Review: What’s Your Raashee?
SIGNS EXPERIMENT
A young man scours the Zodiac in search of a life partner – but all he manages is a bloated bore of a movie.
SEPT 27, 2009 – DURING INTERMISSION, AS THE REST OF THE AUDIENCE streams out for refreshments or catches up on calls or exchanges argumentative notes on the merits of the first half, your eyes may settle upon a lonely bloke at a corner, chewing on a pencil, eyes glazed in faraway thought. He, dear reader, is the critic, and he’s replaying what he’s seen so far, filing away choice nuggets – a line of dialogue, a snatch of performance – for inclusion in his review. Approach him at your own peril at this halfway juncture – you might wind up at the receiving end of a fistful of wrath for disrupting a synaptic leap, one of those free-associative trains of thought that could be steering him through movie moments down the years. For instance, had you sidled up to me during the interval point of Ashutosh Gowariker’s What’s Your Raashee?, you’d have muddied a mental image of Rakesh Roshan galloping through the countryside on a chestnut-brown steed.
That’s the snapshot from Paraya Dhan that was dredged up from the deep recesses – mainly, I think, because those five minutes of song (Aaj unse pehli mulaqaat hogi) capture, with blithe effortlessness, something that eludes Gowariker in three-plus hours of film: the anticipation of meeting one’s bride-to-be for the very first time. What does Harman Baweja (playing an NRI from Chicago) feel as he contrives to run into each of the twelve women corresponding to the twelve signs of the Zodiac? (Each one is portrayed by Priyanka Chopra, and explained away by the conceit that every woman you meet in the arranged-marriage scenario ends up resembling the woman of your dreams.) Baweja’s performance leaves you with very little clue, and Gowariker doesn’t appear too interested, either, in his hero’s emotional investment in a decision so life-altering. The latter could be in a Hallmark store browsing through greeting cards for all you care.
The point isn’t the (by-now fairly established) truism that Baweja is an actor of fairly limited means. Rakesh Roshan – who, I suppose, would fall under the same generic category of butterball leading men – could never be accused of great thesping either. But those films of a certain age, and of a certain vintage, at least tried to compensate for these inadequacies. Every line of lyric in the Paraya Dhan number was an invitation to the audience to peer into the hero’s state of mind during this historic chapter of his young life. (The lilting swing in RD Burman’s music and the anticipatory boisterousness in Kishore Kumar’s rendition took care of the rest.) There are a lot of things about Old Bollywood that have deservedly been laid to rest, but watching something like What’s Your Raashee? (which tries very hard to be clean, old-fashioned entertainment) makes you wonder if a few babies haven’t been thrown out with the bathwater. Sohail Sen contributes a dozen songs to the soundtrack – not one of them is of any use to the proceedings.
The other reliable props of Old Bollywood – say, the comedy track (in this case, an excruciating sideshow about a private detective trailing an adulterous husband) – are also major misfires in this typically bloated Gowariker feature (with typically ham-handed excursions into messagey territory), and all we’re left with is the leading lady. Priyanka Chopra needed to fire on all cylinders if there was to be any hope of salvage – and thankfully she does. (What’s Your Raashee? is essentially one long heroine-showreel.) In her first avatar, she’s handed some alarmingly broad comic material to pull off, and she flounders, but she quickly settles into a comfortable groove and acts rings around her costars. She’s perfect, of course, as the steel-infused women of today, but I was also pleased to see her channel, with equal ease, the silent sighs of the long-ago heroine (along with the dhak-dhak heaves of the not-so-long-ago heroine). It isn’t a stretch to picture her as the one Rakesh Roshan, all those years ago, was imagining happy tomorrows with.
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Going by the length of the review, and the number of words used for writing about things not directly related to the movie, one can easily understand how “engaging” this film is.
‘Thesping’? Tell me there really is such a word.
Are you sure the chestnut brown steed wasn’t your subconscious telling you to gallop far, far away?
Everything about this movie seems to scream Dharmesh Darshan lite. Still going to watch it, I think. Sigh. I must hate myself.
will you compare it to Kamal’s ten roles in dhasavataram
Ashutosh Gowariker is one of the most overrated directors around in the Hindi film industry (he must be neck to neck with Bhandarkar). Even Lagaan left me non-plussed, Swadesh and Jodha-Akbar were boring non-events. I wonder how such guys keep getting funded. Give me a failed Ramgopal Varma movie anyday.
Aditya Pant: You know, this is one of the few movies where I literally drew a big, fat blank while writing the review. I wasn’t very happy with the “Paraya Dhan” angle, but that was the only thing in my head, so I decided to run with it.
Banno: It’s probably ot in the dictionary, but here’s a usage. You have to keep playing with the language, right?
Amrita: Reg. “Everything about this movie seems to scream Dharmesh Darshan lite…” See, even that would be better viewing, I’d think. It’s easier to sit through loud, vulgar movies that go directly for your tear ducts than these ones that are oh-so gentle and quiet and refined. At least, there’d be something happening in the former case (and besides, the decibel levels would keep you from nodding off).
Harish S Ram: Whyever would I want to do such a thing?
Vamshi: Okay, I prefer AG to MB any day — but I do share your frustration. All I get from AG’s films is that he’s a “nice guy.” It’s been steadily downhill since “Lagaan.” And yeah, I too would rather take an ambitious failure over these nobility-dripping (and never-ending) sagas.
I don’t know whether it was intended,but your reply to Aditya Pant is rip roaring.
You seem to have been flustered and *lost for words* after going through AG’s latest magnum opus(BTW AG only makes magnum opuses).
I,for one,liked Lagaan for raking the subliminal feelings of angst towards the oppressive Colonial rule(The fusion of cricket and drama afterall is hard to resist if done well).But then Swades was boring even if it had it’s heart in the right place and JA was an exercise at languorousness.
Seems like I have to see What’s Your Rashee when it comes out on a Moserbaer DVD!
Paraya Dhan! Lol!
Anyway, sometimes when you hear a film’s name, the first word that comes to mind is Flop. I am sure the name makes a big difference to a movie. There is no way, as an Indian film-watching audience, we would make a hit out of something called “What’s your Rashee” even if the hero is called Rahul. The same with, say, “I see you”.
PS: I’m surprised you aren’t enthusiastic about MB’s future films like Multiplex, Aquarium and Planetarium.
@vivek: Really loved the last line “…MB’s future films like Multiplex, Aquarium and Planetarium”..I’m still laughing
I guess AG badly needs a crash course on ‘How to trim a movie short’. Moreover, it is his languid writing which has been the culprit post ‘Swades’. Hopefully he crafts something smart in his next venture!
i was curious coz whn dhasavatharam was released the only hype around it was how wuld Kamal excel in 10 diff roles… now having seen that how do u see or rather where do u put priyanka’s effort?
I actually liked Swades(one of SRK’S very few tolerable appearances), but I am perhaps lucky to not have watched Jodha Akbar and this. At least a Rahman score wasn’t wasted here.
BR, there was an awards show sometime back where AG lost his cool on TV. Do you know which one it was and what exactly happened?
Did you get a chance to hear ARR’s
http://www.couplesretreatsoundtrack.com/
Harish: Priyanka did well in a series of light roles where she was given one or two quirks (per role) at most. I’m not even sure you can begin comparing this to the effort that Kamal put in (regardless of whether the film worked for you personally or not).
Vijay: There’s a link here. I don’t know the exact details though.
sakthi: Haven’t heard that yet. But one score I was quite impressed by of late was Shruti’s for UPO. It was a very modern score (in the metal-rock-industrial sense) and it was a very good fit for a thriller.
@Vamshi – agree with you a 100%. AG deserves some major hard knocks to fall of that pedestal of “nobility” that he has built for himself. If he can take Madhur “Realist” Bhandarkar with him, all the more better
@ brangan – In the metal/rock sense, the background score IMO was mediocre.Cliched use of riffs.You could tell it was her first movie by the way she handled the strings and the loops.Most of them sounded plastic.I admit the title track featured some good riffs and Allah Jaane had some good arrangements.The usage of score in UO was more subtle than A Wednesday which is good thing.
Check out Thamam’s score for Eeram. Its downright deadly.Superb orchestration that swings seamlessly between the serene and the sinister.I was particularly impressed by his mastery over orchestral portions at an early stage in his career.The strings don’t sound as if they have been played on a keyboard.Did you happen to see the movie ?
@Vijay: He just did a Kayne West. Or to give AG some credit, Kanye West did an AG at the MTV(right?) awards!
Mambazha Manidhan: Cliched riffs or not, there was a tightness to the score that was extremely professional for a first-time effort. The sound was quite new to my ears (in the context of a Tamil film). I wonder if they used a sound effects editor at some point. The way the score “fit” into scenes was quite impressive, and the two aren’t always complementary (in the sense that you could write a decent score in the “overall” sense of the scene and yet not have it “fit” in specific parts).
BR: So I guess you’ve seen UPO? A column on your thoughts?!
There was a TV series in the late 80s called Mr. Yogi based on the same book. It starred an actor of the caliber of the late Mohan Gokhale. It happens to be the favourite TV series of quite a few people. I can’t imagine myself watching Harman Baweja in the same role. Have some good memories of the original TV series.
Adithya: It was quite well made and performed, I thought — but the deja vu feeling spoilt it a bit. This was a much more “straight” adaptation than I thought it would be. (For my money, Kamal’s best adaptation is “Sathya.” He beautifully deepened “Arjun” with that remake — with excellent cast additions, characterisation, and some exquisite writing decisions.) Here, I liked the fact that Kamal played a more sophisticated version of the common man played by Naseer — it sat well with his persona. (You can’t imagine another actor calling himself Srinivasa Ramanujan
)
What I didn’t like was the whole Mohanlal-Lakshmi oneupmanship. Something went very wrong in those scenes, in terms of acting, staging, everything. Also, the hacker’s TamBrahm-stereotype got on my nerves. When that “abhivadaye” line was uttered, I wanted to fling something on screen. Agreed, you don’t have time to establish characters except by broad brush strokes, but this was just ugly.
I actually wanted to expand on the latter (not in a casteist sense, but more along the stereotyping sense) for my column but was asked not to. So I’ll ask here… Off the top of my head, some of the authentic TamBrahm portrayals in Tamil cinema have been (1) Lakshmi, Sundari Bai and YGP in “Sila Nerangalil Sila Manidhargal”, (2) the cast of “Aahaa” to an extent, (3) Kamal in MMKR. Can anyone think of more? (No, “Prestige” Padmanabhan doesn’t count
)
You coulda written a full fledged review of UPO considering the reams of comments you are going to get for those few remarks on the movie and Sruthi’s score
BR: try madhavan’s performance in “yevano oruvan” as sridhar vasudevan. i rememer a scene where a cop comments that it is no ordinay crime, because no one has even heard of a criminal with that name.
Baddy, you forget to mention that often Rakesh Roshan’s wig color also matched the chestnut brown steed!!
As for TamBrahm, would “Unnal Mudiyum Thambi”, “Vedham Pudidhu” etc count?
hrishi: Hmmm… I remember being put off by Sangeetha’s high-pitched performance. Don’t remember much of Madhavan though.
Shankar: UMT is about a Pillai family, no — “Bilahari” Marthandam Pillai or something? I’m not talking about the mere presence of TamBrahms, but films in which they were portrayed in a “normal” un-exaggerated fashion (i.e. neither the Ambi-Abishtoo types nor the complete caricatures.) One more comes to mind — Charuhasan in “Thalapathi.”
I think the portrayal of Kamal’s and Vasundhara Das’ families in Hey Ram was authentic.
Umt’s telugu version had a telugu brahmin family – bilahari datyanaryana sastri. For some reason, the tamil version was (saiva) pillai maar.
As for (s comments on bgm, I will naughtily touch upon my frequent comments here on scoring “micro” and “macro” emotions.idhukku mEla sonnA, shankar has to come in extend his chiding of me to “two-point” agenda!
Charuhasan in thalapathi also a stereotype-its actually a charuhasan stereotype, in the sense that he himself would have played that same kind of role many times
Both Kamal and Sridevi had nailed it.
Quite a few Delhi Ganesh portrayals from assorted films over the years could be listed. He does it effortlessly.
BR, although a comedy, how about Meendum Kokila?
It is very difficult to find examples of authentic portrayals from actors who themselves aren’t Tambrams.
Other than Kamal, Delhi Ganesh, Lakshmi(Sirai was another film, although I dont remember much of it now),Poornam Viswanathan(although he could’nt quite get over the accent even in other roles)Oorvasi(in MMKR), Gemini Ganesan(in avvai Shanmughi) are some of the other actors who could pull it off without overdoing it.
Authentic family portrayals in films are rare.Have to go back to some low budget 70s/80s films.Aaha was not bad.
Casting Vasundhara was a Kamal masterstroke, much like Abhirami for Virumandi
On the other hand (despite being a Palghat Iyer?), Madhavan lacked authenticity in Nala damayanthi, being the very limited actor he is
I did not observe the hacker’s role that closely. I was happy they did not make him show off and act all uber cool like the one in Hindi did. In fact they could have even done away with that, “he is intelligent, but periya medha lam illa” or something like that.
The whole cast of Aaha cannot be missed. That was quite an enjoyable underrated movie.
Today while watching PKS on KTV, I noticed how Simran speaks quite an authentic Tambrahm accented Tamil. Like how a city bred Tambrahm girl would speak. Any idea who dubbed for her?
BR: Some films where at least some authenticity was attempted as far as Tam Bram portrayal/ backdrop is concerned:
Meendum Kokila
Nala Damayandhi (you wouldn’t want to miss Madhavan performing Sandhi- absolute delight to watch)
Hey Ram
MMKR
Avvai shanmughi (Shanmughi mami)
Aahaa
BTW, Dont remember about Mahanadi and Varumaiyin niram sigappu…did Pooram play TamBram?
Coming back to UPO, I don’t agree with you on the Abihivadhaiye front…when the character talks to his girlfriend, he says ‘Korean sounds fine’!! It adds so much of spice to the character in the relative short screen time he gets!!
“Meendum Kokila”-to me, was more authentic than MMKR.Visu & Crazy have a very TamBrahm sub-text running thro’ their movies.
If Aaha can make it, certainly,then Prestige Padmanabhan can!!!:)
Rajesh: Like other have pointed out, “Meendum Kokila” and “Hey Ram” too. In the former, there was the actor who played Sridevi’s brother who did a pretty good job (the guy who plays the mridangam in “Chinnanjiru vayadhil”). Forget his name now.
vijay: Yeah, Charuhasan is a stereotyped, but because — as you mention — he’s played that role a lot of times. But performance-wise, it rings true. The annoying stereotype I was talking about is more the Usilai Mani “besh besh” type — which has gotten set much the way the Sardarji has become a cliche in Hindi films.
“Aaha” actually is a very sweet movie. You could poke holes if you wanted to, but that film kept me smiling from start to finish
One of Crazy’s best…
Adithya: I too was happy they didn’t make the hacker a “yo” type like in the Hindi version — though it didn’t bother me *that* much — but the whole IIT-means-TamBrahm connection didn’t sit well with me. And look at how they establish this! (1) Mohanlal asks the kid if he’s familiar with those computers. (2) The latter replies that they belong to a former “generation” (which is technologically correct, of course, but it also allows for the introduction of the word “munnorgal” and subsequently the “abhivadaye” bit). Somehow this felt very artificial to me.
Prasanna: Okay, maybe I wasn’t clear when I expressed a reservation about “Prestige” Padmanbhan. It wasn’t the inauthenticity that’s a problem with these roles (also see the father in “Pareetchaikku Neramaachu”) — but the pitch at which Sivaji played them (which was the popular acting style of those times) rendered these characters an instant stereotype (in the sense that they became very easy to make fun of). That’s where I was coming from.
But do you really think “Aahaa” and “Vietnam Veedu” are similar? In tone, feel, narration, they seem worlds apart to me.
A lovely tribute to William Safire — for those of you who used to read him in “The Hindu.”
“The real thing about Safire, though, was not whether his columns made sense or not. It was that the man could write. At their best, which was often — he had a great hit-rate — a Safire column was just tremendously good fun, full of wordplay, some of it groan-inducing, much of it sheer enjoyment.”
Definitely one of Crazy’s best and that is another movie where Delhi Ganesh excelled in his Tambrahm role. I can’t forget that,”Adhu enna dukham visarikardhu. Adhan paathale theriyume!”
I didn’t notice the hacker guy too well coz I was surprised to see Anand there. He was my school senior and I remember him from Anjali, May Madham and Sathi Leelavathi. Kamal, yesterday in an interview talked about how Anand felt about people talking about his acting performance instead of his sound engineering, which is his original job.
Ah! Yes! The Mohanlal Lakshmi oneupmanship felt very artificial indeed. Felt like i was watching a “naadagam”. It was stilted. A case of trying too hard to be cool??
@Arif Attar “..Mt. Yogi..Have some good memories of the original TV series.”
I too have very fond memories of the series. And it seemed like Mohan Gokhale fit so well into the role. Another point I think that made it a good series was that each sign was given an episode whereby the characterization of the girl was more complete.
Coming back to WYR, in spite of all negative reviews of the film, I am sure AG will manage to “get” a few awards! Look what happened with JA! And to say Hritik is a better actor than Naseeruddin Shah?
@ adithya,prasanna,brangan and others
What’s the obsession with Tambrahm. And how could you associate the hacker to Tambrahm just by hearing “Abhivadhaye”. Hell,my friend is from Kodambakkam and he still says Abhivadeye.Its unfair to associate a person to a particular area just from the way he speaks.
@ anand : In Kakka kakka, Surya also has a Tambrahm association.You can add it to your list.Or was it Taramani? Not sure.
The Normal Guy: “obsession?” Wow, that’s a strong word for what is just a small discussion about the portrayal of a particular community in Tamil cinema. I guess this is the kind of knee-jerk reaction that the paper didn’t want when I suggested a piece on this aspect. Reg. “And how could you associate the hacker to Tambrahm just by hearing Abhivadhaye.” Have you seen the film?
“Reg. “And how could you associate the hacker to Tambrahm just by hearing Abhivadhaye.” Have you seen the film?”. Or do you have any idea what is being discussed here.
@The Normal Guy:
ZOMG this is the Mokkais of all mokkais.! Please tell me you did this deliberately. We are talking about Tamil Brahmins and not Tambaram the area past Meenambakkam, Pallavaram etc! Aargh!!
BR: You really didn’t get what he was actually talking about!?
But you’re not alone:
http://www.withinandwithout.com/2008/06/blogging-from-tambaram/
@brangan: Yes, I have seen the film.My point is he could have been from anywhere,West Mambalam, T Nagar, Mylapore not just Tambrahm. My friend Raghothaman says Abhivadhaye everytime he prostrates before elders.But,he is from Kodambakkam not Tambrahm. I was just curious how you could pinpoint the location of a person by the way he speaks.I am jerking my knee or anything.
In fact,a piece on this aspect would make an interesting read.I except it to be on the lines of ‘Madras Mongrel’
Someone has mentioned about Simran here in PKS. It reminds me of her wonderful performance in a movie called Arasu. One of the films where TamBrahm is not a cliche and yet where Kamal is not associated with.
>>Surya also has a Tambrahm association.You can add it to your list.Or was it Taramani>>
I think he misunderstood Tambrahm for the place. He talks about Taramani
Or i am missing something? 
Adithya: Mokkai is right. Aaarghh
The Normal Guy: My sincere apologies for skimming through your comment and entirely missing the point (such as it is)
No,I didn’t mean to compare the 2 movies but the portrayals. Vijaykumar was as stereotypical- bordering on over-the-top as Prestige Padmanabhan.
The tambrahm stereotyping is similar to the south-indian/madrasi (ayyo/amma) portraysl in Hindi movies till not-so-long-ago
May be not on the same plane, but without any obvious allusions to it, any Mani Ratnam hero for that matter could stand for a not-in-your-face TB portrayal. Very subtle, you will have to be in the system to feel it
I feel the TV series “Malgudi Days” had a good representation of the Tambrahm way of life. Malgudi could well have been the Triplicane from the 1940s.
Malgudi Days…maybe not exactly Tambrahm…but atleast the brahmin way of life.
“Kamal played a more sophisticated version of the common man played by Naseer — it sat well with his persona.” – that’s an interesting way of putting it since I felt that Kamal’s persona didn’t sit well with the role. But that apart, this particular opinion in my review spawned a very interesting discussion about the ‘common man’. It was one of those times when I felt that my blog’s comment page was as much fun as yours! Do browse through if u find the time
Santosh Kumar T K: “in the system” – LOL!
Balaji: But I do feel that the Kamal on-screen persona ( at least of late) is much more intelligent and savvy than that of most other heroes. (This is what the magazines like to derisively dismiss as “arivu jeevi.”) So it did make sense to me that this man was much more with-it and tech-savvy than Naseer (whose on-screen persona lends itself more to a hapless victim). Kamal felt more in control of the situation than Naseer did and that was a small (but interesting) change from the Hindi version for me. You could call him an uncommon common man
@brangan , adhitya,anand and others :
Sorry for the misunderstanding.lol. Now, when I go back and read my posts, I feel like an idiot.:)
Speaking of the movies that have portrayed Tam Brahms properly. I can think of :
Sethu ( specially Mohan Vaidhya’s role.Too funny.They are exactly like that. ) ,Saami,Budget Padmanabhan,Mr. & Mrs Aire etc.
@ The Normal Guy:
Saami? Where an Iyengar girl is named Bhuvana? And Vivek Saasthrigal in his sleeveless vest? No way!
brangan – Panchathanthiram comes to my mind. Yugi Sethu, Nagesh and Ishwarya were fabulous, dont you think?
Kamal has made the common man look more vulnerable and short tempered and obviously more tech-savy – i liked the way they increased the intensity of his anger which culminated to his recital of a tale – but sadly the tale was such a big time mokai unlike the hindi version which was different… kamal ventured into stereotype(ala Rajani in the climax of Kusclan) and the rest of the movie ended up being a finishing up act… also the coolness and yet tension wid which naseer escapes in the original is changed here (eventhough its not bad i liked the way Nasser did it – far better i say .. it was suave) … also dont you think hi babez, the hair-do and the geeky looks of anand is a diff version of annoying cool-dude attitude(oh lets forget the caste indication
) …also if a government contacts IIT or any other institution for that matter, would they recommend a drop-out to them? 
… and like a normal tamil cinema just for the sake of introducing kamal as terrorist why should they show him as placing empty bags everywhere in chennai (ya i know its a screenplay tool to coax the audience – but why the cheap coax?)… shruti i feel has shined well in many parts – loved the way she beefed up the guitar step by step as kamal climbs the stairs and reveals us whats he is going to do… dont u think this tamil sensitivity is kinda indirectly ridiculing the situation here eventhough their intention is to show how tamil conscious we r(it looked like all this is done just to plz 1 person n not whole heartedly)
btw the change i meant in climax is the padaral in kamal’s body language which was more subtle in Naseer’s … wasn’t there a change in mood and the manner in which anupam kher speaks which leads to Naseer remarking that after my revealing ur tone has changed – i couldn’t find anything like that in tamil… and why this repeated stress by mohanlal about Kamal’s religion- to prove even educated ppl like a commissioner and the ppl in general seek answers on religion basis or a poor screenplay method to explain to the muslim predominant Kamal fans that he is neutral? (even wid its politically incorrect loopholes the direction(not screenplay) in hindi was such that these ques weren’t raised that immediately while watching the movie) … i guess arif’s role is way more convincing in tamil than the inappropriately casted jimmy shergill…
Dear Rangan:
UPO:
I think you’re right – Kamal fitted the role of the uncommon common man perfectly! (And I also thought Kamal did not worry about the surprise element of “common man” as he knew that the audience would not think he would be terrorist – that’s why he was not afraid of giving it away in the beginning itself – when Mohan Lal tells us about this unforgettable common man!!!)
For me Lakshmi came short during her phone conversations with the CM.Something was not right in her action/acting!!
Wish you could review the whole film, though!!
Later.
Harish S Ram: “btw the change i meant in climax is the padaral in kamal’s body language which was more subtle in Naseer’s” – Actually, a lot of scenes in the Hindi version are more subtle than the corresponding ones in the Tamil version — but so what? Why is subtlety such a decisive factor in deciding the effectiveness of a film? (And IMO, this *is* a very effective film.) Maybe they *wanted* to make a more blunt, hard-hitting film that will play across the state and not just in a select few Chennai multiplexes (especially considering there are no songs, action items etc.)
It’s funny you point this out because this is exactly what I’ve written about in my column for this week.
Oh, and another point where we’d have to disagree is the appropriateness of Jimmy Shergill. I thought he was very good
Rangan….From ur last comment, am guessing Between reviews section is back next week. And have you checked out Rahman’s latest – Blue?
Shergill was very good so the corresponding person in tmil should be reallly good to outshine him.
Normal guy; so, caricatures like saamy are what you feel are authentic tam brahm portrayals? Ergo, b.r, this is the audience that is aimed at when directors created those cardboards. Or, perhaps, these are the people where those directors come from.
@ Boo : What’s wrong with Iyengar girl being Bhuvana?I agree Vivek’s portrayal was a joke.But, Trisha was true to Tambrahm.She kept eating thair sadham like they always do.
What about Mr & Mrs Aire, Konkana Sen was a good portrayal of Tambrahm. Even Rahul Bose portrayed a brahmin without being over the top like the ‘madrasis’ in the Hindi movies are portrayed usually.
@The Normal Guy: You haven’t seen the film, have you? Rahul Bose plays Raja Choudhury. Not the
“Mr. Iyer.”
But I don’t think that movie had elements that required portrayal of Tambrahm sensibilities. But if you consider the character names, well, in 2002, I don’t think any Tambrahm names their son Santhanam!
Hi everybody,
I think the most authentic potrayal of a Tamil Brahmin was by Konkana Sen in Mr and Mrs Iyer.
Without going into too much of intellectual probing, my say is that the movie was decent. The humor, there was enough of it and i am not referring to the ‘hired humor’ aka the detective agency. Harman was better compared to his earlier movie. PC was brilliant. The songs, most of them seemed ill-fitting to the situation. Overall a clean movie.
Konkona SS, RahulB, Kamal H are a different league altogether. Comparing them with PC or HB isn’t a judicious choice.
BR: I think next week’s Between Reviews is going to be one of the most eagerly anticpated columns. Not just because it is a Kamal Hassan starrer but because it is such a difficult film to remake in Tamil and I think you will bring out a fresh new perspective, as always!
Anand: Thanks — but it’s just an elaboration of my reply (above) to the comment by Harish S Ram. That’s why i was stunned when I saw his comment — I’d just finished writing about the whole subtle vs. direct approach
“Oh, and another point where we’d have to disagree is the appropriateness of Jimmy Shergill. I thought he was very good”
Oh yes he was. He was playing a character named Arif. He had to be
I think Priya Gill played quite an elaborate TamBrahm character in her debut film Tere Mere Sapne. Yeah it had the usual stereotypical potrayal, especially in the case of the father.
Would Sethu pass muster….the characters of Abhithakunjalambal and her family?
ya… there where so many on ur face scenes compared to the hindi version … i wouldnt have bothered if it were come from any other stable – but Kamal (the guy who was responsible for devar magan which introduced me to subtle acting and gesture wise expressing a content of the story than by just dialogues)who is known for his “making the audience linger after the scene is over” approach is missing here(btw i missed the title card- who rewrote the screenplay here or have they credited it to niraj pandey?) … Jimmy Shergill had this “plz notice am a serious terror police” look in his character intro scenes which were directed in a better manner in tamil – what i meant by miss fit was the way he projected his physique – his face does give away to be a soft guy … but after those few scenes whn the movie gotten intensified there weren’t any obstruction for me(in hindi)… i would say watch the first half in tamil n second in hindi(i do miss the friday wednesday link
) .. lol
Just saw this. I’ve always maintained that Indian advertising is among the best in the world, and here’s proof. Laugh-out-loud funny, yet serious enough to invoke one of the oldest catchphrases (”kaala akshar bhains barabar”), and with a literacy message to boot. Brilliant!
PS: My favourites: “F” and “L”
“Why is subtlety such a decisive factor in deciding the effectiveness of a film? ”
Apparently it is a big deal for most critics.I guess you need to answer this yourself
Or re-direct it to some of your reviewer buddies.In fact it would be interesting to have a chat session between 2 or more reviewers thrashing this topic out besides others (on reviewing approaches), and then compile it as a separate piece for this blog.
@Vijay: Yup! I think I remember BR panning “Nadodigal” for force feeding moral science lessons to the viewer…Maybe they didnt want to go the subtle way in that movie either…So why is it ok for UPO to do the same?
And I mean no disrespect BR… Just want to know ur thoughts
Deepak: Moral science lessons and subtlety are two different things. You can be a subtle film and still have a lesson tucked away. Besides, if you’ve grown up with Indian movies (in my case, Hindi and Tamil) of the 70s and 80s, a love/tolerance for unsubtle filmmaking is ingrained in your DNA. You can’t escape it. I have no issues at all with melodrama, provided it’s done well.
My problem with “Naadodigal” wasn’t that it was unsubtle, but that it was one of those “friendship naa…” “kaadhal naa” films that talks down to the audience about the creator’s ideas on friendship and love and so on. That sort of thing doesn’t work for me at all. (Plus, the bizarre story didn’t work for me either.)
And that’s just *my* problem, and not a general accusation against the film. If you liked the film, hey, good for you! Just because I happen to have newspaper column space (and you don’t) doesn’t mean my ideas are more valid or the last word or any such thing. Just that I get a platform to express them
“And that’s just *my* problem, and not a general accusation against the film. If you liked the film, hey, good for you! Just because I happen to have newspaper column space (and you don’t) doesn’t mean my ideas are more valid or the last word or any such thing. Just that I get a platform to express them.”
This comment steals the show!!
Baddy, check out the songs of “Pazhassi Raja”…there’s a lot to like here…
Shankar: I’m looking forward to hearing it. Despite my reservations about his present-day arrangement-style, I quite liked “Bhagyadevata.” Have you listened to that album?
Rangan, Stay away from Pazhassi Raja. He should end the torture of his fans by simply retiring.
BR: “Despite my reservations about his present-day arrangement-style, I quite liked “Bhagyadevata.” Its true.I too thought of his music in this movie as superb, i esp. liked “swapnangal kannezhutiya…” track. All the songs had that folkish touch that was well required for the movie which was shot at the village,Kuttanad.
You know the master director Sathyan Anthikad and IR have been known to share excellent rapport with each other.IR has been consistently doing Sathyan movies for about 10 years now ,ie maybe about 10 movies now. Achuvinte amma,Manasinakkare are some of their movies which too have got some excellent tunes to listen to…
Yes I did…I think in Malayalam, he tends to stick to the milieu and creates simple melodies which are good to hear. That’s another thing I like…the aptness to the milieu.
And I did love “Valmiki”…I thought atleast 3 tracks were outstanding. The tunes were fresh and the arrangements had the “click”!!
Also, in “Jaganmohini”, the Ponmanatheril track had a superb tune progression even if the synth arrangements left a lot to be desired. Another example would be couple of tracks from “Kanukkule”. I notice that there has been a recent tendency to go “out-of-the-box”…which is welcome in my opinion. I’m happy with the occasional gems that come from this man…
The rashee for this review seems to be tuned to the adventures or mis-adventuresesof the uncommonly common man!-Cinematically, Wedesday scored for its crisper editing and timing in buliding up the tension.Nasurudeens approach was in tune with the sensibility of the fim,however skewed the political arguments seemed.Perhaps,UPO is best watched without referring to its predecessor..
and what happened to Mohanlal..an actor who I thorughly admire came across so stagey and somewherethe characterisation remained a caricature..here, he was trying too hard..
Guess br, you are not going to review this one!!
One more vote for ‘SwapnangaL kaNNezhudhiya’ and one more reco for ‘Pazhassi Raja’.
BR: It is something I never imagined in my life that I would say. I think it is time that IR takes a retirement. It pains me (though I am sure not all his fans have lost hope) to see his recent disappointing scores. I mean, I tried hard to like scores of Naan Kadavul, Nandalala and Vaanavil. But let us be honest, the IR of 1985 would have made classics out of such projects.
BR: Your review of NK said it best. We fanboys hope for one last masterpiece. I am afraid that is not going to happen.
But listen to the varisu’s scores in Yogi…great!!!
@Anand,
Have you listened to Pazhassi Raja yet? If you have and still consider that the ‘varisu’ has given greater music in Yogi, it is time you retire from listening to music
And yes, ‘Bagyadevatha’ is an amazing score. All the three songs are gems. Some of the songs in the Kannada film, Prem Kahani have been great as well. As Shankar mentioned, a couple of gorgeous songs exist in ‘Kannukulle’ abd yes, ‘Jaganmohini’. To top it all comes Pazhassiraja. Raja is alive and kicking. As I said in my earlier comments, maybe some of his listeners can retire but I want this man to continue.
Anand: Whatever you may wish Raja does, he seems to be in no mood to retire. 2009 has seen him score the max no of films in recent years; 13 and still counting – another 5-6 film tracks are likely to release this year: Suryakanthi, Pa, SRK, Happi and the long delayed Mayilu. Quite an interesting line up.
They may not be chartbuster types any more, but each of his recent albums manages to pack at least one fantastic track (except Kadhal kadhai maybe). And when he gets a real good project like PR, there is no stopping him.
Yes, you may ask him to cut down on the numbers, but retirement, why?!
Kiruba, infact…even in Kadhal Kadhai…I liked the track “Kattukule Nadakirathe”. The synth sound was atrocious and there was nothing special in the orchestration. however, the basic melody/tune had a charm. It almost had the feel of “Kadhala Kadhala” from Thaikku Oru Thalattu.
SURESH S: Not yet listened to PR. But after listening to Tamil FM for an hour everyday while going to work, I think it is time that I retire from listening to music
okay, i dont know if the “best tam-brahm depiction in tamil movies” discussion is still on – but let me put forward this……to me, having grown in a complete tam-brahm environment, i felt Minnale “Maddy” was the most realistic/relevant depiction of a tam-brahm……yes, Gautam sir takes the cake ahead of Gurus like KB, BR, Kamal, Mani – haha…..ofcourse, Maddy was a complete urban brahmin, i dont know much abt rural brahmin culture….