Saturday 10 August 2013

Mai Bahoot Bore Ho Gayee

A letter from a former fan...

Dear SRK,

What is with this South obsession ?
Please be content with the "Bollywood Badshah" title. Pray, DO NOT - DO NOT , try and emulate Rajnikanth. Not, ever going to happen.

I used to think you to be a versatile actor having seen you in Fauji and Circus in my teens; though after a few movies you took to hamming like Devdas to the bottle. These were still pardonable with the overly melodramatic plots and roles, and considering the rare movies like ChakDe , Swadesh or even Paheli where you showed glimpses of  what you started with. But hamming in a slapstick comedy?  Please leave that to Jim Carrey. Do remember, we are seeing your face on a huge wide screen after paying close to 500 bucks.

(Pass on critical sections of this letter to Rohit Shetty too ..)

Chennai Express, is a movie constructed in bits from various Bollywood and Tamil movies.
Did you guys even need to copy the scene where the villain getting the slush washed off him by his cronies outside a temple (from Gilli)?; If I recall well, the ending too was straight out a couple of Vijay movies?

Dude, you guys need to understand that this lacked the split second comic timing and the "mass-do-gooder" hero of a rajnikanth movie. It neither had the intelligent and at times poignant, unassuming wit of a Kamal Hassan movie? Have you by any chance as part of your homework watched Pammal K Sambandham ? Notice any OTT hamming there?

As an attempt to get this running in South India, this film at best can be likened to a hyper-stylised Sundar.C film on steroids.
Was there even any attempt to put logic in the story? Why on earth would a girl running "away" from her dad (who happens to live in tamil nadu),  get on to a train coming to Chennai from Mumbai ?

Music - well , "Ban ke titli dil uda" was the only one that was rememberable.

Costumes - did you by any chance borrow Kanaka's Karakattakkaran outfit for Priya Mani? or did you just want to cut down on the cost of using flash for filming that song - so much bling!!!
I'd personally like to speak to the costume designer for the lungi song at the rolling credits - seriously - garish and yuck!!


Decency and my ingrained South Indian culture demand that I add something good about the movie.
Deepika Padukone.

You did the good thing by adding top billing to her. She so deserves it.
Though her Tamil doesn't cut the scratch, she has proven that she could do comedy, and fares quite well at that. It certainly helps that she is a stunner even in the garish costume that is given to her in her introduction scene.

Hmm  - all I can say is - Mai Bahoot Bore Ho Gayee ;
and hope Bhagwan teri  guidance karegi  for your future attempts at making movies ... :-(





  

Saturday 26 January 2013

The Mask

This was touted to be the first super-hero movie in tamil, though "Kandasami" that bombed a couple of years back too could have fitted the bill.
Had seen this movie soon after coming back to Bangalore in 2012. Being Tamil-starved for two whole years, had really looked forward to seeing this.

File-Mugamoodi-poster.jpg

Mysskin has portrayed well in the first half the protagonist's attempts at anonymity, hiding behind a mask, and due to his good nature, unwittingly ending up as a masked crusader sans the steroids or superpower.  Jiiva as the eponymous "Mugamoodi", Nasser as the cop (yet again) have done their dues convincingly. Narain- well, would have looked better of with some facial foliage?? Gramps Girish Karnad, and Pooja Hegde as Mugamoodi's love interest did not have too much of space or character definition.

While the director scored on realism, in portraying angst and bonhomie, he sadly missed out on tightening the second half. Much of the audience started fidgeting, moving out for a second round of popcorns, and less forgiving patrons like G dozed off only to suddenly wake up and ask "Why are they all on a ship now? and who's this weirdo with the orange wig?"

 The climax especially ended up cartoony - what with the implausible tricks with a joker and the grandpa Girish Karnad dressed up as Sherlock wielding a taser!! Add to this a cliched ending, providing the ubiquitous escape clause to the villain - What Mugamoodi -2 much? 
Hope to see a less lengthy sequel from Mysskin with a less boring villain, a better fitting outfit for Jiiva (Hint! TDKR?)

To be honest, I did like this Karate Kid meets Spidey story for being more believable than Kandasamy.
Ironically when this was broadcast on SunTV yesterday, it was followed up back to back with a dubbed version of....... The Karate Kid !
Boy! they do know how to rub it in :-)