Iruvar

Iruvar (1997)

Iruvar (Tamil), from Indian cinema’s one of the most celebrated director Mani Ratnam! His dream project and personal favourite.

          Unlike the usual Mani Ratnam style where he blends the style of Satyajit Ray’s realism along with larger than life scenarios for the mass, here he tips lot towards the realism style. And it proved that Mani Ratnam’s true skills lies on this side!!

          Iruvar with no doubt and with a big margin is Mani Ratnam’s best!! Also one of the best movies of Indian Cinema!

Plot & Direction – Plot of Iruvar revolves around 2 characters Anandan (played by Mohanlal) & Tamizhselvan (played by Prakash Raj) and their journey from being close modest friends to being political rivals. Like most of Mani Ratnam’s movies this also relies on an adapted screenplay, Iruvar reflects the real life journey of Tamil actor, ex-CM Late MGR & ex-CM Karunanidhi. The friendship between the two even with their contrasting ideologies to improve common man’s life was the emotional nucleus of the plot. Their struggle to gain power, shift of ideologies, realities of politics, rivalry and yet maintaining the respect for each other laid the tiles for the screenplay. The pace of the plot, tight but a mellow screenplay and the transformation of the characters over the span of 50yrs were beautifully coloured.

          Clearly the style of the shot and the techniques used seems influenced my Martin Scorsese gangster movies. And Mani Ratnam does an excellent job to recreate the similar magic in this movie. The long established and follow up shot techniques were very well made use of. Mani Ratnam strictly stuck to the huge format of the aspect ratio (rarely used by Indian filmmakers) which gave him so much space to populate the shots which added a great texture to them. The aspect ratio was very well used in follow up scenes which transitions from a close up shot to an expanded shot, the emotions build up due to that added a new layer to the texture. Definitely Iruvar reflects the true extend of Mani Ratnam’s skills as a Director.

Acting – In this dream project of his, Mani Ratnam doesn’t compromise anything over quality. With a pool of talented and more popular actors like Kamal Hassan, Mammootty etc., Mani Ratnam had fixed his eye on the more versatile Mohanlal despite his lack of popularity among Tamil, Hindi audience and his strong Malayalam accent. Mani Ratnam was very convinced that not many actors could pull of a flamboyant character with lot of contrast and dynamics such as naïve but mature simplistic ideologies, egoist but humble approach, mature but playful. Along with the character transformations with such long term jumps in the screenplay. The ease at which Mohanlal pulled off the role added more ink to the playful layer of his character.  Even though it was not anywhere close to Mohanlal’s best performance, the precision of emotions tailored into the scenes were the silver lining of every scene he was present in. (P.S – accolades for the scenes of him pleading for the movie not to be shut, him spitting fire on Prakash Raj & him asking for a minister seat, Mesmerizing!!!).

          For the role of Tamizhselvan Mani Ratnam had eyed actors like Kamal Hassan, Mammootty and Nana Patekar but didn’t work out. And to fill the expectations of their class and quality, Prakash Raj was chosen. Even with such high expectations, he doesn’t disappoint and rather gives a performance of his life. The seriousness & depth of his beliefs were convincingly portrayed by the subtle emotions. The gradually shift of his character from a proud energetic egoistic youngster to an envious old man in despair was gracefully executed by Prakash Raj earning him his 1^st National award for acting.

          Even though for a short time, the powerful commanding show set by Nassar as Ayya Veluthambi definitely deserve a special mention. In each scene he was present he commanded the scene with his presence.

Cinematography – The key element that added an artistic touch to the movie. The way the scenes were shot with a classic aspect ratio gave Mani Ratnam lot of room for adding layers. The feel of each scene clearly had a visceral effect and reflected the timeline of the story. You didn’t need a subtitle to inform the jump in time; rather the cinematography & blend of the colour itself conveyed that message. Thanks to Santosh Sivan the fluidity of each scene helped Mani Ratnam to come close to the standards set by Martin Scorsese.

Overall even though not a commercial success (due to lack of popular actors & political controversies), Iruvar is a cinematic achievement with a large spectrum of talent. Iruvar is a rare Indian movie with great dynamics, realism and entertainment in a single plate. Highly recommended for cinema lovers.

The Dark Knight Trilogy

 

The Dark Knight Trilogy

            Ufffff!!! The series I wanted to review the most. And will be tough not to make it a very long one!!

One of the greatest trilogies and the hottest topic of every movie forum. The series which created such a huge wave that changed the entire style of movie making in Hollywood. And I am not exaggerating it for the below reasons.

A decade after the crushing death of Batman movies, when fans put their hopes down and thought it’s impossible to picturize a man wearing a Bat costume and beating bad guys maintaining the dark gritty grounded world around him. Entered Chris Nolan, a new kid around the block with a promising talent. Who took up a lost character and made him the coolest super hero ever.

The 3 movies under the title - Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.

Batman Begins: The movie that set a trend of reboots and the most original approach to an origin story. Origins are always predictable when it comes to the flow of the story but that’s where Nolan brought out his best skills, Screenplay and Non-linear story telling.

In a plot where the result of a motivation is easily predictable, Nolan mixed up the story-lines such that the result is shown 1st and made the audience wonder about the motivation. This kept the audience guessing at each and every turn of the movie and along with a much grounded screenplay created a gripping movie which was named the “BEST SUPERHERO MOVIE EVER”!!!

The grounded approach to the story with a strong flow of character development and sub plots, Nolan made the audience believe a Batman can exist in the real world.

It’s not easy to convince the audience that a Billionaire kid would become a Batman just because his parents were killed. Hence Nolan took a very fragile base character as Bruce Wayne and built a motivation in multiple layers piling up on each other. He made him go through series of events where his impulsive characterization just created more hatred and pain around him till he was pushed off the edge to become a completely lost psycho with some misunderstood principles.

Later taken up by his mentor Ra’s Al Ghul to refine his principles and to line up his deranged thoughts to make him what it takes to be a vigilantly. Each of them wanting the same result but different with methodologies turned them against each other. Ra’s Al Ghul’s characterization and principles made him a strong formidable villain who couldn’t be convinced. The thoughts puts by Ra into Bruce Wayne’s head i.e. strike fear in your enemies heart became the theme of the movie and a reason for Bruce Wayne to choose Bat as his symbol and conquer his fear(as a kid he feared bats the most and this fear led to his parent’s death).

The other aspects of the movie which made it feel so grounded were the sub plots involving Gordon, Alfred, Lucius and Rachel. The 1^st kind of super hero movie where the evolution of a man to a super hero was shown in steps distinctly, Nolan went as far as to even bring up the company that made his Bat ears. Also was 1^st super hero movie where the police were not just bunch of guys who showed up at the end with guns and walkie talkies. Nolan made sure the police force acted as they would in a real world to the situations that arose and with a multi layered plot made it look that their actions would have been in total vain if not for Batman.

Unlike other super heroes Batman never targeted petty thieves, bank robbers, saving his girlfriend from thugs etc. Batman’s goal was to remove crime/corruption from the core of the city, while other super heroes focused on the people, Batman focused on the city and to find a permanent solution which just increased the scale of the plot.

The movie had enough characters that made the plot look believable and each character had their importance for the plot. The plot was so well written that each and every element in the movie had a contribution to the plot without which the plot wouldn’t have been complete. Screenplay was packed with new ideas and fast paced. All in all Nolan created a new style of movie making which has inspired looooot of movies and reboots. Action was kept minimal and not the main theme of the movie but yet the few action scenes created enough character development around Batman to show what he is capable of. Of the 3, Batman begins remains Nolan’s best directed effort and created a believable dark gritty world where Batman fits in perfectly.

To add up and upscale the effect of the movie Nolan got in one of the greatest minds and a visionary in the field Hans Zimmer along with talented James Newton Howard. A mixture of fast paced, gloomy, gritty, explosive, slow background themes where each layer of the music provoked different feel and perception was just the perfect icing to the well made cake.

Summing up Batman Begins stands out as the most unique, well thought, a revolutionary, the best super hero movie of its time and one of the best movies made.

Review of The Dark Knight & The Dark Knight Rises coming soon....

Kireedam : A Flawless Cinema

Kireedam (1989-Malayalam)

           This movie has a very special place in me. This is the movie where Mohanlal became my favorite Indian actor. The role proves that Mohanlal is one of the best and most versatile actors India has ever produced. Also a revolutionary genre in Indian cinema.

Synopsis -The story revolves on the philosophy how an environment and situations could change the perception of a character. Their journeys of Sethumadhavan (played by Mohanlal) whose steps to becoming a Sub-inspector changes and end up being the most notorious criminal of the town.

Every element of this movie right from acting, direction, screenplay, dialogues, music etc. are right on spot.

The movie’s Screenplay and Direction is so grounded and relatable to a typical middle class family life style, the screenplay clearly but in a very subtle way has split the plot into 3 acts and flow between them is beautifully handled.

1^st act the plot focuses on character development and has been handled like a masterpiece. The scenes don’t involve the typical plot devices to portray a character of each roles or cliched movie dialogues to show how good the character is or how much he cares etc. The entire 1^st act is done so natural, just a day to day life of Sethumadhavan (Sethu) but yet the character and dynamics of each role has been painted with impeccable resolution.

2^nd act is where the main turn of events takes place and again here Sibi Malayil did a great job to keep the pace and tone in sync with the 1^st act and builds up on it. He made sure to keep the audience in the emotions of Sethu and to sympathize the character. Audience emotions are pushed to levels, after each tragic incident audience tend to have a ray of hope that things would go right. This was handled with such natural approach, every character in the movie stuck to their characterization and events happening seem so normal n genuine and yet has devastating effect!!

3^rd act is where the movie picks up its pace and audience starts losing hope and sets to gear up for a tear-jerker. The fight scenes have been handled with a very artistic touch. For a movie where in its time (even now :P) fight scenes had flying actors, the natural and the long established fight shots were revolutionary. Seems like Mohanlal was asked to fight for real!! And unlike other many movies the skills of the roles also never deviated from the character defined, a rare thing in Indian movies :D. In the last shot Sibi Malayil gives a classic climax with a great emotional build up and an end. May be one of the best climaxes!!

Acting in this movie has been top notch by all actors but standing out in this gold mine is Mohanlal and Thilakan (Sethu’s father). Mohanlal’s acting took the movie to an extent that even Sibi Malayil had not predicted! The precision of each emotion and transcends from emotion to emotion in fraction of seconds without any effort. The shift of his behavior throughout the movie was so subtle and yet effective. Nowhere in the movie has he lost the essence of his core character. I would say Mohanlal didn’t act the role of Sethu but Mohanlal became Sethu. This exceptional performance made Sibi Malayil’s work on established shots way too easy. Nothing less by Thilakan giving a powerful and convincing show. These 2 could convey emotions just by a look what pages of dialogues cannot.

Plot on the shell looks very simple but crafting a plot where Sethu’s character perception changes from end to end and yet maintaining the core of its characterization is just writing at its best! The plot never deviates from the Philosophy it’s trying to portray. Nor depends on plot devices where Sethu goes out of character to make it happen. This has been tried by many movies in this genre after this but never succeeded. Also the plot makes sure to sympathize the rowdy version of Sethu making it so undesirable and hence putting out a very strong message that has a visceral effect.

In short it’s a true cinema and flawless in all aspects. Highly recommended for Drama fans.

Inside Out: A familiar adventure

Inside Out (2015)

        Ever wondered why is your personality the way it is, why you feel so happy at times, why all your other emotions are snubbed when you are very sad, why you dreamt those dreams, why your thoughts are shackled when your are stressed, why your imaginations have a repetitive pattern, why you put forth your opinions as facts??? Inside Out explains all these in the most imaginative and colorful way possible.

Synopsis - After young Riley is uprooted from her Midwest life and moved to San Francisco, her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness - conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house, and school.

Pixar consistently has been able to impress their audience with some great creativity and imaginations. Pixar mostly picks a very relate-able problems of life and scales it to imaginative ideas like toys, cars, bugs, monsters, rats etc. and create a new world where those problems are scaled to exhilarating adventures.

Similarly with Inside Out Pixar has chosen the most petty problem they have tackled so far and scaled it to one of the most exhilarating adventures. Unlike the other Pixar movies, screenplay was not just directly adapted from a real life to the imagination world, the entire world inside Riley's head had to be designed from scratch.

Each and every aspect of this world is scientifically logical and has been painted in the most imaginative way. We all are vaguely familiar how our emotions work, here the entire flow of a particular emotion has been characterized into a character responsible for that particular emotion, hence we meet Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust and Anger.

The story and direction of Inside Out shows how a petty problem seen by the outside world would be actually a big problem with life changing events inside our head. It also shows the changes occurring inside your head when you are changing from 1 phase of life to another. Every scenario can be easily related to our day to day events. Pete Docter has dug in deep to explore the psychological behaviors of individuals to write down a script this detailed and accurate.

The screenplay of the movie is filled with brilliance and creativity. The screenplay of the 1st 7 mins is so well thought than many full fledged movies. Each and every elements inside our head such as memories, dreaming, running thoughts with facts and opinions, imaginations, imaginary friend, abstractions (even explains the 4 stages), long term memory, forgetting, changing of personalities, emotional breakdown, blanking out etc. has been painted so well and seamlessly stitched into the main plot line. Each scene has been well thought and well written, not every writer can create a documentary of the functioning of your brain like Pete Docter did.

There is also a great bit of humor through out the movie and no where the humor interrupts the flow of the story and always moves along the story.

The pacing of the movie has been brilliant. Most scenes keep you at the edge of your seat guessing the next scene, speeds up whenever necessary and also gives you enough time to breath in the events and feel them without stalling the plot.

Not to forget another main aspect, music!! Michael Giacchino has formulated yet another master piece with which he is able to puppeteer your emotions at will. Now i am convinced why the Oscar panel has replaced him in place of John Williams.

Over all the movie has one of the most imaginative plot, with one of the most intelligent screenplay and direction. In the 94 min time window the emotions inside Riley's head seemed like controlling the emotions of the audience too. All types of audience can enjoy the movie. While adults can appreciate the complexity, kids can enjoy the colorful imaginations and have a visceral effect from the plot. Pete Docter is definitely the King of Animated Movies!!!!!

(P.S. the 3D to 2D transition in the abstraction chamber where the isometric lateral distance became longitudinal height just blew my mind!!)