Priyadarshan, the badshah of illogical comedies trying art house cinema? I was shocked too, but Priyadarshan has made many pathbreaking, award worthy creations which is just overshadowed by the comedy blockbusters he churned up the past few years. But will his magic still work? It does! and how?
The only word which does succeed to come out of your mouth after seeing this masterpiece is 'WOW'. and I should thank Priyadarshan as i saw this movie on my birthday, what a birthday present he has blessed me with! "The best one ever!"
It is a period movie set in the pre independence era in a small town of Kanchivaram in Tamil nadu, the protagonist Prakash raj works as a silk weaver, may be the best in the town. He pledges that he would provide a silk saree for his daughter when she is getting married, which becomes the talk of the town as a weaver simply cant afford such a humoungous price. He does save up some money but his brother-in-law ruins his plans, so to attain the inevitable he starts stealing a single strand of silk from the workplace, every single day and secretly weaves a saree for his daughter for 19 long years. He is involved in communism and heads a strike against his owner who gives paltry amount to the weavers, which comes as a deter as his daughter's marriage nears and he has to finish the silk saree on time. What will Vengadam do now? find out yourself.
The screenplay is so artfully done, the movie goes back and forth the time line with consummate ease. The editing is superlative. The street- play in the second half looked forced and the movie could have been better without it. The cinematography by Thiru is of international standards, the color tone gives the right background palate for Priyadarshan-the artist to work on. And the production design by Sabu cyril just takes this art work to epic proportions.
M.G.Sreekumar the musician sways us with his titling music, especially the lori which is sung when Prakash raj and Shreya reddy's daughter is born which is reprised to melancholy effect during the tragic finale.
The acting is of high order, leading the spectacular array of performance is the lead man of the story Prakash raj, whose portayal of Vengadam can only be termed as spectacular if not sensational. But such a great actor to whom all the emotions in the book comes so naturally is still having some trouble with getting his laugh right, his laugh as always looks so forced and unnatural. Shreya reddy as Vengadam's innocent wife has given a blinder of a performance. She did impress in her villainous role in Thimiru but she bowls every one in the audience over by a performance which could even fetch her a national award. All the other actors does their job convincingly.
Overall this movie is a work of art, a beautiful sonnet, a beautiful painting. Priyadarshan in his latest interview told his anguish on the selection on Taare Zameen par over Kanchivaram, After seeing the movie, we do believe that this tale of Weavers would have been a better bet than the tale of the Dyslexia patient.
Kanchivaram – Kollywood's answer to Mona lisa
Stars- 4/5
Showing posts with label iffi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iffi. Show all posts
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Atayalangal(malayalam) - movie review
Atayalangal
A movie with a debutant is a tough sell and that too directed by a filmmaker who has a renowned name in the documentary film sector is really a tough sell. But Valluvanandhan movie's first production has got 5 state awards before it got released and it did quite decently in the theatrical release too. so with lot of expectation i sat down to watch the movie in IFFI as it is one of the movies selected in the Indian panorama section.
Did the movie live up to the expectation? i have to say it did. the movie being a biography of the renowned writer Nandanar (1926- 74). The movie follows the writer's early days on how he was involved in the war, his love, his pain, his family, and his problems. The protagonist, Gopi, 19 year old son of a Kathakali performer, happens to join the army for livelihood even though he hates war. He falls in love with a mysterious Meenakshikutty, who instills enough confidence in Gopi and motivates him.
The director proves that he is a documentary film-maker as the flow of events, scenes which is documented does make you feel that you are watching one. But Nandanar's life was exactly like a documentary, all he faced was defeat which led to the tragic end of his life but the director skipped his death scene which could have elevated the movie to new levels. Or maybe the director is thinking of making a sequel to Atayalangal? I definitely hope not. As any debutants work this movie too has its share of pluses and minuses, the main plus for the movie was M. G. Sasi's thought process, there are a few scenes which would evoke ghoosebumps, like the scene when the protagonist's dead father with his kathakali outfit grace Gopi to bless him. But most of the other sequences look too theatrical to be enjoyed fully. The Seductive scenes could have been much better portrayed on screen and the scenes of Baskara Kurup needed much more weight-age but it was sidelined.
The screenplay is made vulnerable thanks to the half baked direction of Sasi and quite low production values. Even the editing needed to be more crisper as the 93 minute movie seemed much longer than it is, many unwanted scenes spoilt the flow of the movie. The cinematography by M J Radhakrishnan is one of the highlight of the movie as it is pictured so artfully. The music by Vaidhyanathan is soulful but the back grounds score is quite unbearably loud at times.
Now coming to the Acting department, Soorya the debutant as Gopi, looks smart and does show Spark here and there but should definitely work on his emotions, if he did he can give a run for the money for most of the actors in the industry now. All the other from T G Ravi, Sathi, Sreeraman did their job with conviction. Jyothirmayi as the seductive Meenaxikutty was excellent, she oozed sexuality something which was needed from her.
Overall Atayalangal was a decent visual documentation of the life of Nandanar, but which had the potential to be a much better movie. The producers should be applauded for believing in such a art-house movie which had so less commercial value.
Atayalangal – A musical, theatrical documentary
Rating – 2/5
A movie with a debutant is a tough sell and that too directed by a filmmaker who has a renowned name in the documentary film sector is really a tough sell. But Valluvanandhan movie's first production has got 5 state awards before it got released and it did quite decently in the theatrical release too. so with lot of expectation i sat down to watch the movie in IFFI as it is one of the movies selected in the Indian panorama section.
Did the movie live up to the expectation? i have to say it did. the movie being a biography of the renowned writer Nandanar (1926- 74). The movie follows the writer's early days on how he was involved in the war, his love, his pain, his family, and his problems. The protagonist, Gopi, 19 year old son of a Kathakali performer, happens to join the army for livelihood even though he hates war. He falls in love with a mysterious Meenakshikutty, who instills enough confidence in Gopi and motivates him.
The director proves that he is a documentary film-maker as the flow of events, scenes which is documented does make you feel that you are watching one. But Nandanar's life was exactly like a documentary, all he faced was defeat which led to the tragic end of his life but the director skipped his death scene which could have elevated the movie to new levels. Or maybe the director is thinking of making a sequel to Atayalangal? I definitely hope not. As any debutants work this movie too has its share of pluses and minuses, the main plus for the movie was M. G. Sasi's thought process, there are a few scenes which would evoke ghoosebumps, like the scene when the protagonist's dead father with his kathakali outfit grace Gopi to bless him. But most of the other sequences look too theatrical to be enjoyed fully. The Seductive scenes could have been much better portrayed on screen and the scenes of Baskara Kurup needed much more weight-age but it was sidelined.
The screenplay is made vulnerable thanks to the half baked direction of Sasi and quite low production values. Even the editing needed to be more crisper as the 93 minute movie seemed much longer than it is, many unwanted scenes spoilt the flow of the movie. The cinematography by M J Radhakrishnan is one of the highlight of the movie as it is pictured so artfully. The music by Vaidhyanathan is soulful but the back grounds score is quite unbearably loud at times.
Now coming to the Acting department, Soorya the debutant as Gopi, looks smart and does show Spark here and there but should definitely work on his emotions, if he did he can give a run for the money for most of the actors in the industry now. All the other from T G Ravi, Sathi, Sreeraman did their job with conviction. Jyothirmayi as the seductive Meenaxikutty was excellent, she oozed sexuality something which was needed from her.
Overall Atayalangal was a decent visual documentation of the life of Nandanar, but which had the potential to be a much better movie. The producers should be applauded for believing in such a art-house movie which had so less commercial value.
Atayalangal – A musical, theatrical documentary
Rating – 2/5
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)