It begins with the light of a matchstick, an aide in a search or the dispeller of darkness.
That is what essentially a detective story is about; the search for answers and the journey into the unknown.
The detective, our guide or sometimes a co-traveller.
While the opening statement might seem grandiose, this was the first thing that struck (like that match) while watching Mysskin’s Thupparivalan. A detective also fits the mould of the director’s heroes who are seekers.
Fitment is also found in the casting of Vishal (also the producer) as the tall, loner with a bent towards the martial arts as Kaniyan, the detective of the film, but movie making is not just casting.
Thinking through the course of the movie (which the movie allows you to do once you catch it by the flow,which would not be tough if you had been living with a steady supply of detective novels) made me wonder why there was something missing in this homage to the creations of Conan Doyle.
Everything seems to be in place, which by itself is a cause of worry.
While Kaniyan’s room looks like it has been vacated by the BBC and not a living room that would suit the city in which this movie is set, the detective and his trusted sidekick seem to advertising for Indian Terrain in the meanwhile.
I dwell on these extraneous factors only because the characters are flat, whether this is a conscious decision is something best left to the maker.
A character being flat in a film, which more or less depends on the interest created by that lead character, is what I deduct to be the problem. Especially when your lead is a character that is a shade of the great detective (Sherlock, as we speak is one of the most assumed characters on the screen).
Great ‘Holmes’ of the past have been played by dramatic actors, this would include Jeremy Brett who made the role his own, portrayals since have been either variations of what Brett did or to do what Brett did not do and hence stand out.
The eccentric nature of the Holmes-ian character cries out loud for an expressive actor who can control his/her expressions, which is why I insisted on the word ‘dramatic’; that was the big miss and thus bringing down the levels of excitement.
Sensation and excitement are two keys to the same room in a detective story; Thupparivalan on the other hand is locked in another room filled with Mysskian tick-tock henchmen, beautiful pick pockets and a climax that would reiterate that we already have the best locales for filming. It could be great cinema, but is it engaging?
The Sherlock Holmes homage pool is an ever-deepening one and whether Thupparivalan enriches this pool is something that needs to be seen, but for Tamil Cinema we now have a mainstream detective and I have Arrol Corelli’s teaser music on loop.
-30: Tom Cruise never seems to age, he is doing something.
-10: Thus critics can never accuse him of ‘not playing his age’ because he is not ageing only
-5: Critics
Anyways
+26: Makers actually came up with a title, instead of calling it Jack Reacher 2
-15.7: But title seems to be telling audience that this film does not need a rewatch, seriously yeah we know it is from the book title and all, but then you didnt called the first movie One Shot (which was the book it was based on, why start now? )
+1 : No Narration, yes it helps
+42: To Lee Child, for actually creating a character who doesn’t use a smart phone and hence is actually smart, it’s not like you walk up to Reacher and ask “Hey Reacher, where is the closest laundry place from here”, and Reacher wont be like “hey, wait let me google that for you”. Geez, he will actually tell you where the closest laundry is, wherever in the world. He also will beat up anyone. Cool no? Take that Marvel/DC.
Whenever Reacher uses a cellphone it is a feature phone and not a smart phone and he seems to have a peaceful life, I mean apart from being chased by the military police.
-10: to the reader who would have mind voice “hey buddy, this was same in first movie as well, so why giving extra points now”; we didn’t review the first one that’s why
+4: Reacher takes public transport, good for health
-30: Hero who doesn’t want to be seen, or does not want any company will do casual flirting with one army major, also note, no whatsapp
+3: that’s what anyone would do if the major is being played by Cobie Smulders, but then Reaccher doesn’t know that because he doesn’t use skype or anything, I’m confused either to give or take points.
Live and let live.
-90: This is actually the plainest of all action films, even the action isn’t pulsating like Cruise’s MI films which we can just watch for the jumps, this looks like a Kathadi Ramamurthy family drama compared to that. Nothing cinematic, see first five mins of part one and you will fall in love with Chris Macquarrie.
-10: Tom Cruise escaping from prison cliche
-8: CCTV camera will capture everything except hero escaping from prison. Dei!!
-34: Tom Cruise running away from bad guys
-6: High school girl outruns two army majors, ok one ex-major, shows US army training, Indians will be happy.
-23: Whatever happens to hero, however he gets hit, in the end he will have only one cut on the face, and that too strategically placed so as to enhance his handsomeness
-109: Main characters will always discuss important plot details while undressing, because….
+10: Even in USA, low cost airlines will not even give water until you ask for it
+10: Even in USA, aadar card xerox and original self will be absolutely different
-670: One more time we use, Even in the USA you can burn down our blog, dei learn new phrases (to self)
-34: For a movie that has military espionage as its core, has very little excitement, ending feels like “ok…hmm”
+39: Female characters out shine male character (here Cruise), most of the plot progresses because of them, Cruise looks up to them but then also accepting that he is not used to being worked with
+7: The Girl, really very very good. funny .
-6: Typical senior officer shouting dialogues like “I wanna know what he eats, where he eats, where he sleeps and i need all these details by yesterday”. Dei dei how many days, also why being unreasonable, give them 48 hrs, this movie is not so much into world saving. It is an intimate thriller.
-20: henchmen dont realise what Reacher can do, which means they haven’t seen the first film. and he hits them very bad.
-83.9: Always during Black Ops operation or any other operation, team leader will say “Go!Go! Go!”, dei
-45.1: A good part of the movie is set in New Orleans which means surely they will show that parade and have a chase in it, esp in this it seems like low budget.
I know these fellows want to be subtle about acting and all, which comes down to much of jaw clenching again and again to express what shouldn’t be, Cruise does this well; but I can see that Sivaji would have had a tough time in Hollywood, especially in scenes where he is supposed to embrace his daughter or is she? Sivaji Ganeshan would have teared down the streets of Washington crying. Cruise just walks down cooly.
-6: Americans don’t give lift to Tom Cruise. Which is sad.
As always all numbers are totally arbitrary and absolutely irrelevant.
Yes let us begin with railways.Last week when the Gatiman Express was launched and proved to be only ten minutes faster than the quickest of trains we already had, I groaned. That’s it?
MORE FASTER!!!!!
Kabir from Ki and Ka would have been amidst those who would have complained about the ever reducing experience of the rail road or how forms of transportation seem to be converging based on just one parameter: speed.
Ki and Ka is one of the most well written films in recent history, it pays to notice that their back stories don’t seem like one liners scribbled in the corners of a script; but that which actually lends character.
A standing testimony to “two good characters and it’s a movie!”
Since we have already begun with railways, let us stick with Kabir; the one who is seen crying for his dead mother in transit, no he is not the spoilt-Singhania (Bansal actually) heir but a deeply sensitive man who misses his mother whom he feels has been thoroughly under recognized for the work she has done.
So we have a mama’s boy, trying to tell the world(and his father, no mainly his father; world comes later) that home making is an under appreciated art and that women almost daily have been denied of this credit while their men work away to corporate glory which has historically been called ‘work’. If women are truly the pillars to a man’s success, then in real time they are rusting only.
Kabir also likes trains, ‘likes’ here is a severely subtle description.
Son thinks he is continuing mother’s good work (also the story of Psycho, oops!) and combines his mother’s passion with his own (art meets art) and what we get is a dinner table served by a locomotive and a bed room that resembles an 80s waiting room (wow), see layers. A really fleshy character, i mean fleshed out character.
An act of God, in Bollywood land.
It would also help to notice that Kabir also thinks, his actions are driven by thinking.
Pillars (stambh)
Kia doesn’t want to be a pillar, she wants to be a CEO; at first she does seem like the one who would do anything to get ahead, and her back story is not as detailed as that of her better half and depends entirely on how Kareena(brilliant) plays it, she is genuinely curious and visibly tired of meeting the same old men who are seeking pillars, so meeting Kabir on an aircraft was indeed godsend.
Good movies are about two people talking and they become better when what they are talking about is more interesting than who is speaking those lines, the first set up in Ki and Ka is genuinely engaging. The characters need not be yugapurush-es( I dont know the stri-ling equivalent of yugapurush) when they are created and any sort of character development that happens during the course of a movie is like the well mixed flavored popcorn that one encounters when one reaches the very end of the basket.
Ki and Ka is a modern film for a truly modern audience, does it play around with stereotypes? Yes, but only to get to the point, I could not see this as a regular gender/role reversal film, I felt the film had risen above these problems; because it would have become a Ramany vs Ramany* episode otherwise.
To further strengthen my point, the problems that Ki and Ka puts forward are solved without much issue or drama. This film is not about career driven women trying to not have a baby without guilt because this problem gets solved within minutes.
Films are a reflection of what our society is or what society is moving towards, there could be people like Kabir out there who needs a Kia to function and there could be many Kias running away from becoming pillars and yearning to be architectural structures of beauty by themselves. (Kia ends up becoming the CEO of a construction company, nice touch there)
Ki and Ka is not about role reversal and it is definitely not a broad comment on man and woman, but an intimate look at two individuals post marriage. This is not about who gives up what or which profession is better; this Ki and Ka is actually Yin and Yang.
A well made modern film for the modern Indian, hopefully should inspire more Kis and Kas in real life as well.
Also officially now Arjun Kapoor is my favourite Bolly hero, the kind of restraint he brings to a character that would have become a caricature is absolutely magical.
Hey! Yes, they take the train back home, so finishing with railways as well.
*Initially thought about in 1934, it came to fruition only in the late 2000s.
*It is the only movie rating system in the universe to be based on a Buddhist scroll that was actually written by an Irish traveller who had been an assistant director in the movie “Birth of a nation”, the scroll was curiously titled “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari to make a Baahubali”
*The rating system is now named after than Irish Traveller, a small portions of proceeds from this review will go to a bhel puri vendor in an undisclosed street corner for secret reasons.
*All numbers and words are arbitrary, mostly imaginary. They do not mean anything
A note on the Fawlty Rating System Ends
Movie: Thangamagan
-321.3 : Movie begins with hero voice over, introducing himself, family, house etc. (thus being the 1001th movie to do so).
+231 Movie referencing another movie plot so as to indicate that this is basically that movie, hence making it easy for audience to sit and eat popcorn
-56: Guys will go to temple to find girls
-102: Heroine’s mother believes going to temple increases culture quotient
-3: Hero will fully shave to look young
+4 Growth of beard indicates responsibility, making me wonder about another famous tagline “with a great moustache, comes great responsibility”
-7 Heroine is architect will build house for herself without hero’s parents
-56 The continuing problem of the loyal hero friend cliché, maybe perfect example of “supporting” role
-20 Understanding wife is absolutely understanding
-12 Understanding mother is absolutely understanding
-12 Understanding father is absolutely understanding, innocent also
-10 Hero’s father is so cool, because he treats him like friend cliché
-156.7 Cousin becomes film villain because hero went to temple without him to see figure/heroine number one
-203 This is entire driving point for the story, no really
-3 Darjeeling
-18.9 Hero comfortably named so as to mouth punch dialogue
CK, MM and somebody else watch the spy comedy called “SPY”
CK got out of the auto, rushed towards the newly laid granite steps of theatre only to be shocked.
CK: What the efff are you doing here?
Well you can’t really blame the usage of the expletive, after all no one expects your writing partner who hurried away for a career break in the US to be standing outside a theatre in Koyambedu.
MM or Moderate Manohar as he is known in certain circles or Mano as he is known in domestic circles looked cheerful to see his partner, but his face also gave away a hint of sadness.
CK: Mod! You look like you have been chucked out of the Chicago Sun Times
Was the first thing CK said to MM.
MM: I’ve been chucked out from the Chicago Sun Times.
CK: What? Why, you don’t need to say that just to make me feel happy.
MM: I’m not, in more ways than one that is the truth, but now I’m back. Took back the job this morning, bargained hard for a raise but chief wouldn’t budge.
CK( now feeling all brotherly) : Typical of Chief! Let’s get cracking now.
MM: We are supposed to meet someone now, we have been assigned to one more writer.
CK: What? Already two’s a crowd, no offense Mod, but three will be the Kumbh Mela, how are we to converge on opinions.
MM: That’s the whole point CK, we are not, the magazine plans to bring out a 360 degree view on film, all our views on it.
Just then when everybody else had retreated into the theatre and only CK, MM and the cleaners who had turned out to be extremely punctual for the next show remained, a motorcycle drove in and from beneath the government imposed helmet emerged a head and that of a woman.
CJ: I was supposed to meet you two here, outside the theatre, chief sent me.
<CJ said to the cleaners>
MM: Hey! It’s not them, it’s us, we are the reviewers here.
<aside> For God’s sake CK please dress better than a domestic help.
CK made an irritating face, but morphed into an adequate smiley for the informal introductions. For sake of integrity we will not describe how CJ looks like.
CK <to MM>: Her? I don’t see this happening
CJ: I heard that
CK and MM are not yet fully aware of CJ’s super hearing as hey bolt to the screen just in time for Mellisa McCarthy’s name beam into prominence from the title sequence of Spy. And so it began.
When the lights came back and the three realised they were the only fellows left in the theatre, apart from the cleaning staff; they decided to utilise this time to discuss what they should be writing about.
The usually “I will not tell my point till prodded” CK was the first to mouth, understandable because CK is usually excited when he witnesses such a film, especially if it a spy pastiche.
CK: I would eat my words if you don’t think this movie is worth your time
MM: I would have thought similarly if only it hadn’t fallen down to the level of fat woman falling down type jokes
CK: Hyeshh! those were funny…<realises CJ’s presence>
CJ: Look I don’t care if you laugh at a woman falling, my question is only if there are enough men falling from motorcycle jokes that irks me…
CK: Well you can’t really be counting the things that we laugh about and in SPY they were just a minimum, we must see it like a bit from America’s funniest videos or something
CJ: It’s not a bit, it is a gag, an easy one at that. Make the woman, run, fall, hit cake on her face
MM: Oh come on, for the sake of comedy
CJ: Let someone try that on you, look guys, I get context and all, this IS comedy and anything goes and over analysis is kindoff banal here and to be true I did think this was funny, but I guess there is something for everyone to laugh at
MM: Apart from the easy jokes, which were sprinkled, I liked that part where the female characters try and establish a connection between themselves, the bumbling detectives, the deputy chief of CIA and the agent, even the villain and the spy, I thought that was really sweet.
CJ: That’s what women do, establish connections, refreshing to see the genre from a different stand point
CK: I love this genre, just everything about it, the trumpets, the silhouette models, the cracking action scenes; the relationship between spy and villain reached dizzyingly different levels of satisfaction, I think to the level between Goldfinger and James Bond is not at all a wrong analogy when you are speaking about Susan Cooper and the villain played by Rose Bryne
MM: Well, odd that you notice the soundtrack, I never got much out of it except of course when compared to Kingsman, which is a movie that we should be comparing a lot too
CJ: Too many spy movies, just too many funny spy movies. But atleast Susan Coop gets the job without any smiling prince ‘aiding’ her, Jason Statham here exactly trying to be that character but failing all the time
MM: I thought he was brilliant, a type of supporting character that doesn’t actually support.
CM nods in agreement.
CK: I don’t think this should be taken in comparison with Kingsman just because it is a spy film, Kingsman was a Bond homage propah spy film, also more of a comment on class. This is a comment on women’s work rights masquerading as a spy comedy.
CJ: I wouldn’t take the women’s work rights angle but probably we should write something about this and Mad Max, something under “Rise of the feminine flicks” or something like that.
MM: The chief might like that. Let’s just say that we love this film, but only various degrees of love.
<MM starts on a tone that resembles lecturing, while CJ and MM make ‘let’s get the hell outta here’ face>
Cleaning Staff: Guys!
All three: Yep, we are leaving
Cleaning Staff: Next time wear distinguishable clothes
<Theatre Door SLAM, roll credits>
CK<pssting to MM>: psst Mod, can I use “a supporting character who actually does not support line?” that was really good.
The Lowly Laureate 