Paatezhuthi paerr vaangum pulavargal irukiraargal, Kutram kandupidithey paer vaangum pulavargalum irukiraargal, reads a dialogue in Thiruvilayaadal. You know what I am talking about. I could spot some really gross paradoxes which he has created himself in this article, Critics…Rascals. Having read his book on Lagaan and the caste system, which was cynical in my opinion, I hate to waste time in de-mystifying the facts which the article advocates. Judge it yourself.
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kirukkal.com 
50 responses to “Hmm…”
outlook or indiatoday.. watever may b.. they really suck wen it is a regional issue.. that Mr.S.Anand’s article about TN politics.. argh!!.. usually very funny stuff..
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I ve already talked heck a lot about this in the “40ish Kamal” post. Full of paradoxes. All the more, in case of Kamal.
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…maybe he forgot there’s a deeper reason why we still want to keep this ‘old’ stars. If it were not for them, the there would not have been the newcomers or even vijay, ajit and the gang. Rajni and Kamal has inspired a generation of star, filmakers and moviegoers. I strongly believe they wont kill the Tamil cinema. Unlike other language films, the Tamil Cinema exist to glorify the very existance of the language, culture and people.
And what Rajni, Kamal and the rest are doing is to safeguard it (like Kamal said, only the title is english, but the language is Tamil).
SOmetimes critics fail to realize the impact of movies on the masses. If as he says the old stars will eventually eat up the industry, then why still there are millions of teens and youths who savour every second of Chandramukhi and MX? I waited for the last 5 minutes of Nalla Damayanthi just to watch Kamal. Its the respect of what he has done and will definitly keeps on doing. To safeguard the Tamil movies from dying…
Now…enuff said, im going back to listening to Anniyan…pretty good music there!
-Gp
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To quote Kamal himself – Had the newcomers been that talented, Rajini and Kamal would have been sent back to their homes long back… They ruled for three decades, and they are still ruling.
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The dude seems to be under the illusion that money is not involved in movies and its all art. Its a market. People pay for what they want. If he doesn’t like it he should not waste his time complaining about it like I am wasting mine complaining about him.
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Raasu, True I have read his political articles too and he strikes an imbalance most of the time.
Srihari, Yeah you did and it’s from there I got the link.
GP/Venkat, Said that well.
Sri, When I first read the article I was pushed to write by comparing his article. Then I felt it was a waste of time. As you said that he probably thinks there is just art and no market for cinema.
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cynicism is an industry nowadays…what to do
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Cinema is not corporate culture…
Rajnis no Jack Welch.. Kamals no Warren Buffet..
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Even if the destroying tamil cinema bit in untrue,There are some small nuggets of truth hidden there.
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LG: Finally we SEEM to disagree 🙂 Ummm.. this article was linked on Teakada yesterday and I read it. Here is what i commented on there (the italics part)…
Anand’s comments are shockers, but if someone who does not know these two stars, looks at industry trends, they’d say the same thing. He’s just taken a detached look at the industry. His last line sums it up succinctly.
I certainly think that the presence of these huge stars is driving the industry! Look at it this way, the moment a director does a good movie, the first question he faces is whether he would do a movie with either of these two (eg. Hari and Gautam Menon).
Hari wrote Ayyah with Rajini in mind! It was only because Rajini wanted to shoot immediately (while Hari had already embarked on Kovil by then), that it did not come about.
And it so happens that whenever these junior directors (jr. compared to Rajini and Kamal) go near them, the movies come out looking like exercises in synchophancy.
It becomes a actor’s movie rather than a director’s movie.
Because when they write scripts for these stars, they have to incorporate factors to make sure their image is maintained.
The only directors capable of chanelling these stars in the right direction without the additional baggage of the star’s image would be the ones that are senior to these stars or are at least peers (like KB and MR). Sadly, these stars seem to have priced themselves out of budgets that KB and MR work in.
And I am not sure whether Kamal and Rajini would fit in with the discreet style of working that KB and MR have epitomised over the last decade.
I totally agree with the fact that Kamal does not have to shoot his mouth off. He can perfectly let his movies talk and they might just be successful. I distinctly heard Kamal say that Virumandi was not a movie that advocated a “anti-capital punishment” stance, but from the first minute onwards, when Justice V.R.Krishna Iyer came on till the credits roll against the backdrop of the Sun TV studio, the endearing message that seemed to ooze out from the movie was quite the opposite of what Kamal said the movie was about.
As for Rajini, I loved CM, but again he can’t do it forever, regardless of the fact that Chiranjeevi’s doing the same thing in Telugu. If you don’t watch Telugu movies (i get to watch like one movie a year max), I think you’d be surprised that Chiranjeevi’s heroines (in Tagore/Indra) are much younger than Nayantra and sometimes there are two heroines (in Indra)!
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Yep. But smaller truths hidden in a huge pile of flawed facts just don’t be accounted at all. I certainly for the truth but then when you tend to be cynical you don’t appeal.
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i think S.Anand is a real jerk who was writing in 2005 about how Tanglish is getting popular in chennai when it has been there since the late 80s…………..he is one of those new wave kids who has just begun appreciating movies and it will take sumtime b4 he gets wise and looks back at what he ahs written……and he goes on to quote instances of that phony filmmaker who finds fault wid kamal hassan being popular……………
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Lazy Stepehn Anand article or ramblings are often one sided and biased, he is not worth discussing, becoz there is lot of political motive behind his articles, he is a dalit activist(nothing wrong in that) and runs a website called Dalistan.org, go and take a look, it was banned from by some internetwatch dog due to its hatred content.
I am not against people expressing their opinions every one is entitled for one afterall we live in a democracy but people need to be aware of his intentions, I only wish he could have been much more straigthforward
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I read the article sterday via teakada and i went thru the same opinions here most ppl expressed.The author tries to picturise himself as an intellectuall and keen observer of film making.In doing so he pulls up all foolish statements in his favor.Ridiculous.
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anti,
Finally huh !! Actually I don’t disagree with you. I disagree with him.
a) These young directors falling prey to these actors. Its is true. Agreed.
b) Kamal should be tight lipped – Perfectly true. He screws up so badly with his marketing. I have said that before too. Just too much talking.
Before I do any more talking on the article, if you get to read the Lagaan and caste system book, please do read it. As you say, “Piravi Pizhai Cricket Thirutham”, you probably should get the best out of the book. I found this book in my fabulous library in Chennai. It costs about 60 bucks and isn’t thicker than 80 pages. Quick cynical read. Lets not waste time on these.
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I thought about collecting money to buy a tool box full of screw drivers and tighten few loose screws, however on seconds thoughts for a completely screwed up personality I realized even welding would not help. I think I wasted more Blog space than you discussing this guy and his half boiled motives.
Lazy, udane anniyan pata kettu review podunga nan potuten, BTW: ungaluku en second set of CD ya innum anupala, Please blame my work for past 2 weeks that prevents me from sitting in front of the mix console. I will send my tracks as promised before the world ends.
Srikanth.
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Lazy,
Thanks for the link. After reading the artcile I felt I just wasted my time on it, since the writer has not said anything new.
All his criticsm about the movie are not really criticism…they are facts that all viewers notice in the movie. Where is his input? What’s his analysis …no one wants to know what ‘he’ thinks of Rajini or Kamal. He has used quotes from people totally out of context!
He talks about Rajini and Kamal as people who rule and do not allow others to grow. Gimme a break! This is the jungle and it is the survival of the fittest! If others can’t do it its their problem. This concept holds true to any industry across the globe. No one will foster any entity who he deems might be a threat to his own position!! We are not in eutopia!
I am very disappointed that Outlook published this article.
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Thanks for the link. The writer seems to be writing from Mars or some other planet.Someone needs to shake him from his slumber and make him aware of the real state of things in Tamil cinema 🙂
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aaah.. And I thought nobody noticed my email siggy 😉
Will see if I can get it somewhere…
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http://www.ofview.com/?p=34
Today I came across an article discussed in LazyGeek’s blog. The
article touched upon certain valid points.
Quote: “The derth of art and innovation in Tamil Cinema” (Indian Cinema).
Yes, I agree. To those who say film is a form of e…
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LG: Sorry for another off topic post! Cinesouth says Chennaiyil oru Mazhaikalam has been revived!
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I loved that article and thanks for the link.
How true.!!! Steroids are certainly not good.
Why don’t these guys follow ‘Amitabh Baachan’ and take roles like he does today.!!
I am glad the article points the technical issues of M.Express.
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totally off-topic, but i really cant understand which part of the experimental digital formal people don’t get? this is probably the first full length indian feature film that was shot in the digital format and undoubtedly there will be some hiccups. why is everyone pointing that out as a flaw in the movie? does that need improvement? yes! is that detracting the core content of the movie? no! it is more of a want than a need! from my perspective, i am glad that someone is trying to shoot movies digitally for that gives aspiring filmmakers such as myself with no financial capital encouragement to dream on. technical aspects does not make the movie, it only dresses the movie. and that is why movies with stronger storylines and emotional appeal can still earn a captive audience despite any technical flaws. somewhere i sense we are surely heading the bollywood way, where window dressing was more important than anything. for eg virasat, where none of the earthiness of devar magan was present and at points it seemed like a commercial for the reddest of all tomatoes and the greenest of all fields.
iyengarkatz
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narayan,
follow amitabh bachchan’s footsteps??? one black does not erase the half dozen movies where he was overdid the punjabi puttar!! including the amazingly irritating “C’MON CHARLIE” uncle of that vivek oberoi- aishwarya movie! he is definitely a good actor, but his movie choices sometimes are definitely suspect. i would rather watch kamal proceed in his path than follow amitabh.
btw, tis better to be on steroids and become the governor of kali-fornia than be on crack and end up writing delusional rants on outlookindia 😉
iyengarkatz
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My two paisas…
If you had been following rajni’s interviews since late 80’s you would find that he repeatedly says “cinema is a business. I want to keep my distributors, producers and viewers happy.Commercial cinema is the way of my art”. He never poses to take tamil cinema to next higher level. If majority people are happy with this stance and appreciative, which makes his movies click, what makes Anand puke over it?
As far as kamal goes, even until this point, people in the industry look upto him for doing anything innovative or new, which would be a step ahead for the industry. Whether it succeeds or not isn’t the matter, but atleast it sets a trend rolling. For eg: his passion with makeup has caught on with lots of young generation actors like vikram, surya and even ajit! Actors want to look their characters. Not that ppl before kamal didn’t do this. But his passion showed on screen and it caught on.
Now whom does Anand wants Tamil Cinema to be led by? Even if it has to be led by meaningful directors and “literature” people, it can be reached to mass only by these two, each by his own means.. If you do not have these two and their apers, followers, I suspect the tamil movie industry would soon become extinct and its reach would dwindle like what you see in West Bengal and some other places… It would even reduce to satisfying niche audience watching porn movies, c grade action flicks etc. I feel, whomsoever this anand is, he should watch out and think about what he says.. When you have lots of readership, you should behave sensibly with some responsibility.
Let people be what they are… Am stopping here.
P.S.:From the comments posted, I see it is actually “Kutram kandupidithey udhai vaangum pulavar” – Anand.
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Its like getting attention by being negative.. The guy is doing the same. I was really furious about the article.. though i think the tamil cinema is not growing healthy with certain things..
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Anand does have some points in the article.Definitely Rajini and kamal are hampering fresh ideas.They have inspired a lot of peoples, but they have inspired them to follow there footsteps.Now everybody from vijay to chimbu is talking to the screen.And kamal has inspired a couple of actors to beleive that, good make up is acting.
How many tamil movies are made that cannot be classified as a rajini or a kamal type movie.He has aptly pointed out few directors who have made movies which broke the format, that every movie should have a hero and a villian.And these movies have also run and these movies have also been commercially successfull.So we cannot hide under the blanket that rajini is doing it for commercial purposes etc.
And what narayanan has meant by using the amitabh statement is.Rajini should also retire gracefully. How long are we gonna watch him do the matrix style fights?.Amitabh is still a larger than life figure and he is still a super star, without romancing a 20 yr old girl.
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Senthil,
can you blame Kamal/Rajini for this rush of wannabe-rajinis and wannabe-kamals?
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srihari,
That was to answer someone who said that rajini and kamal have not been hampering but actually inspiring new actors.
BTW you beat me on the “Hazaaron Khwahishen Aisi” review :).
senthil
http://jackofall.blogspot.com
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senthil,
if you believe kamal has inspired people to believe that good makeup is good acting, then i really dont think you have a good barometer of what is good acting. the three movies that kamal had makeup on predominantly were indian, avvai shanmugi and anbey shivam. and at the end of the movie, the makeup faded away in front of his histrionic skills. why dont you blame the people who are aping them? why hold these two accountable for someone else following in their footsteps?
as for your claim that the examples shown broke away from the traditional concept of hero and villain is not correct. kadhal had a hero, a heroine and a villian. if you look at it, mumbai xpress is different, for there are no villains at all. everyone is human at best including the hero. and the format was not different, the story was told differently that is all. if you contest the fact that commercial compulsions do not hold sway as said by rajini, then you are again wrong. these movies also clicked because they ensured the format was of a better quality than others. good songs, a better emotional appeal and to an extent, sex thrown in as was the case with thulluvadho ilaimai bandied by your critic in outlookindia. why did he not look at good movies that have not been commercially viable as examples? like kutty? or anbey shivam? any masala movie is made only to make money, nothing more nothing less. and that is best learned from the yash chopra-yash johar camp that rehash the same movie in different forms to reap money and that is why srk is still sticking to the college boy routine.
as for rajini needing to stop matrix style stunts, i would agree. but then again, that will only happen when the crowds themselves get sick of it, for if he could change the type of movies he makes all by himself, he would have done so. but since, it all lies in the hands of the public, not much can be said.
iyengarkatz
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iyengarkatz,
histrionics?? Are u kidding me tell me the last movie in which his acting was so emotional.i think u r still in the good old days of moondram pirai, nayagan and mahanadhi.Those days are gone, nowadays what ever acting kamal does can be easily done even by danush or chimbu.Vasool raja MBBS and Pammal K are nothing but efforts to save some money for his post retirement period.
Kadhal has a central character.Not a omnipotent, omnipresent HERO like rajini, vijaykanth or the other guys who can fight with 200 peoples,take 100 bullets and still sing and dance.Thulluvadhoo illamai was about teenage people coming to terms with their adolescence, so it needed some of the scenes.Maybe not an exagerated song.The scenes were very much in sync with what is being told.Not like scenes of kamal biting someone’s back.
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Guru’s mention of the famous dialogue in Thiruvilaiyaadal reminded me of Subbudu. It is true that Subbudu did not practice the art of singing, but he was a good critic neverthless. Once, after listening to Semmangudi’s voice (long, long back), he is said to have written: “Semmangudi sangeethaththirku aattrum sevai, paadaamal iruppathu” (meaning Semmangudi’s service to music will be to stop singing). My father told me this and he said it created a furore in those days.
Anybody can (and should) take constructive criticism provided the critic is really “critical” and not “cynical”. Also the honest intention of the review should come thru. If it looks like it is colored and the facts have been twisted to suit the arguments of the critic, then he or she loses her credibility. I don’t know under what category to put this Anand guy.
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Senthil. Uhh, I think you probably forgot about a movie named Anbe Sivam, and dont tell me that was not emotional, and please do not compare Kamal with Dhanush or Simbhu.
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“if you believe kamal has inspired people to believe that good makeup is good acting, then i really dont think you have a good barometer of what is good acting.”
THIS IS THE MOST PREPOSTEROUS STATEMENT EVER MADE ON KAMAL HASSAN! I would really be surprised if you’re not in a minority…
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OOPS OOPS OOPS…i let my words out too early…misunderstood ur comments iyengarkatz…i actually wanted to direct those towards Senthil…and ended up quoting u…manchiru…
i meant that senthil by his sophomoric comments was saying something preposterous!
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As for Amitab not romancing 20 yr olds;when he came back after his “retirement”with kuda gawah or something, he DID run around trees with 20 yr olds in a ew movies.Shilpa,Manisha,raveena and all.But thankfully,most of them bombed. Due to financial crisis,he had to do KBC and then start doin the father roles.If the earlier movies were hits,we wd still be seeing him romancing ash in his movies.
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I find the Authors column bordering on hate. Its not like its cricket where there are only 11 players that can play a game. You can make 100s of movies irrespective of what Kamal or Rajini makes. So whos stopping the “younger” guys from makin a good movie??
We have only a few directors who make good movies and they dont need star power to get a hit.And then we have kamal,who makes his kinda movies,then makes a masala comedy movie(his equivalent of SRKs tear jearkers).Well Rajini just makes the same thing again and again.
What has the younger actors done to be compared to these 2?
How many gd movies have Surya been in??and take out Gautam menon and Balas movies?NOw many?
Apply the same thing to anyone else?Their only other hits has been horrible mass-masala type stuff.
Lets face it,if the younger lot needs a hit,they need sex and violence.Only Kamal and Rajini could give us movies without sex and violence.
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Nice site da!
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Very late on the topic. But yet, a good read of “Critics…rascals”.
One misunderstanding was spotted. “In the last 20 years, the two heroes have put an enormous strain on that industry. There’s been little fresh growth under these banyan trees”. Tamil Cinema (well, world cinema for that matter) is anyone’s playground. Imagine a huge Sports stadium, where a lot of games are being staged. The whole stadium concentrates on something that makes hype, or concentrates on a game where the Super Hero of one game is competing. Anyone, can turn the attention of the audience. It would be anybody’s game all of a sudden. Thats how Vikram broke through “Sethu”.
Dont blame it on Rajni and Kamal. They make their own survival, and thats not a mistake. People are not forced.. people can make their own choices. People did not like Baba , even though it was a Rajni movie, at a very Hype-O-Hype period.
Dear Mr. S. Anand, Tamil people will decide, when Rajni should stop acting, and Kamal should stop taking efforts. Please save your worries for something like Useless Hindhi movies talking of meaningless Sex.
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Whoa !! so many thoughts again. Atleast we are in the same boat, most of us.
BTW, If he is asking Kamal and Rajini to retire because the young talents are beaming with talent and they need space, it’s like asking Narayana Murthy, Premji and other super stars of It to retire because the young talents are “beaming”. Not that I puposefully compare them with Kamal/Rajini but they are superstars in their own field. Right !!
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senthil,
by saying that you cannot adapt a simple novel into a movie because it will bomb showcases your inherent fear of failure. not all good movie are judged by their success. some good movies enjoy a revival much after their time. if you want to make a good movie, make it. but dont expect others to make the same kind of movies you want. why dont you hold surya, vikram and the likes accountable for wanting to do different characters?? and i still dont get your gripe with makeup??? you would prefer them to look the same whether they are playing a rich man or a poor man or a mentally instable man or a father or a politician?? they have to change their looks to suit the character they play as they or the director think it should be played. THAT IS THE KEY TO A GOOD ACTOR! someone who can adapt himself by disguise or other means to play someone else!! you talk about how 2 types of actors are there predominantly, so why dont you tell us what other kinds of actors you think should be there?? why blame someone else for doing what they like to do or blame someone else who like to see what they do for encouraging them when you still have not contributed any viable solution? pointing fingers at others is not a great solution! if you dont like kamal, dont watch his movies. as simple as that. dont blame them for all the problems plaguing the cinema industry. and mr. anand is not asking if we have decided when we want rajini to retire, he is upset that people dont mind seeing rajini when he cant stomach to see him. simple solution again, YOU AND MR.ANAND dont have to see him!
and to answer to your point:
YES HISTRIONICS…..he is still a good actor! why compare pammal k sambandham & vasool raja mbbs to moondram pirai? it is like comparing a person with a masters to one with a bcom degree and saying the latter is an illiterate! compare movies within the same genre not outside it. the movies you mention were intended to be masala movies, and they were perfectly what was expected. why did you not talk about anbey shivam? because if you did do that, you would not have a talking point to flaunt like the absolute truth!!! and yes, he has to also make money. after all that is his business too!
one kadhal is not the guiding example. you can allow some exaggerated sexual scenes because the story is about teenagers coming to grip with their adolescence but you cannot accept an adult biting his lover’s back???? why is that? double standards don’t you think? when it comes to any love related scene, you cannot keep it in sync with the rest of the movie. for lovers can be just as creative and get down with it beyond holding hands!!! if you want a movie that flows in a single direction alone, watch documentaries. not a MOVIE WHICH IS NOTHING BUT A MEDIUM BUILT ON FANTASY, not reality!!! you cannot brush off the commercialism in that movie because you liked it and then nitpick other’s movies. that movie was JUST ANOTHER MASALA FLICK!!!!
katz
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kartz,
The key to a good actor is to make the viewer feel that he is not acting.For me every kamal movie is same as that of a rajini movie.They both stand outside the movie.you only see kamal the great actor with a different make up, acting in all the movies.He rarely gets into the characters.
The solution, i thought was already there.Take any english actor’s most of them except for dustin hoffman, hardly change there makeup’s in a big way.There is no difference in denzel washington between a hurricane and a crimson tide, rusell crowe between an insider and gladiator forget all of them take mohanlal, the difference between spadikam and vanaprastham is a moustache but he portraied a world of difference between these 2 characters.you are just being hoodwinked into believing that good makeup is good acting.
I havn’t seen anbe sivam completely so i cannot comment on that.Let’s talk about Hey ram.It is a wonderful story great characters , art direction etc etc.But let’s talk about acting.The whole movie revolves around sakhet ram’s quest for forgiveness and peace, he atlast finds that in gandhi.he goes to meet gandhi, how do you think he should have acted?, did you feel any of the his need for forgiveness?his pasts yearning for a salvation?.No, it done pathetically.Kamal is a not a sentimental person and he cannot act in sentimental scenes anymore.
Between the exaggerated sexual scenes of thulluvatho illamai & an adult biting his lover’s back in heyram.Iam sure given a chance of doing both the choices, a sizeable amount of population is going to do what the guy in thulluvatho illamai does, but i doubt many people biting there lovers back as an act of love.And FYI kamal didn’t do it out of his creative love, he did it cause he liked Al pacino bitting michelle piffer in “Frankie and jhonny”.This is what happenes when you copy everything without caring whether it will fit into our culture.
Anand is simply saying what he feels, it is up to you to take it however you want.He is just letting out a painful cry that we are not encouraging more realistic works in the way we are encourage the 2 big guys.
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senthil,
the key to a good actor is not only to make the viewer feel that he is not acting.but to also make that character come alive and that is only possible when he becomes the character by transforming himself like that character as opposed to playing a character by being himself. if kamal does not get into the character’s skin, he would not have made memorable movies that include mahanadhi, thevar magan, hey ram, anbey shivam etc. denzel washington is no means a benchmark, for none of the movies he has acted in required him to play a character different from what he plays. even the russel crow example you used is wrong for in insider he had to put on weight to play an older gentleman, with white hair as opposed to being fit and trim for gladiator. i am surprised that you did not notice this very obvious difference when watching those movies! and you are wrong if you think i believe good make-up is good acting. but if i am seeing a character that has survived a severe accident, i expect to see some remnants of that tragedy in their physical appearance as opposed to seeing them hale and hearty! an example is phir milenge. a really nice movie made by revathy which was offset by the fact that salman khan who played an aids victim seemed a little too healthy for his condition. contrast that with tom hanks in philadelphia. he had to lose weight to make his character more convincing. and that is my point. you cannot have an actor look like how he does everyday and play a middle aged father or a drug addict or a gangster. he has to vary his looks to suit the character.
as for hey ram, you seem to think that maudlin sentiments are the way to great emotional response. saket ram was not seeking salvation, he was only seeking answers to the personal war being waged within him. there is a BIG difference between the two. what would you have liked him to do? throw himself at gandhi’s feet and sob? give an example of what you think is a better way to have done that instead of merely claiming that was wrong. if kamal was not good in sentimental scenes, a moondram pirai would not have been such a good movie, a mahanadhi would not have been such a good movie, a devar magan would not have been such a good movie. first of all, step outside your personal dislike/bias of kamal to review his contribution to tamil cinema. then we can compare notes on a frame by frame basis.
well, senthil, your sexual knowledge and preference is yours alone to pursue! what the general population would do is of no concern for that is what the character in a movie chooses to do. besides how do you know what others do when it comes to their lovers?? and please, dont use the same talking points about culture, values etc. in truth, the general population are doing far more perverse things that what either of these movies show. the point is, not everyone creates their own kamasutra manual. some do take pointers from sources around them. if we have to stick to culture and values when it comes to expressing the primal desire between a man and a woman, then we all have to remain in the missionary position only! and in complete darkness too!
painful cry? it sounded more like an acid fuelled cacophonic screech devoid of any facts or logic. taking a leaf from his garden of banyan tree, i blame him for not letting fresh saplings of pen wielders blossom. If not for people like him, we would actually have some good columnists/journalists who can churn out a balanced piece. as opposed to an one-sided space filler!
katz
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katz,
I mentioned in my earlier post itself that kamal’s days of acting are over with mundram pirai, mahanadhi etc.you seem to be mentioning those good old days again and again.
Anyways i dont want to drag this into “whether kamal is the greatest actor the world has ever produced or not??”.
I felt there are a few points to be noted from S.Anand’s article.But if you prefer to say, that we are doing justice to “Cinema as an art form” by passionately watching all Rajini, kamal, vijaykanth, sathyaraj, arjun, chimbu movies.It is your choice.
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senthil
I dont think its plain costumes that make kamal gr8…………….lest talk abt all the movies where he had special make up:
1.Indian
2. Avvai shanmughi
3. anbey sivam
4. hey ram
now u tell me except hey ram which movies were not commercial and tell me is that all kamal has achieve din his life………..have u not seen any of his movies of the 70s wid Kb or varumayin niram sigappu where he depicts the aura and red euphoriaof the 1970s and the young man’s obsession wid idealism………………has any of AB’s characters ever come close to portraying the angry young man like this role…………ur talkin thro ur ass man…………u have a dislike for kamal and nothigng more………….
i dont think rajni and kamal cud ever kill an actor like vikram…………..there were soo many of them making movies like vijaykanth,satyaraj etc and they even had different formulae for themselves………..and vikram;s meera wa snot that gr8 that it was a ideological defeat for the flick………….what abt bala and selvaraghavan??………….aren’t speaheading the next revolution…………..
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senthil,
anbey shivam, hey ram are all recent movies. my argument is not about kamal being the greatest actor but about the fact that mr. anand seems to believe that in the last 20 years which is the timeframe of his rant, kamal has done nothing to move tamil cinema forward. which is baseless in my opinion. also, his claim that these two are at fault because others ape them again is senseless. movies are primarily for entertainment. it is not an art form from a classical standpoint. people pay money to be entertained. anand’s grouse is not justified because his expectation is that all movies have to be different or be exceptional. and that is not possible. if you want to see movies that are not entertainers, feel free to do so. but you cannot blame those who like entertainers as being brain dead. for no matter how exquisite a bharatanatyam dance can be, sometimes you are more in a mood for a mujra. so anand would do well to not watch movies that he perceives to be of sub-standards as opposed to watching them and then griping about it later. no matter how many film historians he has on his side, mass movies will never die, just like big budget action flicks will never die in hollywood.
that is all i say, live and let live. dont put down other’s tastes because you dont like them. it is very easy to write a negative commentary on anything and the easy route is what anand has taken by blaming two well known stars for all that he hates about commercial movies. his piece could have been much better if he talked about movies that he felt were breaking the norms of traditional cinema. but being a typical human being, he decided to point fingers at whoever he found in his crosshairs!
to the next topic and beyond!
katz
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But if you prefer to say, that we are doing justice to “Cinema as an art form” by passionately watching all Rajini, kamal, vijaykanth, sathyaraj, arjun, chimbu movies.It is your choice.
we r not passionte abt watching any of that……..othe rthan rajni we r not supportive of any other star stunts……………atleats not me and i dont think kamal fits into this category………………..
all we lack is screenplay writers……….the best example is selvaraghavan who feels he is not a director but is forced to do it else he wud have to sell his story to sum established director who wud screw it up………….
for every martin scorsese there is a paul schrader and we also have ppl like anurag kashyap etc coming up a genuine script writers and even sujatha rangarajan is involved wid mani ratnam and shankar for the scripts………
so when we have good screenplay writers we can think of adapting art froms into celluloid…….
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A post of senthil[http://jackofall.blogspot.com] got deleted by a freak chance when I was trying to delete spam mails. And for that Senthil mistook my actions to be intentional and wrote a blogpost named “Om Lazy Geekaya Namaha” [http://jackofall.blogspot.com/2005/05/om-lazy-geekaya-namaha.html]. I did leave a comment that me deleting the comment was unintentional and it had happened sometimes before too. I am posting the same comment that I left in his blog and I will also Senthil’s post the comment that got deleted by mistake.
I agree that he was angry that the comment was deleted but can’t take when he says that I didn’t read the article before I posted it. I hate being fake. I did read the article , Senthil.
Here’s the comment that I left on his blog for the angry post on me –
Senthil,
Thats a huge plug man. I am extremely sorry that your post got deleted. The reason was unintentional. I was deleting spam comments through MT-blacklist and even yours got deleted. This had happened a few times before and I should have made sure that I didn’t delete any comment that wasn’t a spam. The MT-Blacklist interface is a little cluttered and you could easily miss a good comment.
Don’t worry, I have the comment stored as an email to me. I will put back the same comment.
Also, I have to re-iterate that I don’t post blogposts to create a controversy. Infact, some of them complain that I refrain from posting controversial blogposts. My idea is to have a democratic public space for those who are passionate about cinema and books, for which I am passionate about. I appreciate your comments and welcome you to post back comments freely if you still feel that I was doing stuff un-intentionally.
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Here’s the Comment of Senthil that got deleted. Sorry about that Senthil !!
Name: senthil
Email Address: write_sk@yahoo.com
Date: May 1, 2005 10:56 AM
Comments:
lazy,
There are certain fields where age does not matter and certain field’s, where it does.Anand has already given an example on the same logic that you are using. “Imagine Sunil Gavaskar continuing to open India’s batting”.
keerthi,
The fact that Vikram was not recognized in his first movie Meera and that he had to do something on the footsteps of kamal(loosing weight,changing hairstyle etc) in sethu to be recognized again prooves what has been the effect of these 2 stars on the tamil cinema.
Say for example i want to adapt a simple novel into a tamil movie it will surely bomb.Even if the actor’s adapt to the characters well and give a good performance,it wont be considered as great acting because of what kamal has done to the industry.He has made it a defacto standard that you have to change your makeup drastically to be considered a good actor.That’s exactly what ajith,surya and vikram are doing.So there is again a 2 different types of actors in tamil industry now.One who hard work on there makeups to be considered a good actor and the others dont care about it and talk to the screen.
when statements like “people will decide when rajini will retire” and “the crowd has to get sick of rajini” etc are uttered,the crowd and people means you and me too.Have we decided when we want rajini to retire? That is the question S.Anand is asking us.
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Lazy,
Thanxs for clarifing it.
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