Virumaandi - A non-fanatic view

Topic started by Lennon (@ 61.11.77.16) on Mon Jan 19 02:28:58 EST 2004.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

it's sad. that for a guy who takes such great pains in making movies, and sticking to the minutest of film-making details, Kamal Haasan fails again as a director. terrific characterisation, crisp dialogues, brilliant performances, you name it and you get it. But only in parts. on the whole, there's only one way to describe "Virumaandi". And that's BAD. Sounds familiar? Well, think "Hey Ram!"

For a movie which sermonises about death penalty's ingenuities, this is perhaps the most violent movie ever made in these parts of the world! limbs are chopped in glee, the hero twists his finger into the villain's neck and triggers a gory gush of blood. the heroine's suicide is shown in its all-disturbing freakiness. now to the familiar territory - one absolutely pointless sequence of scenes where the hero and heroine indulge in copulation in true kamal fashion. (there are lewd suggestions to the act being similar to "jallikkattu"! the scene ends with the hero grabbing the heroine from behind. yeah you know what! in one scene in the darkness, the hero turns his torch to the two flanks of a sari-less heroine's chest). did someone say realistic? well, then what's wrong with "Boys"?!

there's absolutely nothing in the movie which backs the claim against death penalty. it's just a gory celebration of the killing culture. the biggest joke is virummandi, after killing all and sundry like a game, coming to the studio and getting misty-eyed about annalakshmi. so what's the freakin' point? virumaandi takes revenge for his wife's killing by killing the culprits. he can take the eye-for-an-eye route. no problem. but when judiciary does the same thing, it shouldn't be accepted??? what a joke, man!

on the plus side, there's pasupathy as the vilain, in a stunningly original performance. watch out for this guy. subtle nuances to characters and situations - from peykaaman (spell check), the cop who tries to impress the journalist with his english to the squeaky-voiced advocate to the kid who keeps yelling "maappillai!"... there are more. one brilliantly conceived song sequence on the moon-lit roads. well-etched out riot scenes. a movie which has so many good things happening for it, it's sad that the end product turns out bad, just because of kamal haasan's same old problem. of himself and the excesses.

though i have problems against kamal haasan's self-promoting intellectual aspirations and his loud style of acting (yeah, there's a yelling-wailing scene in this one too), i've always wanted his movies to do well at the box-office, for his sheer commitment to his profession and his undying passion for cinema. i got to see "Virumaandi" in coimbatore, second day (at Shanthi). and i got tickets for two without reservation. for all the lies kamal sycophants like madan are spreading across TV, it's going to be a huge flop. and i hope this proves the "speedbreaker" which KB advised kamal. it's high time this great script writer stayed off direction, turn to someone competent enough for the job and give us something like "Thevar Makan", his last brilliant movie, which happened 11 years ago.

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