Even in the state with the most number of suckers, there is always a faint difference between real life and reel life heroes. That becomes evident only during pressure situations.
Rajni likes Ctrl+Z. What a tragedy!
This one is a classic example of how a mokkai time pass film can be made watchable once for ARR, general funny tone of the film, and Genelia. Typical bollywood launch film.
During my morning walk, I saw a poster supposedly put up by some Nadar groups who had taken offence to some dialogues in ‘Dasavatharam’. Honestly, I did not find anything offensive in the movie about any community for that matter. Looks like someone wants to stir up community passions and gain publicity at Kamal’s expense.
Twelve years back, the state government removed all references to leaders names in the public transport corporations.
Till then, it was Dheeran Chinnamalai, Thandhai Periyar, Cheran, Chozan, Kattaboman, Pandian etc. People were keen about the community the leaders belonged to. Now it’s just State Transport Corporation. Did anyone stop taking buses because of this?
What would be the nations loss if we just stopped identifying ourselves on community basis at all levels - from government records to personal references?
At present, there are many little countries within India. And we should do all it takes to build a cohesive, unified India out of this. Till then Kamal will always be seen as X community member and the HCL technologies chairman will always be seen as Y community member.
A remarkable James Bond film with a touch of David Copperfield.
The basic reason why someone would make a movie is when he has a compelling story to say. Here the primary reason why this movie was made is because the guy had to be there in every single shot. He had a producer who could spend like Tsunami and a top notch technical crew to back him and so this movie.
I mean I can see the hero’s effort and suffering and all that in doing ten roles. But tell me the frickin reason why he had to do ten roles? And why not the parts essayed by Santhana Bharathi or P Vasu or for that matter, Asin?
Probably he had solved this like he would an operation research problem. Minimizing for the constraint of presence in every shot for the given screenplay would’ve given him an answer of at least ten roles. And so he did ten roles. The rule of thumb is like this: If you cannot recognize some face in the movie, you know who it is!
Somewhere in the title, some one gets credit for story.That was meant to be a joke. Don’t get fooled by that. If you know Mahavishnu the saviour and Tsunami you have the story.
The screenplay moves at break neck speed leaving you with no time to think. And thats the biggest plus point of the film. Thats why after all the fuss and blog posts like this, the movie is very watchable.
But alas a fast screenplay does not a great movie make. And this movie could’ve easily been a great movie if only he had cut at least five characters, given the characters some more depth, attemped a reason as to why those had to be done by the same person and made the screenplay a bit more realistic.
I could sense dialogues right at the end - “Naan kadavul illai nu sollave illai.. Kadavul Irundhirundha innum nalla irukume nu sonnen…” But some other dialogues are more statements from the actor the person than dialogues from characters.
Among the characters, Balram Naidu and Rangaraja Nambi stand out. I could feel bhakti and defiance when Hariharan renders “Om Namo Narayananaaaya” in the background. The humor in Balram Naidu makes him likeable.
The expressions when Vincent Bhuvaraghavan and Rangaraja Nambi drown is just top class. The details to body language and dialogue delivery are all spot on. He is not what he is without those. But we know about those ever since the days of Velu Nayakkar some twenty years back. I don’t want to praise a movie because the actor had great attention to details or can endure six hours of make-up. It should cascade down from the characters which in turn should derive from the story. Without those it looks the idea is not very different from the way K Bhagyaraj took stills like Vakeel, Doctor and graduate in ‘Rasukutti’.
Nevertheless its a remarkable movie from a technical standpoint. The first and last thirty minutes of the movie HAD to be watched in wide screen. Forget Tubetamil. Three or more characters performed by the same actor in a single scene never looked this natural in my knowledge. This is a landmark film in that sense.
Kudos to the entire technical crew for bringing to life a movie like this. And if at all this movie fails, very unlikely given the way the audience watched open-mouthed the rolling credits with the actors’ make-up et al, you know whom to blame.
And oh yeah, its N times better than last year’s Shanker’s debacle of a movie or the more recent Indiana Jones. Its another matter that comparing with films like that is a deserving insult.
I have always wondered about India’s unemployment problem when organizations like “Vaishnava Dharma Samrakshana” do what tried to do to ‘Dasavatharam’.
I have always wondered how come such organizations do nothing against the political leadership of Tamil Nadu who openly and vehemently ridicule Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Why don’t they go on a fast unto death to remove such CMs of Tamil Nadu? Probably they fear, and quite rightly, that they will be beaten to death with no necessity for fasting.
I have always wondered why its always Kamal whose movies gets into trouble, maybe Kamal Haasan is seen as a soft target.
I have always wondered why people who TRY to be objective and reasonable in general are always perceived as soft targets in India??
I have always wondered… well forget it… no point… how do we wake up people who feign sleep?
Note:
I try to avoid posting on films. But yesterday’s judgement by the High Court and the time and money wasted to get such verdict made me write this. Perhaps we may not have seen the end of comedies like this yet!
Where is Ramarajan now? Not that I am a fan. But I know for sure he made a lot of money when his market was at the peak.
The junta which said Kamal was the 9th wonder and 10th wonder during Dasavadharam’s audio release(albeit a deserved praise), would’ve heaped glorious songs exactly like these for the likes of Mike Mohan, Suresh, Ramarajan too. What happens to them after they are sidelined by the ‘industry’? How do they survive?
Every society worships the rich and famous. As a consequence, a lot of people are determined to become rich and famous soon no matter what. They think, if they get big and rich, they will die a rich man or woman. Of the several thousands who strive, some do eventually succeed. But even those who succeed are not equipped enough to manage and channelize their new found wealth. Thats a different ball game which requires a completely different skill set.
I met a person yesterday. The man should be around 50 years old. He has not had to work for somebody till date. He has about 5 houses in Chennai - usually purchases house by paying cash in full. He has managed to provide education for his two sons, and lives a comfortable life. He says he has been able to do all this with share trading. He does not even own an office. He has one Honda City and Ford Fiesta for personal purposes.
This is not to suggest all those who invest in the stock markets end up this way. The kind of self-discipline needed to make money in the BSEs and NSE is not something to be scoffed at. The point is, this guy will never be declared rich nor famous. He would never give newspaper interviews, much less TV coverage. Nobody would peak their nose in his private life and see who he sleeps with.
Yet, i bet this guy will die a richer man than Ramarajan.
You can earn all the money in the world, but if it’s just going to do down the drain, whats the difference??
Disclaimer:
I am not really a movie buff. Consequently my movie sensibilities maybe out-dated.
Star Performers of the film and why:
A R Rahman:
I could not imagine this film without Rahman. It is a well accepted fact that Rahman takes his music quality a few notches higher for Hindi films and this film underscores that point yet again. Be it the opening of ‘Azeem-e..’ , or the chorus of ‘Inn Lamhon’ Rahman’s magnificent signature is all too evident. All this coming from a hard core Ilayaraja fan, mind you 
Cinematographer Kiran Deohans:
There are huge challenges in doing a film like this. The cinematographer has to serve what is expected - wide angle shots for battle scenes and for the grandeur of the palace, lengthy shots to give a period feel, the good looking hero and heroine should look even better, like the way the heroine stands out in a gorgeous orange even in the climax fight, and yet strive for authenticity and subtlety. He also had to tackle a contemporary tone (maybe director’s insistence) rather than escape with a sephia tone for period feel. This guy knows his stuff. Hats off to Kiran!
Art Director Nitin Desai:
The sets work beautifully in all the scenes. I fell in love with Rajputs’ and Akbar’s palaces. It is expected that some research goes into this but he still should use his imagination to make those authentic looking things aesthetically pleasing too all the while accommodating the lights for the cinematographer! He, along with Kiran manage to give the spectacle that we tend to associate with well-made period films.
Hrithik:
Hirtihik has done well considering there are lots of constraints associated with the role of an emperor. You are expected to be stiff in all the frames (gambheeram), you cannot be seen as laughing your heart out, nor can you cry your heart out. Since you have Aishwarya opposite you, some amount of your screen time will go just looking at her. And yet Hrithik holds his own. The romance works very well and one of the main plus points of the film.
Director Ashutosh Gowarikar:
The director has managed to get the best out of his crew and cast for the most part. One scene I really liked was the sword fight between the two Akbar and Jodha. Well done Ashutosh!
And now the pain points,
Aishwarya Rai Bachan. The problem with casting Ash is that she is perceived by one and all as out of the world’s most beautiful women. As a result, she always manages to be Aishwarya and not Jodhaa. I am not sure if it’s just me. I could never relate to her acting. Read my disclaimer at the top!
I was a bit let down with the song picturisation of ‘Azeem-e-Shahenshah’. I wish the director had shot this song in the night. Indoor setting and day light factor made it lose all the intensity Rahman had infused in his beats. ‘Khwaja mere Khwaja’ picturisation was so reminescent of the good ol’ Doordarshan TV days.
I am not convinced with Ashutosh the script writer in this effort. The film fails to stick at a conceptual level. What is this movie about? Akbar’s secularism? His romance? It looked like he has mish-mashed a bit of everything, just to be on the safer side. A lot of screen time was wasted on characters like his god mother.
There are a few things which I cannot digest from a decent director and clichéd scenes are certainly one of those. Okay, so you have a dozen arrows in your back, can you come the distance equivalent of Pallavaram to Guindy on a horse-back as if you are on a fun ride? And this guy manages all the dialogues the director wanted him to later on. Add some senti-crying by Ash and I really wanted to go to the rest room there.
Also, what’s with this ‘othaiku othai’ climax? The climax fight had me scratching my head. For a second, I was scared that the villain will ask for forgiveness and our hero will give a 3 minute message on the importance of good morals after which they will all sing their kudumba paatu. Thankfully, the director spared me from such ordeal. To me, the movie was over when Jodha and Akbar truly unite at the end of ‘Inn Lamhon’ - brilliant picturisation! What follows are just extra footage which Ashutosh forgot to edit.
The fact that I noticed all these technicalities in my first viewing should convey that I was not immersed in the plot, which is a failure on the part of the script writer Ashutosh. I should’ve watched ‘Nayagan’ like 30 times and still lose myself half-way even now! That’s what I expect when I go to watch a movie. ‘Jodha..’ is watchable but it could’ve easily been a great movie. It falls short by a distance.
PS:This post was updated on 30-Mar-08, 8:22 AM. Lesson: I should not write lengthy posts in the night!
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