Failed Experiment
It released finally amidst any hype but the theatre response at the beginning showed how much people were waiting for the movie. The first few dialogues were not at all audible. There was Dhanush, waiting at the tip of the loaded gun, to be shot. He utters a dialogue about how a Josiakaran has said that it’s not his time to die, that he’d live for ninety years. And that’s what happens, he doesn’t get shot. The gun being a faulty one shoots only when it’s interested. Does it happen in real? Suspension of disbelief. When it’s finally shot, we get the freeze frame where we get to see the flashback sequence (much about that later). After the flashback we see that it hits the belt buckle and repels. Again, suspension of disbelief. The whole movies treads in this genre.
It was evident what GVM wanted to try but the execution is where it failed. Till the point where he escapes death in the opening scene, it was all okay. Post that it became jarring. His interest to use voice overs was evident. But something of it didn’t work like, “apdi vanthu adikanum antha kadal” or a “back home it’s called Raghavan instinct”. The latter is a dialogue and not a voice over, but you get what I mean.
The raging debate here is why a filmmaker can’t use voice over as a tool to make films. Answer by purists would be that film is a visual medium and it’s just moving pictures but the purists must be carefully filtered for they’re the ones who can’t do away with music and lighting up the subject. They feel those tools are necessary to convey the emotions. The real people who talk about proper cinema wouldn’t have even taken ENPT into picture.
GVM’s liking for Scorsese is well known and the voice over of ENPT is kind of cheeky. Especially the Josiar dialogue, it was really funny. “Elarayum antha josiayara paka solven”, when he escapes death the second time. By the time the audience were already bored and started laughing. I felt bad for Dhanush, how he’d have felt if he had watched the movie in theatre along with audience, that too especially after Asuran (even though I have my own inhibitions for that film). The same voice over didn’t work when he says, “yaenna naan antha kazuthula vazhnthurukaen” Ideally that dialogue should have worked, given that it’s a GVM film, like an “I’ll come into your life and sweep you out of your feet” but it doesn’t. I’d not only attribute that failure to GVM but also to Dhanush who was so infested in playing the upper-class boy.
Dhanush in his pursuit to look like a lover boy fails terribly. Every time he’s in love lost mood, he swings around himself like a yesteryear heroine and his act as a college boy where he uses his lower jaw in front and gives a romantic look, looked like an extension of his school boy acts in ‘3’ and ‘Thanga Magan’. It works there as humor but when he tries to do a ‘Surya’ it fails. The same with Sasikumar who comes in and utters English dialogue, so so artificial. He makes a heroic entry and doesn’t have anything to do post that. “Enga annan oru hero mari sandae potan” and dies. It gets a little confusing as to whom does Dhanush infatuate, whether it’s the heroine or the brother. That’s the problem with GVM films. I’m afraid that he is forming a template like Mysskin with his actors or may be the actors couldn’t give out an individualistic performance to a director who’s not used to them. He has safely dealt with upper class heroes in all his movies who could portray the character just the way he wanted. Like Surya or Ajith. Ajith was perfect in ‘Yennai Arinthal’. Surya is a well-known GVM prodigy. On the other hand, Simbu was a surprise find by Gautham and Kamal, needless to say could do anything. Dhanush who has safely played the roles that would work for him looks so out of place here.
Even though there was not much expectations on ENPT, with every failed scene I was worried of Dhurva Natchathiram. By far the best trailer in recent times. Vikram is ravishing, no doubt but even the other scenes were brilliant, like the scene where Parthiban turns back and gives a nonchalant look. He calls it his dream project, let’s see.
The true revelation of the film must be Megha Akash, what a shame that it didn’t come as her debut film. She’s acting in all sorts of crap now. She did a brilliant job. She’s the one who fitted the film to the tee. Right from being an uninterested actor to the damsel in distress. Her fresh face exuberated more romance through expressions than what Dhanush could do in those funny steps. Seriously, what’s the logic behind him dancing for the songs?
Kuberan (Senthil Veerasamy) too was a great find, a terrific villain who looked absolutely menacing. Loved the way he intimidates Dhanush and how he gets on our nerves. His combo scenes with Megha Akash was terrific. I loved the whole angle of how she gets taken up by him and bred into an actress, great story idea. But as usual it’s half-baked Gautham product. The same goes for his Tamil dialogues. He himself has confessed that for certain lines he can’t bring in Tamil dialogue, then why does Dhanush have to narrate a poem to describe his feelings. It doesn’t gel with the film at all.
In spite of all this, there were few clever digs at the audience like the introduction of Megha Akash, who surely looked with over make up, still liked by Dhanush. Audience were not liking, I could hear the comments like she was not looking good, but later the same people liked her in non-film shoot portions. That was intentionally done and done well. The portion were Dhanush goes to house was also a shocker, instead of finding an English-speaking father we see a regular villain. Then there was the ‘Girls’ and ‘Thupariyum Anand’ poster. Also, the Sasikumar entry to save Lekha (Megha Akash) was like a reverse of Vettayadu Vilayadu scene where Kamal breaks into Jothika’s room to save here. Here the same happens in the reverse angle, through Lekha’s POV. But the scene ends up to be horrible. Just look at that scene in Vettayadu Vilayadu, and see the shock in Kamal’s eyes, how he looks from Jothika to her husband for a couple of seconds. How much meaning those eyes conveys and what directional brilliance by immediately not making a reaction shot, instead holding on those eye lines for one extra second.
But he’s the same guy who uses needless close ups here. I absolutely hated the Dhanush close up after Sasikumar’s death. Needless loading glycerin in his eyes and see his acting. To really watch how efficient Dhanush is in his close up, one has to watch ‘Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam’.
I’ve always been game for GVM’s experiment. I loved the first half of ‘Nadunisi Naigal’ until and unless he didn’t know what else to do in second half and introduce the usual Tamil template of Multiple Personality Disorder. I like his gut in trying out anything he wants, in a civilized manner. Unlike RGV who goes berserk (which again is good in certain ways). But this film was the most disappointing one, which I couldn’t digest. Not liking is fine, I would just take it out of my head (like how I did for AYM, which was utter crap), but this film troubles me because he wanted to try so much. It was like a piece which he knew it went wrong somewhere in the middle but still had the urge to finish it. Wish he takes all this as lesson and make ‘Dhurva Natchatiram’ one amazing film. Fingers crossed.
constantscribbles 