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| Tuesday, June 13, 2006 |
| Pudupettai - The Review. |
The decision:
I was so bored in life (and office of course) that by 6:15PM i was saying to myself "This is just not working". Yesterday morning, i happened to see few clips from the movie in some TV review and i was itching to see the movie since then. I saw my To-Do list. I had to do some minor changes in a doc and send it to my colleague and then i was done. I checked out the site of satyam cinemas and found that the bookings were still open.
I rushed through this doc (time 6:30), collected my stuff and ran out of office (6:35 PM) walked the distance from my office to Satyam (6:45PM) and there was this big Queue. Got the tickets and entered the theatre a good 10mins late i guess. I had missed the first song (Enga Area - the choreo for which i had liked and really wanted to see), but got to see the movie from the point where the story begins. So no complaints. Let's move on...
The audience:
Surprise, Surprise - or was it only for me. The theatre was almost 60% empty!!! There were empty seats all over the place. I walked down the dark lane, found my seat and sat down - not knowing how the next 3 hrs were gonna be and i was really afraid now, seeing the strength of the audience. That's when Danush (or Kokki Kumar) comes back from a movie and sees the body of his mother, who was killed by Kokki's dad. No no - this is not gonna be anywhere close to story telling. That is one thing i don't intend to do.
The cast:
It can simply be said that this is a Danush movie - from scene 1 (or atleast the first scene i saw) till the credentials (which was quite funny), the movie had Danush all over the place. While his show in Kadhal Konden was pretty good, Danush seems to have lost things a bit since then. Perhaps a bit too confused on differentiating between over acting (remember sullan???) and amplified acting (remember that rain dance in KK???). How he fares in Pudupettai, that comes later. Now to the others.
The next important actor is Sneha, as a prositute who later becomes Danush's wife. And then there are all those ppl Danush kills, his friends and his foes, his guide and yeah, his wink-i-come-wink-i-go wife Sonia. The movie has few of the budding and talented (and by now proven) technicians of kollywood on its credit rolls. Direction, Music, Cinematography are definitely worth mentioning.
The movie:
It is, first of all, a story abt a ruffian. So be prepared for a blood bath. The story, is about how Danush enters the gang world, rises up and falls down. The movie has some interesting happenings surrounding this story line. Does the movie try to convey any message or something??? No and Yes. Go see for yourself :)
Now - the things i feel abt the movie. Let's start with the lead characters. I came out of the theatre with this feeling that Danush had not used this opportunity to the level he cud have. Looks like brother Selva has churned out scene after scene where Danush has scope for performing, and Danush hasn't gone to the heights he can. Let's accept it - Danush can act, provided the role fits his physique. Here, the role is tailor made for him. Physically, he fits the underworld slum dwelling ruffian to the dot.
As i mentioned above, i guess he is in a confused state as to how much he can fly. I'd have been satisfied if he'd just flown a bit more. He hasn't done bad at all - but there is jus this diff between master class and an attempt to be one. There are scenes where he is very good, especially the jail monologues, and he's pretty impressive in the way he uses his eyes. But danush, u shud have pushed urself just that bit more. I don't think this performance is gonna change ur present market situation in a big way. Let us just get done with Danush saying "He was good, better than few of his recent films, but definitely not his best".
Next - Sneha. Damsel in distress, deep distress. Looks like Danush's elder sister in the movie, but it does not appear odd to me coz such families, where the qife is a lot bigger than the lean wiry husband, are quite common in these kinda places. She really hasn't much to do, apart from giving that "I'm in distress" look in very scene. There is one scene where she had the opportunity to perform and she does extremely well - two thumbs up. Overall - limited opportunities, well used.
The rest of the cast do their job. There are so many characters, and the movie does go at a good pace, that u fail to keep track of many characters. But it is to be accepted that the remaining members of the cast have done their job without much fuss and, hence, no major screw ups, and this is one of the strengths of the movie. Credit goes to Selva ofcourse, for drawing out such clean performances from his cast.
The movie is raw, but classy. Eventhough violence has been glorified, as is obvious from the tag line "survival of the fittest", it is not unnecessary since the movie deals with ruffians anyway. The use of graphics in fight scenes has worked well and is perhaps not too obvious (except for ppl like me) at all. The cinematography does need special mention - it is just too good and the colors in the movie are really vibrant. Music, by Yuvan, needs no speaking about and is already a BIG hit. Yuvan scores in BGM too.
Summary:
I loved the movie, but hated the unnecessary cuts made by the theatre (why u satyam???). The storyline and charectorisation is something new (and hence appealing), the movie is technically too good and has performances which wud fall between "decent" and "good" ratings, with some rare "that's better" scenes. I keep cribbing coz i keep seeing a "wow" possibility in every scene :)
To sum it all - definitely worth seeing once. I might even have a second look.
I'm impressed. I'd give 4 on 5.
Good effort fellas!!! Congrats... |
posted by Iday @ 9:17 PM   |
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| 2 Comments: |
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Strange reivew! I thought I could sumarise Pudhupettai in two words "Dhanush Kills." The only twist in that movie was there was no twists at all. I could see no story either. I thought the story could be at least "how dhanush grows into a gangster" if not "how he perceives life". (The 'Oru Nalil' song had very good lyrics that I expected a psycho's view of the world. But sadly that song was not in the movie at all.) It doesn't even show how he grows into a gangster. It was like watching top 10 review, immediately in the next scene he will be a step ahead in his career! It left the same feeling as Thulluvadho Ilamai left in me. A series of sleazy scenes and when you ask
'Yeah So? What are trying to say?' 'Well, Nothing. Thank You.'
I don't say every movie should have a message, at least it should be a portrayal of a powerful character or some incident. The portrayal of Dhanush is confusing. Sometimes he behaves like uthaman (not sleeping with Sneha) but suddenly he breaks lose. You'll be kept guessing the reasons for both. May be that is what the director wanted to portray, portray him as a whimsical guy. But that doesn't sell even, suddenly he speak of amma sentiment, he patronizes his father and suddenly kills him. If he wanted to spell 'sex' in thulluvadho ilamai, he seems to spell 'violence' in this movie. But if you don't react as "oh shit sex" or "what the helluva violence is it" and keep watching undeterred, you'll end up puzzled. There should be an objective that will keep you watching the movie all along. Here I was anticipating some clue of an objective and that kept me alert through the movie :).
Nevertheless, you won't feel bored. Every scene is good in its own way but when you look for a collective sense, well it's nonsense. My favorite scene in the movie is the last slide. It is a power point slide which says he grew up to become education minister and owns 3 engineering colleges. Well, is that the message you may wonder. But no, it is just one slide there is no complete portrayal of a ruffian-politician except for the few bits and pieces. May be Selva Raghavan made a very long movie and while editing only the good scenes were picked up.
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Selva wasted loads of reels i hear :)
i accepted the movie to be of a diff style da - not the normal gradual flow kinda movies we get to see. I've seen many such foreign movies where there is very little flow - there is jus this sequence of events. Some of them even have confusin screen plays that u'd say "aayidha ezhuthu" was better :) The movie "The City of God", to which Pudupettai is/was compared to frequently, is one such example where the director says 3 or 4 (i dont remember) stories thru a sequence of events, which fluctuate in style. It is just like a compilation of 3 or 4 character sketches - no story telling as such. The creation of the story is left to the viewer. I like that and that is perhaps why i dont have any whims abt Pudupettai's screenplay.
I'd say Kokki's character is one selfish, self centered, "i need power and i enjoy being in power" kinda role. When he initially meets Sneha, he hasnt "grown up". He is a drug addict, drunkard etc etc - but not a man yet. I think that is what Selva tries to portray in the sequences with Sneha before and after the "kokki kills a man in 2 hits" scene :) He speaks of amma sentiment always, even in the last scene. But he uses his dad coz he needs him at that time. So when he grows up - he finished him. Period. This is like some of the scenes we get to see in good gangster movies - one night and the lead guy finished every problem around him. This is the last step in his growing up. It is not something new - i can quote many parallels, from godfather to sarkar :)
The collective sense i got was this "there exists this kind of a dog-eats-dog-eats-dog world where this guy grows from this to this doing this and this". Nothing more, nothing less :) towards the end, the movie also tries to preach stuff like "such a person will not really not really succeed in life coz danush loses everything he loves" and there is that long dialogue he speaks to his son as well :)
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Strange reivew! I thought I could sumarise Pudhupettai in two words "Dhanush Kills." The only twist in that movie was there was no twists at all. I could see no story either. I thought the story could be at least "how dhanush grows into a gangster" if not "how he perceives life". (The 'Oru Nalil' song had very good lyrics that I expected a psycho's view of the world. But sadly that song was not in the movie at all.) It doesn't even show how he grows into a gangster. It was like watching top 10 review, immediately in the next scene he will be a step ahead in his career! It left the same feeling as Thulluvadho Ilamai left in me. A series of sleazy scenes and when you ask
'Yeah So? What are trying to say?' 'Well, Nothing. Thank You.'
I don't say every movie should have a message, at least it should be a portrayal of a powerful character or some incident. The portrayal of Dhanush is confusing. Sometimes he behaves like uthaman (not sleeping with Sneha) but suddenly he breaks lose. You'll be kept guessing the reasons for both. May be that is what the director wanted to portray, portray him as a whimsical guy. But that doesn't sell even, suddenly he speak of amma sentiment, he patronizes his father and suddenly kills him. If he wanted to spell 'sex' in thulluvadho ilamai, he seems to spell 'violence' in this movie. But if you don't react as "oh shit sex" or "what the helluva violence is it" and keep watching undeterred, you'll end up puzzled. There should be an objective that will keep you watching the movie all along. Here I was anticipating some clue of an objective and that kept me alert through the movie :).
Nevertheless, you won't feel bored. Every scene is good in its own way but when you look for a collective sense, well it's nonsense. My favorite scene in the movie is the last slide. It is a power point slide which says he grew up to become education minister and owns 3 engineering colleges. Well, is that the message you may wonder. But no, it is just one slide there is no complete portrayal of a ruffian-politician except for the few bits and pieces. May be Selva Raghavan made a very long movie and while editing only the good scenes were picked up.