There was a time once where reading was my favorite hobby. I would spend whole days, weeks and holiday vacations doing nothing but simply reading - let it be a comic or novel or magazine. Later as years passed that hobby gradually disappeared into thin air. Then later writing began to replace reading but it was limited. I used to write simple thoughts that occurred randomly on top of my head and keep them to myself. I used to write small stuff on blogs which as of my knowledge had only avid reader - myself. Then after becoming a movie addict, the thought of writing a script for a movie struck me. I had thought of lots of reasonably decent scripts over the next decade but nothing really shaped up into writing. I used to begin with writing something or other related to a story but eventually ended up tearing paper and successfully having wasted the life of a lot of trees in that process. That is when I realized how meticulous a job it is to write a good movie.
Then later there was a phase when I started watching Hollywood movies just as a hobby which later became an obsession. There were tons of great movies to watch out for and there was nothing stopping me from watching. This addiction combined with my little tryst with writing interested me in writing reviews for movies. It's not possible to judge a movie as a critic without the basic knowledge of the art of film-making but as a ardent movie lover I try to be honest and write a review for a movie. As similar and obvious with every other thing, my reviews for movies had been made fun of and appreciated as well - which makes me happy as I feel there are people who have enough time and heart to read my lengthy reviews fully.
Out of the innumerable list of movies I've watched, there were 3 Hollywood movies which I think had me hooked in to think about writing and its hardships - Pulp Fiction, The Usual Suspects and The Dark Knight. 3 movies which can give you an entirely different perspective to anticipate sequences in movies. Drawing inspiration from these 3 I wanted to develop a good plot and write out a perfect script but it seemed impossible. Writing a perfect plot requires a lot of patience, research and brainstorming of which I lack all 3. Audience nowadays just don't watch a movie at a higher level but look at all rational aspects. Its practically impossible to make a movie without loopholes that aren't noticeable. You either make a genuine movie considering all logical, practical aspects in mind or make a full on full commercial movie with just a fun factor attached to it. The advent of social media has made a huge impact in deciding the success or failure of a movie hence very movie maker should carefully consider and decide the type of movie they want to make for their audience. All these factors make it look like it a painful job to make a perfect movie.
Coming back again to my boring, not so interesting writing habits, it's been long since I took time an wrote an article or a blog. All those thoughts saved on my mind to write about some movie or person or TV show or music that impressed me get shelved due to my procrastination and finally end up into nothing due to my laziness. Then all of a sudden comes a protagonist which I hold on to like so much that impressed me into writing this another stupid article. "THANI ORUVAN" is it's name.
So now you have a director, who's been remaking successful movies - all throughout his career that he is almost been compared to XEROX machine by people. Then he disappears for 4 years and then out of nowhere delivers the biggest surprise of his lifetime of his career to the audience. A laudable effort of him which will remain etched in people's mind for quite a while.
It's been a very long time since I can remember watching a Thamizh movie with so much content to explore in it - content that made sense, content that can made you realize about the society, content that you hadn't seen or noticed in other movies and most importantly, content that was fully related to the movie subject - rather than unnecessary songs or comedy tracks. People think of it and compare it with other cop thrillers in the past but looking away from that angle, you see a variety of other information that you might not have been informed or known about. For example, a friend of mine used to tell me about how corporates and businessmen are the most important people who directly or indirectly decide what news people should know and what they shouldn't. Media that reaches out to people is rarely the whole truth and its masked in a certain kind of way to make people indirectly impact their life. This was explained beautifully from the perspective of a common man by Mithran IPS with crystal clear dialogues in the movie which really was surprising. People who hadn't had the chance to ponder over this truth earlier might have realized that it's pointless to always blame the politicians or bureaucrats for everything and for a change look at the Trade news once. Almost every important news we see on the headline is directly related to another incident or dealing or favor which might not be in the news at all and this was delivered in a neat manner in the movie. This is one example I liked pointing and it doesn't stop there as there are many other good references to social problems.
As said about my boring lazy writing habits, I again say that I am no expert on screenplay writing but from my view this movie had the most wonderful writing ever. The last time I saw a Thamizh movie in a theater and got amazed at the sequences and their editing, dialogues, tight plot was for AARANYA KAANDAM. I found it unbelievable at that time and hard to believe that it was indeed a Thamizh movie - a rather remarkable movie in the history of Thamizh cinema. Thani Oruvan had almost the same perfection spare alone the female lead and her songs. After making a lukewarm response for their dialogues in their previous few outings, writers SUBHA had translated the brains behind the director into noteworthy powerful dialogues. Be it the opening scene where Pazhani negotiates with the CM, where Mithran talks about women's freedom rights or where he talks about the above said media stuff and all of Siddharth's evil notion filled quotes and all of Sengalvarayan's light hearted moments - the duo has done a commendable job in penning the dialogues. It almost feels like M.Raja had developed a map of all the wide palette of characters and incidents like that same that Mithran had built at his home to nab his arch rival. Some sequences seem impractical but his level of thinking and efforts to omit noticeable screenplay errors have succeeded as he presents one gripping scene after another. The presentation of different scenes at different places and details with various characters is top notch. As you think about it, there aren't really any unwanted scenes - if you consider the female lead role as a story building entity for the plot. The heroine isn't under utilized as like in other such commercial movies and has a part in rekindling the hero's ambition at places. Nayanthara brings in her experience to do a decent mature role and succeeds at that.
Also this movie tries to break cliches in other similar genre Thamizh movies. It is a partly a political movie and the villain's campaign begins with a caste based duel but no caste name is mentioned. The villain is tremendous superpower of evil but he doesn't lay a single hand on the hero. There are not vulgar swear words mentioned as with other movies of this generation. Directors must understand that there are a lot of young people watching movies and using big heroes to use swear words doesn't really do any good.
Coming to the other performances, Raja has carefully woven the characters such that they remain etched to his screenplay map and move the story along without a plausible moment. A standout perfomance by Jayam Ravi and I am sure that Mithran IPS will join the ranks of Alex Pandian, DSP Raghavan, Aaruchamy and Anbuselvan. Mithran's friends, Siddharth's "proxies", goons and girlfriend, Manimegalai and her boyfriend - all have a great part in tightening the plot and make scene after scene intriguing and asking for more. Thambi Ramaiah adds another feather onto his cap by portraying as a politician used in a puppet in midst of war in a greedy world. His light hearted performance along without memorable dialogues doesn't fade the pace the movie and instead acts as a great factor to show differentiate his good nature and his son's menacing nature. It would have been great if Nasser had a much decisive role to play as I feel he is an acting legend and a most underrated one at that.
What decides the greatness of a hero? What one aspect identifies the protagonist as an exemplar of goodness and differentiates him from the rest? An equally or more greater antagonist, the villain. And what can be done to frame such a villain to make him strike gold in the hearts of audience - bring in a actor who has never done such a role before to play that character. It is gamble and doesn't always succeed. Heath Ledger playing the Joker, Sudeep in Naan-E and Bobby Simha in Jigarthanda - delivered some trendsetting performances in their unique villainous role. Raja follows these lines and casts out the ever charming, brilliant Arvind Swamy as the villain. The result - Siddharth Abhimanya has become a popular mention everywhere in social media and given birth to thousands of new fans for Arvind Swamy in a span of days after the movie release. Even as there is a great variety of characters in the movie as mentioned above, Arvind's role stands out in their midst as he swallows the performance of every other Thamizh villain character in that genre. "I am not bad. Just evil" and he lives up to those words. He is not your ordinary muscular Thamizh villain. He is a prodigy, scientist, businessman, political adviser and a crime don hidden from the eyes of the society. He has the nuances to predict every movement of the hero and make him act according to his wishes and learns about himself from the hero. He has the arrogance of Tony Montana from Scarface, the nonchalant looks hiding his inner devil like Gus Fring from Breaking Bad, the brains of Walter White from Breaking Bad, the evil business ideology of Sudeep from NaanE and an evergreen charm to make him likable like Mark Anthony from Baadhsa - all rolled into one. He is a knowledgeable villain who uses words such as "incorrigible", "imbecile" and speaks at conferences delivering oaths against crime activities that in fact where done by him.
Together against the hero it is a battle of wits as they play a cat and mouse game each other. They share the same ideology to destroy their opposite moral to the core. To explain better, both characters trust that in a war between desire and greed - greed eventually wins. Mithran believes that he doesn't have a desire but a greed to do good. On the other hand Siddharth says that good people only desire to do good but evil people are greedy to inflict evil - ultimately meaning that, evil will emerge as the winner. Comparisons between The Batman and The Joker from The Dark Knight arise at this point as one serves as an epitome of good to destroy evil and another vice versa. In both the cases the villain has the upper hand through most of the movie, create a lasting impression on the audience and also end up acheiving their goals in the end. But it will be a sin to not mention the hero's character who had downplayed for the most part, emotionally broken down by the villain and almost on the verge of losing their hope to win. Raja greatly succeeds in crafting one of a kind distinct characters in Thamizh cinema history setting expectations among audience to see more of such roles in the future. There are plenty of hair rising goosebump moments like the one in which Siddharth charmingly laughs off as the elevator door closes in the hospital where he secretly visits his enemy he almost admires. The only thing which I felt would have been more improved to enhance Siddharth's character would be his intro scene (in the adult Arvind Swamy intro). The first scene where he negotiates with the CM (Nasser) filled the theater with claps but his next intro as an adult was kind of ordinary for setting a tone. He kills one of his goons and if they had maybe made that scene a little more graphic it would have added more impact. Nevertheless, the upcoming scenes cement his place as a grand villain and his chemistry with his dad character works wonders. Indeed an incredible dream comeback for Arvind Swamy. It would also have been better if Mithran's character was shown doing more research on identifying some details. He is shown mentally battling to identify how Siddharth tracks his activites but apart from that he is almost a Sherlock in knowing everything about everything. Maybe if they had made him more realistic it would have exceeded the length of the movie so this just works well for the movie. I wish Jayam Ravi was called as Thani Oruvan Ravi from now.
Music and BG score by HipHop Thamizha was fantastic as the score keeps on resonating in mind. Hope he continues his good work in his upcoming ventures. Overall, this movie proves that you don't need to have a big hero, half a dozen songs, mindless masala, unwanted comedy tracks or over the top action sequences to present a perfect hit movie. It motivated me to write all of these words above after lots of thinking and would have motivated/inpired other people and aspiring film makers in other ways (there might have been better movies than this in the past which would have gone unnoticed though). It would have also meant lots of hardwork and research for M.Raja. He who remade a handful of movies in the past, has been now offered to remake this movie in a handul of other languages - what a proud acheivement. All cheers to him and his wonderful team for shedding all their brain and time for this masterpiece. Happy to see that this movie has turned out to be a blockbuster and hope there is more in store directors for creating such wonderful movies.
