The So-called Rediff review of Anbe sivam and the comments
Topic started by Milton (@ palo8.pacific.net.sg) on Fri Jan 24 15:22:54 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.
This is the Rediff Review
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The story of the Tamil film, Anbe Sivam, starring Kamal Haasan and Madhavan under C Sundar's direction goes like this: Kamal is an activist opposed to capitalism in all its forms.
He is also the beloved of the villain's daughter (Kiran). Daddy -- obviously, a capitalist and exploiter -- is out to foil the romance.
Kamal then meets with an accident -- he loses his leg and his face is disfigured. He goes to Bhubaneswar to pick up a cheque for the workers whose cause he espouses. On his flight back to Chennai, he clashes with a co-passenger (Madhavan) over their differing ideologies. He also learns that Madhavan is headed for Chennai to get married to -- who else? -- the villain's daughter. The rest of the story is about how all is set right in the end.
The story starts on a night so inclement, with weather so bad, that flights don't take off. There are moments in this 14-reel film when you realise that the story does not take off either.
The problem with the story (which, along with screenplay, is credited to Kamal) is that it tries to straddle the serious and funny, and falls between both. There is much talk and speeches about ideologies such as atheism, Gandhism, anti-consumerism that may be a reflection of Kamal's own thoughts, but are glaringly out of place within the story structure.
There are also inconsistencies in characterisation. Having built Kamal as a staunch opponent of capitalism in general and the villain in particular, and having him spout anti-Coke, anti-Pepsi and anti-MNC dialogues, the script then defies logic by having him accept an offer to paint the villain's bungalow. As a device to make the leading lady fall in love with Kamal, it may work. But it surely goes against the grain of the character the leading man is supposed to portray.
The film, in fact, suffers from the disease of excess. Makeup has been a Kamal preoccupation for some years now. Here, his work as the cripple is brilliant, and the closeups of his disfigured face, stitched up like a patchwork quilt, are mind-blowing.
But why? A character -- especially the lead character -- wants the audience to empathise, not throw up. A child at the theatre, in fact, was overheard asking his mother why Kamal had made himself so ugly.
Art director Prabhakaran's work is outstanding. The train accident sequence and the aftermath of the bus accident look incredibly real. Wilson's cinematography is, at best, okay, as is Vidyasagar's music. The audio has been doing good business, but the songs don't quite gel in the film.
Director C Sundar is invisible. A plight that is common to many directors who work on Kamal movies. The star is known to do it all himself even if someone else gets the credit, or discredit, as the case may be.
Madhavan performs to the standards he has set himself. His breezy presence enlivens otherwise dull moments. Kiran has little to do except sing and dance.
Overall, the film tries to do too many things, and ends up failing at most, if not all, of them.
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Will follow with readers comment on this review.
Responses:
- Old responses
- From: Saravanan R (@ ppp-219.65.117.138.chn.vsnl.net.in)
on: Fri Jan 24 16:01:53
Milton
There are lot of sites against Kamal and Rajini.
Rediff, Sify and many more. These people will write the review immediately the day of release of the movies. If they are the producers of the movie then only they will know the pain. Also for other movies also they will bash the movies even it is good creating losses to producers.
If somebody reviews that Rediff,Sify are the worst Sites will they tolerate??
When Baba was released, the same day some sites informed BABA is a utter Flop. But these sites will not review other movies until two weeks.
Viewers should be aware of these sites and ignore these sites.
- From: Tamizharasan (@ wwwgate31.motorola.com)
on: Fri Jan 24 17:10:46
Milton and Saravanan R
You guys are totally right and pathetic situation is they are saying dil ka rishta and jism and ramachandra as good movies and anbe sivam as a bad movie. What a taste? Really it is painful. Kamal has to survive against all this odds and in tamilnadu people are saying that movie is confusing and very difficult to understand and all those stuff. Their brains become ineffective after watching all masala craps and that is why they are finding it difficult to understand anbe sivam. I beg God to give these fans basic knowledge so that atleast they can understand these movies.
- From: Sweet Nothing (@ 202.41.106.101)
on: Sat Jan 25 10:22:27
Instead of doing this, why not give the links of the review and the comments and let people read them at that site.
And further, what is meant by "so-called" Rediff review.?? It is of course rediff review. Show your opposition to the review by more useful means, not through such dumb tactics..
And by the way, I too agree that the review sucked big time. I liked the film very much..
But this topic was senseless and made no point what so ever, atleast to me..
- From: Saravanan.R (@ ppp-219.65.117.94.chn.vsnl.net.in)
on: Sat Jan 25 13:10:33
These people who write these reviews are worse than VCD Piraters. They bash the small and medium budget movies.
- From: Milton (@ palo8.pacific.net.sg)
on: Sat Jan 25 14:59:20
//But this topic was senseless and made no point what so ever, atleast to me.. //
Let it be Mr.Sweet Nothing!
- From: kr (@ sbproxy2.mystarhub.com.sg)
on: Sat Jan 25 22:13:23
Milton was the first one to give all the negative review of Baba that includes sify, rediff, etc
Now he is caught back with by his favourite actor Kamal. "Thanveenai Thanai Choodum"
- From: Neruppu (@ adsl-68-74-112-243.dsl.emhril.ameritech.net)
on: Mon Jan 27 00:13:43
Rediff is bordering dangerously on being Anti Tamil. I know this is a serious accusation but I feel that way especially after the kind of reviews that movies like Kannathil and Anbe Sivam got. While the revies of Kannathil din't pan the movie, it seemed like a half hearted attempt that said nothing about the movie or issues and seemed like was done by an inexperienced intern! As fir Anbe Sivam, it just is outrageous, a shame on reviewing process itself. Ridiculously blindsighted , the review totally ignoring the core themes of the movie stank so much of the filmic ignorance of the imbecile who wrote it.
- From: Music_lover (@ dialpool-210-214-147-13.maa.sify.net)
on: Mon Jan 27 08:31:06
bal*s to Rediff reviewers - if Amitabh or Shah Rukh or any of those bollywood nerds throw parties, these morons wouldn't hesitate to taste bollywood stars' bladder remains - just ignore rediff
- From: HUMAN (@ essae.com-186-158-ban.essae.com)
on: Tue Jan 28 04:23:03
REDIFF REMOVED COMMENTS OF ANBESHIVAM BUT THE WORST REVIEW IS AVAILABLE.
BY THE WAY, REDIFF BELONG TO WHOME ?
- From: jaypee (@ 202.88.169.27)
on: Sat Feb 1 09:33:29
ignore the reviews. the movie has won with likeminded people like us.u cant give importance to such small people. they want to be in the headlines by making such reviews. that's about it.
- From: venus (@ adsl-67-121-120-108.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net)
on: Mon Mar 10 15:35:00
i just watched anbe sivam, and was curious to see the reviews. since i found rediff's review a disconnect from the judgment i made, i decided to peruse through other reviews. i wonder why rediff is so negative toward such good films, really who does these imbecile reviews...if i had believed in the review, i might have missed a good movie, in the likes/genres of forrest gump...
- From: sambar (@ ivukpc103.ethz.ch)
on: Wed Mar 12 06:16:20
I agree with most of the opinions here. Rediff reviews, esp the tamil ones( i dont watch many hindi movies and hence I dont read the reviews) are completely off beat. This is what the review by shoba warrier on alai payuthey had to say
"But Alai Payuthe is not just a simple love story, it's also quite an ordinary film. We use the expression: old wine in a new bottle. But this is old wine in an old bottle. The only difference is that particular bottle happens to be very beautiful, thanks to P C Sreeram's excellent camerawork."
Compare this to the review of Saathiya by anita bora also on rediff
"Saathiya's premise is simple. To director Shaad Ali's credit, he keeps the story focused and spares us of subplots.
He brings out good performances from the actors. Compared to the mediocre cinema we have been subjected to lately, this one is definitely above a notch. "
From now on if rediff says the movie is bad, i will make it a point to watch it on the same day.
- From: moviebuff (@ ppp-219.65.118.108.chn.vsnl.net.in)
on: Thu Mar 13 11:40:09
To be precise 'Anbe ..' will not qualify itself as a great classic,but this review from rediff ,clearly shows ,that the guy who wrote it ,has done it hastily.'Anbe ..' offers much more platform to discuss,appreciate,...yah ofcourse to criticise also,but this one just traces the surface,and is not even precise to qualify as a review.
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