Now you know why they said it could be Memento. Anyway, seems like Gajini aka Ghajini would be out by 29th. Not just us, even the Hindu is waiting for Gajini. Check out IndiaGlitz’s Ghajini website. Don’t miss the trailer that explains it all.
Alongwith Murugadoss and Surya there are Kakkha Kakkha fame cinematographer RD Rajasekar and Editor Antony to add value. All the best team !!
[Pic – Dhanush and his ‘team’ in Pudhupettai. Thanks Vikatan]
7G Rainbow Colony made me think, this dude has understood the language of screen than many other seniors of the Tamil film industry. Though I didn’t vibe exactly with what Selvaraghavan tried to convey in 7G Rainbow Colony, I thought it was a much superior and a matured effort than the ‘Guna’ish Kadhal Konden.
Selvaraghavan mostly dwells (from the 3 movies he has made/contributed) on the yuppie side of adolescence with a thin line of pathos running throughout the movie. It�s this thin line that�s developed into a much larger issue at the climax. The major focus when the movie starts is usually shifted to this under developed sub-plot by the time the movie progresses into the first hour. Now what does this mean? Kadhal Konden started with a happy note on college and what seemed like a college romance suddenly turned into a nail-biting thriller and the guy who seemed as a hero-of-the-friend was developed into a sort of semi-hero. The movie has its own share of silly college comedy and inspirations from several films. I for once certainly didn’t expect Dhanush to turn into a psycho. It came as a sweet shock to me.
7G Rainbow Colony was a complete effort and had Selvaraghavan sparkling as a director. It may not have had the unexpected twists and turns like Kadhal Konden but it had an honest depiction of mediocrity. Infact, it is one of those movies that celebrates mediocrity. Except for that abrupt ending which was a thorn, I enjoyed most part of it.
Selvaraghavan like some of the best directors knows what audience love to see on screen. Even if they don’t like what he shows he knows to brain-wash them with those fabulous set of images [shot by Arvind Krishna, always] to his way of thinking. He knows how to convert a set of ASCII characters of the shooting script into moving images that resemble real life. I enjoyed his series in Vikatan called Kanaa Kaanum Kaalangal.
If we were listing the future architects of kollywood, Selvaraghavan definitely has a pole position. And in the movies to come, I would expect him to capture life as-it-is with more vivid images and compelling stories.
So why would I hate him when one is all praises for him. It�s his personality that one can see in every character he shapes. A writer certainly has his personality in some form or other, whether he consciously does it or not, in his characters. A lot of Sujatha’s character can be seen in his characters. Actually it�s tough to write a book/script by hiding your inherent smartness/dumbness. Selvaraghavan has his personality, his body language hidden in both of his protagonists. What we thought to be Dhanush’s body language and dialogue delivery skills in Kadhal Konden was replicated by Ravi Krishna in 7G Rainbow colony. And it’s irritating. Annoying to know it wasn’t Dhanush’s own talent for which we can take back the accolades given to him on the Kadhal Konden reviews. Also annoying to know that Selva is also like his guru Balachander. And this crib of Balachander’s way to dialogue delivery is imbibed with all his heroines. From Sujatha to Suhasini to Geetha to the girl in Premi, I hate when that body language is repetitive. All of them are radical protagonists like the Sidney Sheldon girls but it�s truly an over-kill when they walk, talk and act like Balachander himself.
Anyway, I was so impressed by the stills of his next movie Pudupet which stars his famous combo Dhanush-Sonia Agarwal (my fave). His interview[userid/pass required] to Vikatan tells that the movie is a about North Madras and it deals with people as they are. The picture of Sonia Agarwal as a girl from the kuppam seems too good to make me await the movie. I am sure Selvaraghavan would Chennai as it is. Sitting here in Seattle that’s one thing I would love to see.
It was Moondraampirai played in a loop. It was 50 First Dates. It had Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore starring. It had some pathetic dialogues like You are the girl for me and I’m the man for you. Still, it wasn’t boring. It was a light-hearted comedy. And above all it would make a great tamil film, if made without introducing anymore thaali sentiment.
The E.T kid is now a babe and she does the role with a perfect ease and full of grace. Though annoyingly loud, Adam Sandler does his Waterboy thing again. They only thing that didn’t gel with the movie is the Hawaiian backdrop for the movie. Its evident that the director chose a background like that to make the audience believe that the girl really didn’t have a chance to knwo the truth. On a city like Manhattan or even SFO, she could easily bump onto the truth of dates with the TV or the people around. Making her world smaller in this small countryside village, he was able to convince the audience. But the truth is that we aren’t used for a countryside romance from Hollywood. The last movie that I enjoyed with a similar setup was A Walk in the Clouds and it was nice then.
Not the kind of movie I would love to watch everytime but certainly more laughs per hour. Taking a guess on who would be flicking this movie in Tamil, I would say Charan(from his Jay Jay – Serendipity combo). And you ?
The Chennaites crib of not being able to watch the Best of Hollywood from being in Chennai. Cinema Paradiso and Tik Tak are two good stores that I know which rent DVDs. Sadly they both are located at Abiramapuram. I am not sure it there is a better shop somewhere at Adyar or Egmore.
They may not supply all of the best but its a good start. When they opened up they charged more than 100 bucks as a single DVD’s rent. Seems like they have reduced the rental since then and they have also expanded to Hyderabad and Bangalore. I am not sure of what prompted them to expand in Calcutta instead of Mumbai where they might get some good market.
Santhosh, the guy who, alongwith Vaan Nila Tharum fame Richard started Cinema Paradiso talks to The Telegraph on their recent expansion to Calcutta and also drops few names here and there. From the interview –
“Kamal Haasan, (A.R.) Rahman and I used to exchange DVDs, before I started off my parlour with just 300 titles from a tiny place in Chennai’s Alwarpet in 2003 along with my partner Richard,” recalls the 32-year-old software engineer from Trichy.
Collecting DVDs went hand-in-hand with his camera cameos, first during a stint with Mani Ratnam’s cinematographer P.C. Shriram, and then with Hungarian lens ace Vilmos Zsigmond, who had worked with Spielberg in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. “I collaborated with Zsigmond in Rush Hour in Hollywood and then also worked in Playing by Heart, starring Sean Connery and directed by Willard Carrol,” says Santhosh, who is set to return with his camera to the Ratnam stable soon. Cinema Paradiso has remained a parallel passion, though.
With DVDs rental lowering down to Rs.50, I am happy chennaites would crib too much and Nilu doesn’t have to travel so far to watch Mulholland Dr.
kirukkal.com 