Movie Review – Jai Bhim

Rings the right bell, almost

Probably one of the most impactful film of recent times. It’s good to see big actors breaking the shackles and going into roles like this. Between the concept, I’d rate ‘Nerkonda Paarvai’ better than this, not only because it had a bigger star but it’s far tougher and uncomfortable movie. But as a film, ‘Jai Bhim’ was better made. ‘Jai Bhim’ for most part keeps us in the grips, if not for the minor flaws. But it’s not easy to make a film on a definite subject. The director would always be confused on which route to take between documentary and traditional film making. This film too suffers somewhat in the process but doesn’t fail, thankfully.

Not a big fan of Surya, but he was at his scintillating best in ‘Jai Bhim’ with a serious character, much closer to his personality. Thankfully he need not appear as a rough guy shouting his guts out, in the process of appearing raw. The characters that best suit for him would be like that of ‘Ayan’ or ‘24’. A charming lad getting in the midst of action. That’s where he appears at home. Other characters, it just feels like he’s trying too much. With only exception being ‘Pithamagan’, easily his best and totally unexpected of him. People would think ‘Nandha’ was on the same lines, but that character felt mechanical. Vikram having aced ‘Sethu’ and ‘Pithamagan’, Suriya’s character in Nandha felt like it was more conscious to not imitate what Vikram did in those films, than to bring its own flavors in the film.

Coming to the film, the film was on point right from the first scene. We get to know what we’re going to witness, so it was just a matter of time before it was going to get hard hitting. Even though Rajakannu (Manikandan) and Sengeni’s (Lijomol Jose) part was short lived, it was sweet and makes us want more. Many a time, I used to see Nari Koravar’s and wanted to research/make a film about them, so I was happy to see something on the lines of that in the film, but the film was more about the injustice they face than about their lifestyle. Happy that my subject was not touched upon, but I’d have really loved to see about their life before their plight.

Within quick succession Rajakannu gets caught by police and the investigation starts. Adv. Chandru (Suriya) comes to fore. His introduction was dramatic and needless but otherwise he did a fair job. Thankfully the makers didn’t do any prosthetic make up to make Suriya look like Chandru, because that was not the point of film. But every other actor barring Prakash Raj, didn’t make any impact. With only exception being Lijomol Jose, what an actor! Except for that one shot where she sits in rain with her kid, her scenes were lit. Be it the pride when walking to her place by not getting on jeep or when talking to Suriya with sympathy about gold in her thaali, she was lovely and a pleasure to watch. Even though she appears throughout the film, the way she makes herself small and even invisible is a trait of a great actor. In a way the director achieves to show how small and unfilled their community is, in the midst of civilization.

Having the likes of Guru Somasundaram, M. S. Bhaskar and wasting them in such small roles was a disgrace. In fact, even Rajisha Vijayan doesn’t have any role. It was the second time I was seeing her character wasted. First in ‘Karnan’ and now this film. She was one of the actors whom you’d wish to remember to be the character you love, than as an actor. Just like how Emma Watson would always be remembered as Hermione. But she broke it and came out in flying colors in ‘The Perks of being a Wallflower’. I thought Rajisha would do a similar thing in any one of the films, unfortunately she doesn’t. I’d have been happy to remember her as ‘June’ and never saw her afterwards.

For all the good things, why were there so many songs in the film. especially the romantic song in the middle which comes as a flashback was so so needless. Spoils the flow of our film. Its unacceptable to mention that it was added for a commercial value. It’s not a film which you’d do adjustment. If the songs had been removed and the film had been trimmed by twenty minutes, it would have been even more impactful. Thankfully except for the scene where Sengeni (love the name) and her kid get drenched in rain during climax, there was not much of dramatic scenes.

It was not a flawless film, the narrative was dodgy, there were too many scenes depending on shock value, but the attempt altogether feels like a decent, impactful film. Wish the making would have been on the lines of ‘Pariyerum Perumal’ to have made it a more complete film.

Movie Review – Soorarai Pottru

A momentary success

“Paya pudichitan… elaam Technology,” said Delhi Ganesh about Suriya in Ayan and eleven years after that’s what exactly he has done, by releasing his movie in OTT platform. With no problem for First Day First Show tickets not being available, everyone who were interested in the movie watched first day first show at the luxury of their home. But what’s special is, it made even someone who’d not have been really that interested to watch First Day First Show of the movie too, to have watched it on the very first day. Thanks to the curiosity. There might have been few films to release directly in OTT platform before this one but this is the first star movie to release. It’s definitely not an easy decision to make, in spite of not being a fan of Suriya, I highly appreciate that.

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Ideally this is what Kamal would have wanted with his ‘Viswaroopam’. It became a blockbuster and was enjoyed widely in theatres along with the typical theatre moments like the transformation scene. But all that is a different issue. Down the line, like how ‘Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum’ would be remembered as first colour film, this would be remembered as first major OTT film. I too watched the film with same curiosity like many. I don’t remember following the updates of any Surya film before that. May be ‘Ghajini’, that too just to make sure that it’s not as good as ‘Anniyan’. But that’s it.

The movie opens with the trailer scene where a Deccan Air flight is trying to land and conveniently every swear word which Nedumaaran Rajangam/Maara/Maaran (Suriya) says is not lip synced on screen. Either it is a clever move to avoid censors or Suriya being a typical goody goody guy didn’t want to swear on screen. But it doesn’t matter, the swear words don’t have an impact here like a Vetrimaran film or isn’t used in a fancy fashion like a GVM movie. Vijay Kumar has to be appreciated for ingenuine writing. In Sudha Kongra’s previous movie, ‘Irudhi Suttru’ too the swear words were so ingenuine. Plus, Maddy’s character demanded it, which he delivered to perfection. I still remember the last dialogue to the association head, “tha ne gaali da”

The movie doesn’t take a linear screenplay, may be Sudha wanted to make a more impactful film so there is a high-tension opening scene, a sad interval scene and again a high climax. I don’t see any other reason for making the film in nonlinear fashion. Anyways that doesn’t affect the flow of the film. The songs do though, which is a problem with any Tamil film. The director has tried her best to make a fast-paced biographical movie, which is not at all easy unless you’re a Scorsese but whenever songs appear, no matter how good it is, it spoils the flow. Even while I was watching with the family, I was intrigued and had a conversation only during the songs. That’s something that could have been taken care.

Suriya does a fabulous job in the movie. Even the name suits him so much. Generally, no matter how hard he performs he looks desperate but here he has great screen presence. Thanks to the tight frames where they haven’t given him space in the open, all our concentration lies on him. The two best scenes of the movie where the one where his country people give him money and the climax scene. Both being emotional ones he performs really well. In fact, that’s the plus point of the movie, it’s something which audience could emotionally connect to.

Aparna Balamurali too does a fabulous job. I recently watched ‘Sarvam Thaala Mayam’ and wasn’t much impressed of her but here he does a fabulous job. Especially with her diction of Tamil. She matches Suriya scene to scene. Paresh Rawal as Paresh Goswami too does a fair job and so does Prakash Belawadi as Prakash Babu. Wish the latter had been the villain as I’m a big fan of him. He could have added more dimension to the story. Mohan Babu as M. Bhaktavatsalam Naidu got to be cutest hateable person on screen.

Overall, the movie would win hearts, it has its moments but still like how ‘24’ is enjoyable but not a coherent film, ‘Soorarai Pottru’ too feels the same. It’s a tad lengthy, the situations are repetitive with the hero going down on one scene and raising from ashes in the next scene. It happens again and again. Instead the director could have invested on one situation and built the scene through it, rather than giving moments of excellence again and again, something on the lines of ‘Guru’. By the time the film ends, we lose connect to the character, it becomes evident that he’d anyways win. It in a way is a mark of losing interest but thankfully it doesn’t go to that level. What should have been an edge of the seat thriller becomes a drama film with time.

Sudha Kongara is good at making star vehicles without it being called so. ‘Irudhi Suttru’ too treaded on the same lines which worked more because it was like a comeback movie of Madhavan. Similarly, this movie too works more as Suriya’s different attempt rather than being a different movie. It being a biographical movie can be cited as an excuse but that can’t last long.

Movie Review – NGK

Same old mistake

Why does Selvaraghavan do the same mistake again and again. He builds up a great story, some great moments, then make all his characters a typical Selvaraghavan caricature, end product is a mixed bag of effed up characters not knowing what they’re trying to do. I wonder whether do the characters themselves know what they are doing. Bala was one director who followed the trajectory and ever since his idea has been cracked, his films were disaster. Mysskin is slowly leaning into the category and Selvaraghavan doesn’t seem to be much far aback. Thanks to all the controversies, many movies of his don’t get materialized, otherwise, I guess he’d have been up there competing with Bala.

NGK’s first shot was bad, Suriya was given a typical hero introduction but the scene from there to the point where we see Selvaraghavan’s name was epic. A typical Selva movie. Why doesn’t he make movies like this? It was rhetoric, yet fun filled, an environment which only Selva can create. An environment where his fans could boast how good he is, an environment where the others would detest it as vulgar. The way he goes one step above the traditional romance but one step below the lust of a masala movie is epic. Wish he creates tense scenes like that in a romantic movie. It’s one of the factors which made ‘Yaaradi Nee Mohini work big time because it’s his movie in Telugu.

It’s a brilliant film for Surya. In fact, a dream film. If movies like ‘Ayan’ and ‘24’ are tailor made for him. Movies like ‘Pithamagan’ and ‘NGK’ are the ones which make him a better character. Even ‘Nandha’ is below that because he can easily do a ‘Nandha’, which is close to his real self. Even if he may not be morose like that of his character in the film, he’s at least quiet like that. But in ‘Pithamagan’ he was totally opposite to his self. Unfortunately, he had to compete with Vikram, but look at it as a seperate character, it’s his best work. ‘NGK’ should have been like that. It starts on a positive note. His mom says, “elarukum edhulayavathu paithiyam, ivanuku naatu mela paithiyam”. (everyone is mad about something, but he’s mad about the country) He is a do gooder in his place and quite contrary to other heroes he is a known face who does good as well as incurs the wrath of parents of kids who had left their white colored jobs to do agriculture. That was an interesting prospect. Except for one bad shot of him with MGR in the background. That was too obvious a reference. Anyways we don’t get to see much of it, that phase gets over quite quickly. Guess Selva was more interested in the political aspect of the film.

He gets into politics as an aid to MLA Pandiyan (Ilavarasu). By far the best character in the movie. Bala should take a cue from it. He wants to create a character like this but ends up creating ‘Highness’ instead. Also what an actor Ilavarasu is. One of the most underrated, someone whose name doesn’t pop up as much as it should, when one talks about character artists. Can you imagine it’s the same person who acted as saloon owner in ‘Chennai 28’? Pandiyan makes him do all kind of dirty works with special insistence on cleaning the bathroom, which Kumaran (Suriya) gets hinged to.

The problem starts here. Suriya’s transformation from good to bad looks like a caricature. He overdoes a lot of scenes. It’s a typical mass hero performance which is done to get applause from audience. It’s an opposite of Kokki Kumaru in ideology, who would do anything to survive, whereas NGK would do anything for the country. But when a lean and fragile Kumar hits a gang of men, it’s more believable than a man of muscle, Kumaran fighting the goons. Both the bathroom fight and the climax fight were big yawners. No matter what Suriya does, it still feels like he’s a nice chap.

Coming back to the opening scene, the romance between Kumaran and Geetha Kumari (Sai Pallavi) in front of his mother, looks lovely, even if its uncomfortable. It’s not something which you usually see in a mainstream cinema. That’s why Selvaraghavan is special. But it fizzles out so easily. Except for that one scene where Geetha Kumari says, “po da kanna” there isn’t anything else which she does which is appealing. She becomes a typical Selvaraghavan character in the second half when she starts doubting her husband. So much so that, the way she utters her dialogues, it feels like we are seeing Sonia Agarwal in the disguise of Sai Pallavi. The same with Suriya but the point blank face which Dhanush keeps couldn’t be done by Suriya. Selvaraghavan always ends up wanting actors with whom he’s comfortable with.

Vanathi doubting on Kumaran is actually a good angle where the viewers are not sure whether there was any intimacy between Vanathi (Rakul Preet Singh) and him. That surprise is enticing. It should have been left as such instead of a distressed Kumaran citing that his family has become his casualty on account of him entering the politics.

There were too many make believe sequences in the second half, especially the action sequences. Wonder what was the idea of the maker. If he had at least wanted to make a proper action movie, then it’s understandable but when trying to make something out of the box and resorting to plain old violence with market fights and bathroom battles, it’s annoying. Above all, one question which continues to linger in my mind. What’s such a big deal in the title NGK. Throughout the review I was thinking where I could cite Suriya as NGK but I only ended up typing Kumaran. For me Kumaran doesn’t transform at all into NGK. And the legendary status given to just a name like NGK (may be on the lines of MGR) is nothing but blasphemy.