Black (2005)

Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Screenplay: Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Bhavani Iyer, Prakash Katpadia

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukerji

Music: Monty Sharma

Time: 124 minutes

Bottom-line: One of my all-time favourites; absolutely beautiful

“Life is like an ice-cream. Enjoy it before it melts.”

Two national awards, 11 Filmfare Awards… and the list goes on; Black was, is and will remain, one of the evergreen movies in Hindi cinema. Loosely based on the life of Helen Keller, this is the story of a blind and deaf girl who survives life, thanks to her teacher. Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerji play the lead roles, with Ayesha Kapur, Shernaz Patel and Dhritiman Chaterji in the supporting roles.

“The alphabets of the world start with A, B, C, D, E but yours start with B, L, A, C, K... Black.”

Michelle McNally (Mukerji) is a blind and deaf woman. When she reaches her house one day, she is informed that a strange man is sitting by their fountain; to her surprise, it is her teacher, Debraj Sahai (Bachchan), who left twelve years ago. However, Sahai is now experiencing an advanced stage of Alzheimer’s disease, and can barely remember his name, let alone recognise his student. The story goes back to Michelle’s childhood, a time when her mother, Cathy (Patel), and father, Paul (Chaterji), are debating over whether or not to send the eight-year-old (Kapur) to an asylum. Enter Mr, Sahai, a recovering alcoholic, with a highly eccentric character. He uses harsh methods that are disapproved by Paul, but somehow Sahai manages to make his way work. Black explores the various phases of this student-teacher relationship, over a period of nearly 25 years.

 

Bachchan as Sahai and Mukerji as Michelle

“Dear Ms. Nair, I have good news. You will be unhappy to know that the magician is at work.”

He can provide subtle humour, make you gasp at his harsh methods, make you applaud with his magic, and make you weep at his pitiable condition… indeed, giving Big B the National Award must have been a straightforward decision! There is no grand entry – on the contrary, the first scene he is shown in we get to know about his Alzheimer’s disease – but as the story progresses we see all his dynamic characteristics: the authority he displays to forcibly prevent Michelle’s from interfering, the “cruelty” of his methods that eventually work wonders and the kindness of his touch that turns Michelle into a well-groomed woman. He says so many biting one-liners throughout the film too. Towards the end he transforms so much… to see such a powerful teacher turn so helpless is one of the saddest parts of the film. One other such “uncomfortable” moment is when Michelle says “In asking you to give me dignity as a woman, I took away your dignity as a teacher. I asked too much, and you didn’t even give me a chance to ask for forgiveness…”

 

Bachchan with the young Michelle (Kapur), Cathy (Patel) in the right
and Paul (Chaterji) and Mrs. Gomes 

“Black is not just the colour of depression…it is also the colour of the graduation robe.”

Rani Mukherji too has given a marvellous performance. Highly convincing and wonderfully composed, I love the way she displays anger, determination, sadness…each with its own grace. The scene where she calls up her mother to tell that she failed is one of the many depressing scenes in the film, while her graduation speech is one of the “happiest” moments; the word is in quotes because on one side you have Michelle, successfully getting her degree after 12 long years, as she elatedly rushes to meet her teacher, who is shown in chains, to keep him in control. Michelle wears her black graduation robe for the first time in front of him and Sahai does his little “victory dance” as his memory flashes for ever so brief a moment… should you feel happy or sad? That is the beauty of Black… the most painful moments and the most joyous moments come together.

“What has taken all of you 20 years has taken me 40. But finally I can say that I did it!”

The story is not exactly “depressing” but yes, it is a painful watch at times… to see Michelle suffer. Ayesha Kapur has done really well as the young Michelle; every bit of it was genuine. The cinematography and the background score are superb. The characters, and the lines they speak are scripted so well…even though the main character says nothing more than “Tee…” and “woahhh”, the film contains some pretty powerful lines and exchanges.

With a deeply moving story, memorable characters, Black is a movie for the ages. It has been a long time since I have given a movie a 5-star rating, but this film, in every aspect, deserves it!

My Rating: 5/5

Eeram (2009)

English translation: Dampness

Direction: Arivazhagan

Story: Arivazhagan

Cast: Aadhi, Sindhu Menon

Music: Thaman

Time: 164 minutes

Bottom-line: A chilling thriller; you will never look at water the same way again

From Arivazhagan comes the much-needed relief from masala films. This horror-thriller – along with the other 2009 film, Yavarum Nalam – give two brilliant unconventional films to enjoy. Eeram stars Aadhi and Sindhu menon in the lead roles, with Nandha and Saranya Balakrishnan in the supporting roles.

A watchman in an apartment complex notices water overflowing from a flat. On entering the house, he finds a young woman, Ramya (Sindhu) who has drowned herself, with a note saying that no one else is responsible for her death. The case is taken up by Inspector “Vasu” Vasudevan (Aadhi), who was also Ramya’s lover in college. He is convinced that there is more to the case than just a suicide. On interrogating the neighbours, he finds that several of them, including the watchman, claim that Ramya was having another affair (with a man whom Vasu names Mr. X). Over the next few days, two people who vouched for Ramya’s affair die seemingly accidental deaths. Later, Mr. X also faces a violent end. Vasu realises that all the deaths have one thing in common – water. He believes that Ramya could be responsible for them. Is he right? If so, what is the truth behind her “suicide”?

Eeram doesn’t scare you; instead, it sends enough chills down your spine that every time you look at water, you will be reminded of this film. The visuals and cinematography are enough to instil that fear. I am amazed at how Arivazhagan turns water into such an enemy: the deaths of the neighbours, Mr. X and the accidents of Bala’s friend show his ingenious, albeit crooked, thinking. With that said about the goosebumps, the story as such is quite good. It starts off as a mystery, then goes back to Ramya’s college days, then back to the present, where Vasu tries to track down the “murderer”. A lot of supernatural elements are present, so it is not a regular joining-the-dots mystery case.

 

Sindhu as Ramya, and Aadhi as Vasudevan

The cast is almost entirely new, and what a fine show they have put up! In particular, I liked the performances of Sindhu Menon and Nandan (who plays Ramya’s husband, Bala). There is no actual ghost shown on screen to scare you… the scary part is how seemingly normal everyday scenarios – with water – can cause people to die! That is the most effective way to create horror; the same goes with Yavarum Nalam. It starts out as a simple family drama before changing gears and exploring the supernatural. Look out for the scene where Mr. X seemingly “kills himself”; the most intense scene of the film. There are a few plot twists, and the one towards the end could knock your socks off.

Eeram has violence, romance, thrill, and of course, shades of horror, but the best bit being the simplistic setup. These low-budget thrillers are actually turning out to be the ones that are more impressive than the big-budget, star-studded films. Eeram – worth your time and money.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Director: Michel Gondry

Story: Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, Pierre Bismuth

Cast: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet

Music: Jon Brion

Time: 108 minutes

Bottom-line: A new look at love and heartbreak

I wish that I could wake up with amnesia

And forget about the stupid little things

Those lines are from the song Amnesia by the band 5 Seconds of Summer. It talks about having amnesia to selectively wipe out memories of a failed relationship. This film explores the same theme.

Following Minority Report, I went on a search for other interesting science fiction films, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind featured on several lists and polls. The sci-fi/romance/drama stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in the lead roles, with Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, Tom Wilkinson and Elijah Wood in the supporting roles.

Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders.

Shy, introverted Joel Barish (Carrey) decides not to go to work one morning, and, following a gut instinct, takes a train to Montauk. On the train, he meets Clementine Kruczynski (Winslet) – an extroverted, wild girl, with freakish hair styles and colours. They begin a relationship despite their contrasting personas. We are then taken back in time, where Joel finds Clementine with another man, Patrick (Wood). He gets to know that she has erased Joel from her memory, thanks to a medical procedure by Doctor Howard (Wilkinson). Joel, seeking revenge, decides to do the same. Most of the film beyond takes place during the memory erasing process – as we join Joel in exploring his past – and related storylines of the technician, Stan (Ruffalo), Patrick, Howard, and his assistant, Mary (Dunst).

 

Carrey as Joel and Winslet as Clementine

There have been dozens of movies about relationships and dozens more about breakups; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind combines both these themes, along with a touch of science, to give us in interesting concept to ponder about: what if we could selectively wipe out memory (“Technically speaking, this is brain damage”, says Doctor Howard)? Kaufman and Gondry put together their imagination to depict the working of a human mind – how does it remember people, what is the power of the subconscious, and is love powerful enough to overthrow science?

As Howard slowly starts to wipe out Clementine from Joel’s memory, we – along with Joel – revisit his memories in reverse. We start with their breakup, and go till the moment they first met, two years ago. En route, Joel decides not to go through with the procedure; he wants to savour the bits of happiness he shared with her. So, several weird phenomena start to happen, as Joel’s subconscious and his love for Clementine start to fight against the systematic procedure. As Joel struggles with his memories, the others around him – Howard, Mary, Patrick and Stan, start to explore their own love interests.

 

The quote behind the title of the film

The movie goes on to show that no matter how much science advances – to the extent of even being able to selectively erase bits of memory – love is always more powerful. In some ways, Inception has borrowed concepts from this film, but the 2004 film is something we can relate to better. Jim Carrey shows why he can be a good actor, and not just a comedian. From the happy-go-lucky chap, to the charming romantic, to the depressed lover, every role is performed authentic enough that we can put ourselves in that position. The same goes to Kate Winslet as well, but somehow, I don’t feel the Carrey-Winslet pair is that effective. The climax seems a bit odd; the last twist (with about 10 minutes left) is certainly unexpected, but what follows does not seem right; perhaps the screen time could have been extended a little more to create a better – and less abrupt – climax.

So, while many of you who have gone through breakups would be wondering what it would be like to “imagine it never happened” (easier said than done, right?), this film will surely be food for thought. The imaginative portrayal of the mind, and the blend of science and romance makes the film a special one.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 93%

Blue Velvet (1986)

Director: David Lynch

Story: David Lynch

Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper and Laura Dern

Music: Angelo Badalamenti

Time: 120 minutes

Bottom-line: Still trying to make sense of the film

Some crazy film search starting from La La Land made me land at David Lynch’s Blue Velvet. Getting a good impression of Lynch’s later film, Mulholland Drive, I expected this one also to be a mind-boggling tale, but it turned out to be a major disappointment. Here’s why.

The story is essentially an attempt to narrate a dark detective mystery. Jeffrey Beaumont (MacLachlan) is home from college after his father has a near-fatal stroke. On his way home from the hospital, he discovers a severed ear. He responsibly takes it to Detective Williams (George Dickerson), who agrees to consider it. The detective’s daughter, Sandy (Dern) becomes friends with Jeffrey, and informs him about stuff she overheard from her father’s office room: that a woman named Dorothy Vallens (Rossellini) is involved in the case. Jeffrey decides to snoop around, and gets to know that Dorothy’s husband and son have been kidnapped by a psychotic, Frank Booth (Hopper), who forces her to perform sexual acts. What the rest of the film is about… is something I am trying to figure out myself!

 

MacLachlan as Jeffrey

Just like Mulholland Drive, Lynch is able to create – and exceptionally well too – an aura of suspense and mystery. The gruesome image of the severed ear, the grim milieu when Dorothy sings “Blue Velvet”, along with the sinister background score achieve this. After a certain point, however, things just get stranger: new characters out of nowhere, a sudden increase in sex and violence, and ultimately, we all end up scratching our heads, for what started out as a mystery ended as nothing more than a whole lot of loose ends. In the end, there is no plot twist, no suspense, nothing.

Dern as Sandy

Probably the sole plus point of the film is the acting, especially by Dennis Hopper and Isabella Rossellini. The former plays a psychotic kidnapper/murderer/sex addict, with his outbursts of anger, violent behaviour and masochistic nature. The latter plays his victim: a lone lady desperate to have her husband and son back from the clutches of Frank. While the characters of Frank, Dorothy, Jeffrey and Sandy are well-developed, the minor characters are not so: like the men Jeffrey spies on, or the man whom Frank takes Jeffrey to.

 

Hopper as Frank, and Rossellini as Dorothy

So, while Blue Velvet gets the starting right, nothing after the first half hour seems to go smoothly. Undeveloped characters, sloppy storyline, horrible climax and overall, an unsatisfactory mystery spoilt the film. The acting is the lone plus, but it’s not worth it.

My Rating: 1.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 94%

Babel (2006)

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Story: Guillermo Arriaga

Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Adriana Barraza, Rinko Kikuchi, Gael García Bernal

Music: Gustavo Santaolalla

Time: 136 minutes

Bottom-line: Well-paced story, but not as engaging as Amores Perros or 21 Grams

Iñárritu’s ends his “Death trilogy” on a high note, with his third feature film, Babel. The film follows four different storylines connected by a twist of fate, and is narrated in a “partial” hyperlink structure (in the sense that different incidents connect different parts of the story). When two boys in Morocco try out their father's new hunting rifle, they accidentally maim an American tourist, Susan Jones (Blanchett), who has come on a tour with her husband, Richard (Pitt). With communication proving to be a problem and political issues rising between the US and Moroccan governments, Richard must find a way to save his wife…and fast. As the Moroccan police search for the shooter, they trace the rifle to a Japanese man, whose daughter, Chieko (Kikuchi) is a deaf-mute, rebellious teenage girl, traumatised by the recent suicide of her mother. 

 

Pitt as Richard, and Blanchett as Susan

Meanwhile Richard’s two other children, Mike and Debbie, are taken across the border to Mexico by their Mexican nanny, Amelia (Barraza), for a day. Amelia’s nephew, Santiago (Bernal) warns that it might cause problems with the authorities. When they return, with Santiago heavily intoxicated, the border patrol officers ask for permission letters from the parents to take the kids across. Santiago realises they are in trouble and trespasses the border.

 

Barraza as Amelia, with the children: Debbie and Mike

Unlike Amores Perros and 21 Grams, here, no single incident or theme links all the stories. The one “moral” of the film is that ultimately, your family is all you have, when everything else is gone. The Moroccan family is torn apart after the accidental shooting leads the police onto them; the Japanese girl is troubled after a ghastly family matter; the husband-wife couple is also distraught, while their children find a new “mother” in their nanny. Along with films like No Country for Old Men, Babel also shows how fate brings about misery to (seemingly) innocent people, and how characters so far apart physically are actually connected. The reason for the title itself follows from the story of the “Tower of Babel”, where God scattered the people across the world and confounded their speech, making communication almost impossible.

 

Kikuchi as Chieko

I fail to understand the significance of the Japanese storyline; probably the only message intended to convey is that such a tiny link (related to the rifle) can have a huge consequence (as much as tearing apart a family miles away in Mexico), but as such, it was not satisfactory; there is the scene towards the end where Chieko writes a note, whose contents are never revealed (like the scene in Lost in Translation), which makes this part of the story even more bizarre. However, Rinko Kikuchi has done an outstanding job, in expressing her anger, sexual craving, and depression. The other highlight is Adriana Barraza, who plays the Mexican nanny; she turns out to be an innocent victim of the cruelty of fate, and her acting in the desert and towards the end, is brilliant enough to make you empathise with her pitiable situation. Brad Pitt and Blanchett comparatively have lesser screen time.

 

The Moroccan family 

The Mexican and Moroccan tracks don’t have any plot twists as such, except revealing the connection between the different people involved. There is a lot of drama and emotional outbreaks to keep the pace steady, and in this film too, not all ends are tied up; some things like Santiago’s fate, the contents of the note – to name a few – are unknown. Somehow I felt that Babel has lesser amount of the Iñárritu trademarks in terms of story, but the technical aspects are excellent: the score, settings and to some extent, cinematography too.

The third collaboration between Iñárritu, Arriaga and Santaolalla brings together different countries, cultures, families, backgrounds, all in one story, and the variety involved is something I appreciate. Babel is less entertaining compared to 21 Grams and Amores Perros, but it has its own strengths. Garnering seven Academy Award nominations and winning one for Best Original Score, this is one of the underrated films of 2006.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 69%

21 Grams (2003)

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Story: Guillermo Arriaga

Cast: Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio del Toro

Music: Gustavo Santaolalla

Time: 124 minutes

Bottom-line: Melancholic and dramatic, filled with excellent performances  

How much does life weigh?

How much does love weigh?

How much does revenge weigh?

The second instalment in the “Death trilogy” of Mexican director Alejandro Iñárritu takes its title from an experiment conducted in the early 20^th century, which attempted to prove that the human soul has a weight of its own… 21 grams, being the approximate numerical value. Iñárritu names his film accordingly to illustrate how much importance is given to abstract things like life and love; what if they each had a weight of their own?

The story is told in a hyperlink format, with three different storylines coalescing into one as the story progresses. Non-linear narrative is also used, which I felt was unnecessary; for films like Memento or Mullholland Drive it made sense to use this structure to make the narration effective, but to use it here only makes the story more difficult to follow. The film begins with Paul Rivers (Penn), a mathematics professor who is in a critical condition; he will not last more than a month unless he gets a new heart. Paul’s wife wants him to donate his sperm so that she can have his baby even after he dies. He agrees, until he finds out she has had an abortion without his knowledge…

 

Penn as Paul 

The second track talks about Cristina Peck (Watts), a recovering drug addict and active swimmer. She is now leading a normal family life with her husband and two girl children. Everything goes well till one evening when her husband and children are run over in a hit and run incident, leading to both the girls dying on the spot. The culprit is the third lead character: a convict-turned-priest, Jack Jordan (del Toro), who, after the incident, is deeply troubled with guilt. He decides to turn himself in, believing it is his “duty to God”. Cristina’s husband’s heart is donated to Paul, thereby linking all the storylines. How do the lives of the characters transform after the accident?

21 Grams gives us a lot to think about. Iñárritu brings together three very different characters, each of whom realise the value of life in a new way. Was Jack right in blaming God for all his actions? Was Paul right in tracking down and stalking Cristina? Was Cristina right in plotting revenge against Jack? These questions make us realise how every life affects the lives of so many others around them. Maybe one person loses his life, but in the big picture, does it lead to a new life springing forth somewhere, somehow? The last line of the film keeps echoing within my mind: They say we all lose 21 grams at the exact moment of our death. How much is gained? How much is gained?

 

Watts as Cristina

There are so many character transformations throughout the course of the film: Paul’s gradual infatuation towards Cristina, Jack becoming suicidal, Cristina taking on a pledge to avenge her family...and these play a major role in the theme of the film. Sean Penn and del Toro have done a decent job in acting, with subtle expressions of anger, and depression. Penn carries that air of charm around him too, with catchy lines like (to Cristina), “You can trust me; I have a good heart!”. Naomi Watts is the highlight amongst the actors; look out for the scenes where she realises that Paul has her husband’s heart and screams her heart out asking to get out of her house, and the scene when she cajoles Paul into killing Jack.

 

del Toro as Jack 

The cinematography is not as good as his later films… the shaky-cam technique is used a lot here, but the editing is quite good: all the quick cuts as the narrative structure/timeframe changes are clean. There are other recurring themes of Iñárritu in the film, like loneliness, human conscience, and as the name says, death. The tone of the film, the acting, and the storyline all weave a melancholic tale, with its own distinctive style. 21 Grams has a pretty decent “remake”: a Tamil film Chennaiyil Oru Naal, which also links the tales of 4 characters, following a road accident. It is equally dramatic, but made more in favour of the local audiences. Make it a point to watch both films!

My Rating: 4/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 80%

Amores Perros (2000)

English translation: Love is a Bitch

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Story: Guillermo Arriaga

Cast: Gael García Bernal, Vanessa Bauche, Álvaro Guerrero, Goya Toledo, Emilio Echevarría

Music: Gustavo Santaolalla

Time: 154 minutes

Bottom-line: Interesting storyline and themes; a powerful debut film

Iñárritu’s first film kicks off his career with dogfights, gunfights, hitmen, models and robberies, in this drama filled with violence: Amores Perros. The film is considered to be an “anthology” film, meaning it interlinks several (in this case, three) unrelated storylines with one single incident. Just to be clear, films like 21 Grams, Chennaiyil Oru Naal are said to have a “hyperlink narrative”, where all the different tracks coalesce into one; films like Neram and Pulp Fiction connect different storylines with different incidents, but not necessarily all. Amores Perros and Soderbergh’s Traffic have unrelated tracks, connected by a single incident or theme (the theme being drugs/drug usage in Traffic).

 

Bauche as Susana and Bernal as Octavio 

The first track is about Octavio (Bernal), his brother Ramiro, and his sister-in-law, Susana (Bauche). Octavio uses his Rottweiler, Cofi, to win (illegal) dog fights, and collects the money, hoping to escape with Susana when he notices his brother abusing her. Ramiro, apart from working in a shop, also commits heists. The second track talks about a Spanish model, Valeria (Toledo), and successful magazine publisher, Daniel (Guerrero), who leaves his family to live with her. The third track is the story of a vagrant/hitman El Chivo (Echevarría), who is hired by a client to kill his half-brother. All three storylines have one common point: a car accident between Octavio’s car and Valeria’s, that gravely injures the former, and almost permanently damages the leg of the latter.

 

Toledo as Valeria and Guerrero as Daniel 

Apart from the main storylines, the underlying themes are of more interest here. The use of dogs in all three tracks symbolises loyalty (and probably is the reason for the title too!); Octavio’s track features infidelity, as does the second, and the last one talks about trust issues between father and daughter, but the common thing being the dogs are always loyal to their owner, very much unlike humans. Another theme is related to the different classes of people in Mexico: the elite class (Valeria), the working class (Ramiro and Octavio) and the lower class (Chivo), and of course, the underworld. All of whom would have never met if not for the accident. Each of their lifestyles are also explored in a little detail, giving rise to many contrasting aspects.

 

Echevarría as El Chivo 

Iñárritu leaves a lot of things to interpretation; none of the fates of the characters are shown: be it the future between Susana and Octavio, the fate of the two brothers in the third track, or the fate of the relationship between Valeria and Daniel. There is a lot of graphic violence, particularly in the dog fights. The actors have all done well, especially Bernal and Toledo; Octavio’s encounters with his rival in dogfighting, and with his brother are the scenes where Bernal does his best. Echevarría plays the creepy character; he pops up now and then from the start, but the truth behind him is known only in the last half hour; the way his character transforms towards the very end makes you realise how skilled Echevarría is to play both roles equally well.

Amores Perros brings out themes that recur in the later Iñárritu films, but this film also talks a lot about the Mexican lifestyle. The stories are aptly chosen, and the car accident provides the best connection point. The film might drag a lot at times, and you may not like the open-ended climaxes, but overall, the presentation is superb. This film provided a highly successful start to Iñárritu’s film career, earning an Academy Award nomination for the Best Foreign film, and winning the BAFTA award for the same.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 92%

Maanagaram (2017)

English translation: Metropolis

Director: Lokesh Kanagaraj

Story: Lokesh Kanagaraj

Cast: Shri, Sundeep Kishan, Regina Cassandra, Charle

Music: Javed Riaz

Time: 137 minutes

Bottom-line: Easily the most exhilarating Indian film in a long time

When Maanagaram first hit the screens, everyone who saw the film was raving about it. A new director, with a new cast, pulls off one of the most thrilling films of the decade, the best part being that it all happens here in Chennai, where I live. This is the story of four unnamed characters (hence I will refer to them using the actors’ names) in Chennai, whose lives change over a period of 48 hours, in a tale full of coincidences and mistaken identities.

A young man from Trichy (Shri) comes to Chennai in search of a job at an IT company. His boss (Cassandra) hires him, and asks him to bring his original certificates the next day. Another man (Kishan), who loves Regina, decides to apply to the same company just to be with her. Meanwhile, a third guy (Charle) takes on a job as a taxi driver for the same IT company. He rents a taxi from PKP – a notorious gangster in the area. Their tales clash when a gang of ruffians beat up Shri instead of Kishan, steal his certificates, and drop them in Charle’s car. The same ruffians also hatch a plan to kidnap a boy, but they end up with the wrong child: PKP’s son. With Shri on the hunt for his documents, the ruffians desperate to escape from PKP, and Kishan trying to make Regina fall for him, how each of their lives change over the next night is what Maanagaram is about.

 

Shri and Cassandra

The first thing that intrigued me about the film is the hyperlink narrative structure used, a device also employed in films like Neram, 21 Grams and Babel. The difference is that instead of creating one or two common points for the various tracks to intersect, in Maanagaram, the tales intersect again and again, at different instances. At one point, you think there are too many coincidences, but heck, it’s called a coincidence for a reason, isn’t it? What’s ingenious is the way the story is so masterfully written that all the links between the tracks – and the plot twists – are solid: no incident seems unrealistic, and the timing of the twists is impeccable – and of course, the way they are shown on screen: just when you know something is going to happen, the track shifts to another one, leaving you in suspense. The near real-time experience makes it more interesting.

Charle 

Maanagaram portrays the darker side of the Chennai metropolis, starting from the simple, innocent person coming to Chennai in search of employment, to the underworld. The conversation between Shri and Charle is a memorable moment in the film, when the former questions why the city is so great. Shri complains that no one even wants to bat an eye when a human is beat up in the middle of the road, and everyone wants their bit of satisfaction, even it is at the cost of others’ suffering, to which Charle replies that no matter how much we drone on about the negative aspects of the city, we never want to leave Chennai either (applause from Chennaites!!). The fact that none of the main characters have names – and the fact that most of the acting crew is new – could imply that these incidents can happen to anyone in the city, and indeed, everyday there are people in search of employment, innocent people getting beat up, people in search of love and what not. The only thing that is exaggerated is probably the violence – every five minutes there is someone getting beaten up, and while that certainly adds masala to the plot, it doesn’t seem realistic.

 

Kishan

Shri has done extremely well in the lead role; I was amazed by the way he portrayed innocence through his character. The others have done decently well too. The technical aspects were a delight: from the stylish opening sequence, to the funky, electric background score, to the cinematography – again, maybe a tad too violent for a Tamil film – everything was superb. Of course, I liked the way humour was also incorporated into the plot. The climax ties almost all the loose ends up, and considering that there were so many plot twists, giving such a clean climax is a commendable achievement. Maanagaram is a must watch, and even more so for the locals.

My Rating: 4.5/5

Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum (2013)

English translation: The Wolf and the Lamb

Director: Mysskin

Story: Mysskin

Cast: Sri, Mysskin, Shaji, Raj Bharath

Music: Ilayaraaja

Time: 143 minutes

Bottom-line: A pulse-racing thriller; highly recommended

Dimly lit settings, a chilling background score, dialogues kept to a minimum, and of course, a lot of violence…you know it’s a Mysskin film when all these elements are present. This 2013 crime thriller is unique in a number of ways; for starters, it has no heroine or songs, and that, for a Tamil movie, is a big thing! Mysskin himself stars in the lead role, with several other not-so-famous actors forming the rest of the cast.

In the dead of the night, Chandru (Sri), a final year medical student, finds a man dying from a bullet wound on the road. With no one offering him help, he decides to take the man home and perform the operation himself. The next morning, he wakes up to find the man gone, with no evidence of last night’s events. Later, two cops arrest Chandru, accusing him of letting a criminal escape; we come to know that the dying man, code-named “Wolf” (Mysskin), is a criminal on the run for the past two years. Meanwhile, we also see another man, Thamba (Bharath), hatching a plan to capture the Wolf alive before the cops do. When the Wolf contacts Chandru and asks him to visit him one night, everyone is on their feet ready to kill the Wolf on sight... but then again, the Wolf has seen this coming too. The events taking place till dawn form the plot of the film.

Sri as Chandru

Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum has so many elements that you can find in Mysskin films. A mysterious beginning – seemingly unrelated to the plot – an almost real time story, complex characters, superb cinematography… I like the fact that he writes proper thriller stories without deviating from the crux with unnecessary comedy/romance tracks. The plot twists are really good, and all of them hit you with a bang. The action sequences are choreographed superbly. There are so many scenes to look out for: the sword/knife fight in the basement, the Wolf’s “countdown” of bullets being fired, to name a few. One reason why the story is much more exciting than an average thriller is because of the time frame; all the events happen over just one night so the viewers can feel seconds ticking away with every scene.

 

Mysskin as the Wolf

Ilayaraaja might be famous for several hit songs in his past, but in this film, he shows a whole new level of expertise with his background music composition. As such, the characters rarely talk; most of the time the music keeps playing in the background as we follow the action on screen, and having seen films like Jaws, Inception, and Psycho, I know how much an apt score can contribute the effectiveness of the thrill. The actors, despite being relatively new to Tamil cinema, have given amazing performances. Mysskin leads from the front, playing the perplexing character of the “Wolf”, and is aptly supported by Sri, who plays the Lamb. I like the way the tension is created, as the two of them play psychological games with each other. Just when you think Chandru has planned something, the Wolf has a counter-measure ready. In the end, it becomes a matter of human sympathy and conscience that brings about a change in both their characters. In the closing credits, we see how Mysskin considers the whole setting to be a forest, with different characters playing the role of different animals, with we the viewers, being the leaves, noticing everything silently.

Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum has only a few drawbacks in my view; I felt that the ending did not tie up all loose ends. Leaving things up to interpretation is one thing but in this case, some issues like the fate of Chandru’s family should have been sorted out. Another issue is, while I liked the use of violence in the film, I found the innumerable murders a bit overboard; Mysskin killing off characters like Tarantino made it a tad unrealistic. That aside, the remainder of the film is one hell of a roller-coaster ride, filled with all-round entertainment! Don’t miss it.

My Rating: 4/5

Anbe Sivam (2003)

English translation: God is love

Director: Sundar C

Story: Kamal Haasan, Madhan

Cast: Kamal Haasan, R Madhavan, Nassar

Music: Vidyasagar

Time: 153 minutes

Bottom-line: Superb acting adds to an engaging storyline

The story of the transformation of two men, Anbe Sivam is one of the lesser known films of Kamal Haasan, featuring one of the best performances of Madhavan. The comedy-drama also stars Nassar, Kiran Rathod, and Uma Riyaz Khan.

Bhubaneshwar airport: An advertisement film maker, Anbarasu (Madhavan) – who prefers to be called A. Aras – engages in conversation with a scarred, convivial man, Nallasivam (Haasan). Aras is going to get married in Chennai, and Sivam is also headed there to deliver a cheque worth 32 lakh rupees, earned after winning a court case for union workers. When the flights are cancelled due to floods, both men end up sharing a room in a hotel. Aras is annoyed by Sivam’s sarcasm, humour and light-heartedness, and repeatedly tries to get rid of him, but never succeeds. By the time Aras does reach Chennai, Sivam has transformed him altogether, but not before we get to know the change Sivam himself has undergone.

 

Kamal as Sivam (left), and Madhavan as Aras

From the start of the film, the aspect that is highlighted most is the contrasting characteristics of Aras and Sivam. The former is well-off, and expects anything to be obtainable using enough money. He is reluctant to stay in a 2-star hotel, in a situation where so many people have their houses washed away; he always grumbles about the backwardness of India (a land where you don’t get service even if you have money, he says), and he even shortens his name from Anbarasu to Aras, saying “Enaku anbu pudikaadhu” (I don’t like ‘love”). Sivam is a witty, sociable man, adjusting to everything and everyone. He has his own philosophies, often contradicting the ideologies of Aras. His character’s background also remains an enigma till he narrates his story.

Till that point, Anbe Sivam is entirely a comedy – again, mainly thanks to the polar opposite natures of the lead characters. In Sivam’s flashback we see a tale involving love, altruism, religion and twists of fate, all of which have changed Sivam from the talented, innovative artist with a regular life, into the scarred “wiser and older man” we first see at the airport. These themes are explored till the end, with a recurring theme being “Who is God?” Is He the person who forgives all your sins when you make donations worth thousands? Is He the person who can empathise with a complete stranger?

Madhavan’s acting is a class apart here. He portrays through his character all the traits we associate with any well-off white collar Indian worker (till Sivam bitingly points out that a person like him is nothing but a “selfish coolie”!). The chemistry between the two is really good (unlike their collaboration much later in Manmadan Ambu), whether it is in the comic scenes in the hotel room, or on the way to Chennai, or whether it is during the more serious exchanges. Kamal Haasan’s acting is also wonderful. He puts in a lot of effort to maintain the appearance of a cripple, but still can control his expressions and voice to have that sense of humour. His skills are even more evident when we see his past life, so very different from the present one. Nassar plays a scheming villain: ultra-devotional on the outside, but corrupt on the inside. The scene that brings this out best would be the one in the hospital where he gives the “last message” to Sivam.

A must-watch for all Kamal and Madhavan fans, Anbe Sivam impresses with its amazing performances and unconventional themes, and a solid screenplay.

My Rating: 4/5