to focus on anything for more than 10 minutes. Damn social media.

Crosswords can be a start. But blogging is far mor...

2010-12-07T05:14:59.800-08:00

Crosswords can be a start. But blogging is far more demanding in terms of concentration.

Extremely creative ...and it tasted delicious....

2010-11-30T11:28:38.601-08:00

Extremely creative ...and it tasted delicious....

din't you see parallels between Naxal's fi...

2010-07-22T11:47:03.237-07:00

din't you see parallels between Naxal's fight and Veera's tribe's fight for justice? I somehow thought there is a strong Maoist influence on the story line......

Detailed and well noted review. This movie is def...

2010-07-08T19:15:12.149-07:00

Detailed and well noted review.

This movie is definitely for movie lovers and not for the pop-corn munching fellas who love to laugh at inane films like Housefull. No wonder the film bombed in the other parts of india.

As said, even against the disclaimer, the film is a detailed and well-crafted homage to the Ramayana with depth of characters. But to be frank, I found Prithvi somewhat restrained. But the touch of brilliance comes out when Ragini questions Dev if he came to save her to avenge Veera.

The scene where Dev burns cigarette holes in the photo to me was awesome and well shot. Santosh Sivan better find a new house with more rack space to accommodate all possible awards to be collected for Camera work.

And yes. As u said, Sujatha's razor sharp dialogs were missed. Yet, after a long time got to hear some chaste tamil spoken on screen than the tiring "avange ivange" slang :P.

To be fair, if this same movie had been made by a westerner(Danny Boyle anyone?), the same reviewers who ran for Mani's blood, might have termed it as a masterpiece. Well, Mr.Mani. U better stick to making tamil films. The lesser mortals dont deserve to see ur work. Let them watch Housefull and MNIK as we rest back and love your work....frame-by-frame :)

nice review :) I think the characters were very e...

2010-06-22T03:03:15.538-07:00

nice review :)

I think the characters were very easily grey. They were dressed in black and white, signifying how they would appear to law/conventional wisdom. Dev just did his job. But he twisted his means to get there, using his own wife. Veera was a baddie who kidnapped Ragini. He loved her. But was not willing to kill Dev to have her, even when he could have.

I also liked the piece where Ragini was relieved to see Dev. She would've believed that would put an end to all her confusion.

One part I'd disagree with is Dev being a doting husband. I think his quest for Veera was far greater. He killing Sakkarai could have put his wife's life at risk. Dev does not take chances without thinking. When he saw her dress hanging, he did not feel sad by her plight, but was angry that Veera was outsmarting him. It looked to me that Dev was all along using Ragini's case to strengthen his hatred for Veera.

The lie-detector thing, Karthik jumping around etc I thought were a bit juvenile for Mani standards. The dialogues were good in parts, but definitely not Mani standards.

The first half was slow without much happening. If there was not much content, it would not have hurt to show some additional scenes about Dev/Veera to strengthen their character to the eyes of a common man.

I did not like the Inbasekar influence in Vikram's portrayal. Mani could have demanded better.

One thing I did not understand... Veera's was love at first sight (perhaps) for Ragini. So he saves her when she jumps off the cliff. But not sure why Ragini would accompany him back to his hideout if her intention was to die? Did she realize that Veera would not kill her since he just saved her? Don't know if I missed something.

I want to watch the movie again to understand it better :)

interesting analysis, nivi. and equally interestin...

2010-06-21T14:26:58.348-07:00

interesting analysis, nivi. and equally interesting comments too. of course, there is not much newness to the story, so we are all interested in how the film is going to presented. As Manasa pointed out, there were no shades of grey in the characters and that was a big disappointment. perhaps in this kali yug, ppl like dev who helps maintain law and order r the raavan and ppl like veera who flouts them are the ram, we get it, but why the decoy marketing?. and we know this is a take on the ramayana, so instead of us finding out, mani's attempts to spoon-feed us who was who was not classy. Aishwarya was beautiful, but her beauty came only from beauty, not from any other grace. perhaps a really good actress might have pulled the Ragini character off, but Aish has still lot to learn, acting-wise. and kartik seemed so garrulous that it kind of jarred.

all that being said, the heroes of the movie were Vikram and of course Santosh Sivan (and yes, Mani). Watching the promos, I somehow felt Vikram saying "pathu thala" more natural than Abhishek's "das sar", and he has proved it. Veera is vulnerable in Ragini's presence and that Vikram has brought out well. Sivan and Mani, not only give us breathtaking shots (the bridge scene was terrific, for one), but also remind us why we are not merely reading a book to know the story. Mani plays with myth on many occasions- the scene where Veera says how Dev edged him and won Ragini, seeming to indicate the difference between a god and a demon. There is also this scene where Veera wonders, is it just 14 days, his relationship with Ragini? Now Sita was Ravana's wife in an earlier janma in one of the myths and that she was his daughter in other versions.
And you may say how such a "tough" man like Veera can forget his sister's and brother's fates and just soften. but every story should have change in its characters, else there is no progress. Vikram's Veera's is love.

Prabhu and Prithviraj have done well. We wonder why an actor like Prabhu seem to fall into stereotypical directors like P. Vasu's movies. The man is a talented actor. It was funny to see Vaiyapuri playing an androgynous part. And there were of course Mani's usual suspects like the train. When in doubt, he revisits his earlier movies and it becomes a little dull to see repetitions. The wedding prep scene reminds you of Alaipayuthey, the bedroom scene with Dev and Ragini reminds you of Iruvar, and the scene where Veera's brother asks permission to "do" something reminds you of Nayakan.

So, all in all, I felt that Raavanan was not mani ratnam's best by any means, but at the end of the day, the positives tipped the negatives. And I felt satisfied, a thing which I couldn't say about his Guru.

@Mystique I am going to have to disagree there.It...

2010-06-21T13:30:45.207-07:00

@Mystique

I am going to have to disagree there.It was definitely not one of those "I have to appreciate him"- atleast for me. I believe we have seen many good directors falter, from KB to Gautam Menon.

And on the subtlety too, I felt there as was as much subtlety as "Thalapathi". Srividhya would leave her kid alone on a train and he floats his way in the river when someone finds him. Pretty much exactly what happened. Deva(Mamooty's ) and Suray(Rajini's) repeated declaration of love for one another's friendship. Surya telling his father he cannot abondon his friend even if he is in the wrong( Karna telling Kunti). Even Rajini falling for Shobana, like Karna is supposed to have. So I don think there was any difference in the subtleness between the two.

I guess and I could be wrong here is the disappointment among those who did not like the movie comes from an expectation that this would be completely different take on Ramayana. It wasn't that, and to me the different take on the characters appealed more than anything.

As for Karthik, like I mentioned, it was a grouse for me. Not prabhu though, I thought he fit the bill perfectly.

Reading a lot of reviews, I feel that there has be...

2010-06-21T09:57:15.171-07:00

Reading a lot of reviews, I feel that there has been a compulsive need for most reviewers to appreciate the movie from a director who has a legacy of hallmark movies. Though you pointed out some of the analogies to Raamayana, it looks like Mani missed the bulls eye on my favorite aspect in his movies - subtelity. Karthik's daftness of jumping round like Hanuman, Prabhu distributing food, the Kandein Sitaye scene, pulling PriyaMani's nose to mean she is Soorpanaka, etc. seemed forced and convoluted. Evolution of love between two characters is Mani's forte - Revathi falling for the boisterous rogue and eventually falling in love with her good hearted husband, Madhu loving and scaling the Himalayas for the man she initially thought disrupted her education or even the love that matured in the buzz of Bombay showcased his brilliance in weaving a beautiful love story in a plot where the central theme is different. Veeraiya falling in love with Raagini was abrupt (just because she jumped the waterfalls) and Usure Poguthe was misplaced. The jumbled screenplay and poor character potrayal (a relatively serious Veeraiya at his sister's wedding becoming eccentric whenever Ash talks) left me wanting for more.
The league of Sura and Singham makes me feel that this is definitely a good effort but it is not even at par with what Mani Ratnam can do.

Great observation nivi...Thought provoking for tho...

2010-06-21T07:44:31.700-07:00

Great observation nivi...Thought provoking for those who got blind sighted watching commercial flicks and just expect that element in Mani's movie... Good Job..simply sooper.

Well I see your point there, but I would think, es...

2010-06-20T21:56:10.314-07:00

Well I see your point there, but I would think, establishing something that we have grown up knowing so well, is redundant, not to mention it would cost the movie a few more precious moments. Having said that I do agree with you on the fact that for someone who is watching the movies with no prior knowledge of the epic, might see the whites and black you mentioned. But here again, isnt being an outlaw and a police officer a rather strong stroke of black and white as it can come?

And I completely agree on using Kamba Ramayanam. It would have been so much more poetic. But I guess that would be Mani having to acknowledge this was indeed Ramayanam which I am sure he wouldn't considering the many groups waiting to cause commotion citing disrespecting culture and what not.

My biggest grouse with the movie was that there we...

2010-06-20T21:49:31.838-07:00

My biggest grouse with the movie was that there were no shades of grey as the previews proclaimed. Let's say I knew nothing about the Ramayana and was viewing the movie as a stand alone story. Dev is painted in shades of black while Beera is as white as Ragini's chudidar in the climax. There is no back story to why the police raid a wedding to arrest Beera. Why, the 'bad guys' who rape Beera's sister are policemen, the same tribe Dev belongs to. Dev is not shown in a single redeeming act - either as a man by himself or as Ragini's husband. Even in his most intimate moment with her, he compares her to his gun :P

Now if you want to argue that this was supposed to be a take on the Ramayana and the visuals were an interpretation - why is Ram never, ever shown as a Maryada-purush? Where is Sita's adoration for Ram? The dialoges were there, but I had to provide evidence for these statements by going back to the epic as I knew it. And when the characters on screen were not evocative of Ram, Raavan or Sita, it is difficult to use the epic as a filler.

That said, the movie had flashes of brilliance. The scene on the boat, his fate literally spinning. The line about jealousy (which sounded SO much better in Hindi).Jaa re ud ja re in the background as the sister dies, and later, as Beera dies. Beera chasing Ragini through the forest, the music and lines sizzling with passion, the water on his face literally steaming on the camera.
Flashes, sadly.

PS: In the tamizh version, I would have preferred it if Kattu Sirukki had been replaced by lines from kamba ramayanam where ravana describes sita's beauty :)

good collection there... i read 'Three men in ...

2010-03-16T22:47:33.806-07:00

good collection there...
i read 'Three men in a boat' last year and it was really good. it was the sort of book you don't need to spend time imagining/thinking, which i like. i think i read an essay 'on the weather' from 'idle thoughts', but could have been from some other book of his.
i was kinda intrigued by 'curious case' when i skimmed thro it some time ago. and luckily i found it for $2 at a half-price store. lets see how it will be...

@Harish What coincidence. I just brought back a co...

2010-02-09T13:56:51.402-08:00

@Harish
What coincidence. I just brought back a couple of sujatha's novels from India this time. Kolaiyuthir kalam is one of them. I have seen the serial though. So the suspense is kinda out for me. Still I am looking forward to it.

Trivia: The kolayuthir Kalam title song was one of the launching pads for Anuradha Sriram :)

Wow. I will grab some of what u mentioned. Possibl...

2010-02-08T16:48:32.124-08:00

Wow. I will grab some of what u mentioned. Possibly Spellman's as the plot sounds....fun :)

Have u read/seen Sujatha's kolaiyuthir kaalam? Am trying to finish as many of his books as I can :)

@tuxmaniac I use Shelfari. my profile id is nivet...

2010-02-08T12:47:35.829-08:00

@tuxmaniac

I use Shelfari. my profile id is nivethitha k. I know its a pain being in two different networks.I would keep updating my tweet feeds and blog on the books i read. So we can catch up here :)

Nice reads. Idle thoughts goes into my to-read lis...

2010-02-08T10:49:59.662-08:00

Nice reads. Idle thoughts goes into my to-read list right away. TBIAB is one of my favourites too. Are you on goodreads.com? Its a nice place to share books want to read, have read and your thoughts on them as well. My profile link is below.
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2698469