Tag: politics

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cinema cinema:tamil Parking Lot Notes

Parking Lot Notes: Vada Chennai

First Strike

Consider the carom board, a single strike shakes up an entire setup; displacing even disks that are not in the direct line of the striker.

Vetrimaaran,  believes that the impact of death has far reaching consequences even to those removed from the person. He supports these with the deaths of popular leaders; Rajiv Gandhi and MGR through the film.

<Eerily similar to how deaths of J and MK have in some way affected everyone in the state of Tamil Nadu>

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Vada Chennai begins with a gruesome murder; but we are constantly shown (and guided through Vetrimaaran’s narration) that this death would soon shake up things for all of the characters, and these characters come by the dozen.

Alliances that were forged in time look weak moments later and so begins a classic case of one gang vs the other in a fight over the city’s dominance.

Moments later, these gangs have divided amongst themselves two prison blocks and in-effect the city and there is one guy in between. This did remind me of A Fistful of Dollars; but nope the director is not just interested in the surface; let’s go deeper and show how the gangs establish their dominance and an economy within the prison; the stated revenues of which are astounding (Vada Chennai is a period film and the movie doesn’t try to be in the face about it).

I also got used to how the director keeps drawing attention back to the first murder; even if it at times it feels that he has gone pretty far away. Drawing back/moving forward is also done differently, sometimes it is just the voice-over;a visual cue here, an on-screen narration there, another time it is just a fade to white. I would really like to go over these punctuation again.

But what is always there in the background: how will THAT murder be avenged?

Second Strike

The title “Vada Chennai” too is very emblematic; represents a whole section of the city, referred here as “janam” but for most part the film is really about a select few from this population and the power they fight for; so when towards the end of the film when it moves towards the ‘us vs them’ narrative, the movie has a slight jarring effect. Maybe this has been done to elevate the story of Anbu? Only the sequels will tell.

Or to put it differently, there are far more interesting stuff for me in the film than the politics of gentrification, a subject touched upon by Kaala too earlier this year. For example, the thread of how history keeps repeating itself and how the players find themselves in different positions every time that happens.

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The kick-in-the head happens when the characters themselves realize this moment.

Wow, that’s complex and damn good writing; to be able to feel what a secondary character is feeling (At one point it is Guna, at another point it is Chandra). Vetrimaran also throws in a clairvoyant who seems to be the only person who knows how this will all end.

Superlative stuff.

Red & Follow

Yes, it does take it own time; but then this movie should. Even reading this as a basic revenge film needs convincing characters for viewers to revel in the avenging, but this isn’t just a basic revenge film.

The board is now set, the players are ready; we have a good game at hand.

Categories
cinema FRS

FRS: Bharat Ane Nenu

BAN7 copy

So you all know what an FRS is right? right?

-780.9: To us (Team FRS)

We are now doing FRS of Telugu (telungu as we tend to use) films even when having not  one percent knowledge of the language/culture/societal dynamix/audience expectation. That we are doing this in a brazen daylight manner (actually it is night while we type this, but brazen daylight has a nice ring to it) should attract more point cuts.

But we are kind to ourselves.

Also now that we are talking about things that we have no idea about, do we qualify to be called critics?

<Forget the above, we are getting on with it, in quite bit; lil rusty>

[Pause for Cough]

we welcome you to yet another episode of the FRS

[/Pause for Cough]

{we really wanted to use flower brackets, just for representation}

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+5: No Narration, well we know that is a hard thing to find these days 

+12: Hero is very much educated, well we know that is a hard thing to find these days 

-34: Hero is educated abroad in fact he has five degrees,(includes Iberian languages and town planning) but director does not focus on plunging student debt and such realities

-67: Money shot of hero running towards the audience, but is actually running for his convocation thing.

Bharat’s Law  (not Bar-at-law)

 You are not a mainstream Indian hero if you are not late for your own convocation; but of course you reach just in time before your name is announced.

Convenience wins!

+103: When asked what he is going to do with life after being soooo educated, hero says “I don’t know” which proves our primordial hypothesis that education fundamentally is useless. (Yes, we know)

-69.52: This ‘I don’t know’ then morphs into an opening song sung by none other than Farhan Akhtar; name of song raises doubts about where this movie is going.

Actually movie is going to the next scene. (-1 to us, don’t be a wise ass, always)

Next scene: Hero’s father is dead. (yes just like that)

And now director will use the travel back home duration to tell us what we really want to know about Bharat’s father and mother.  Your childhood memories, selectively aided by British Airways.

+45: Whole movie is about the importance of a promise or in other words the importance of keeping up a promise, a lesson that Bharat learns early on from his mother. A promise that he makes as chief minister also leading to make the villains ‘accountable’. Good overall thread, connects to title too.

-1947: Bharat’s father(Supreme Star Sarath) is dead, now we know that he was chief minister of Andhra Pradesh; obviously his son Mahesh Babu becomes the next CM.

Just like how silk sarees are passed across from mother to daughter, the thing that is passed from father to son is just an entire state. 

#DemocracyDemolished but didn’t see any think-pieces about how this film encourages autocratic rule and transfer of power and dynasties etc.

-56.2: Old CM’s family friend and mentor is played by Prakash Raaj which means that all the people in the 31 districts of Telangana and 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh know that he is the villain.

#KuchBhi

<sorry for spoiling, LOL>

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-35.912: Hero now becomes CM means we will be shown 3 hrs of slow motion CM walking with his aides footage with DSP music.

Many economists think that the slowness of the motion has a correlation with the slowness of economic growth.

But like most economists, they are wrong. Because Bharat changes everything in 8 months. Sab Teekh Ho Jayega.

[Pause for Cough]

This makes me wonder, is the real villain of this movie is Prakash Raaj or is he being pup-petted by a collegium of economists, who will not have enough TV air time in a booming economy? 

[/Pause for Cough]

+50: Whenever Kiara Advani is on screen

+51: Whenever Kiara Advani is on screen and wearing yellow dress

#FocusList2018 #VassumathiRox

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Is the above rating sexist? Should we add something about Mahesh babu wearing sunglasses to balance it? Maybe we should

[Insightful Intermission-also potential Facebook caption material]

 

Mahesh Babu wears sun glasses for 79.7% of the film, we interpret this as a big middle finger to all critics who said they could not see any of his expressions on his face in previous films.

This time, he didn’t allow them to see his eyes only.

[/Insightful Intermission-also potential facebook caption material]

-17:  Kiara Advani’s father is a middle class police constable who will surely have the honour of mouthing the dialogue ” after all we are middle class, what can we do?” or some such shixx in a socio-political film

-219: CM”s new research team recruits will consist of (surprise!surprise!) heroine Vasumathi. Reason for selection stated: “they are preparing for civil service exams”

#MeritBasedRecruitment

+10: If you want to be a good CM, the first thing you should focus on is traffic, good advice.

+72: Relentless hero is relentless, Mahesh Babu also has a mass re-entry scene much like the one Indiana Jones has in Raiders of the Lost Ark; should probably add more points for that shot from Slocombe

Keeping Up With The Joneses Rule (or the ONE rule of film making)

Never steal but if you can’t avoid it, always steal from the very best

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-34: Movie is cinematographed by two aces namely Tirru and Ravi K Chandran and pretty to look at but, for a man named Chandran he really does dial up on the sun flares and halos behind the hero.

We get it, guys! Watching this on amazon prime increased the heat on our already oven like laptop

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-400: Movie does not know what to do with heroine that it sends her to her hometown (I mean DEI!!), so going add more pix just for sakes

#BringBackVasumathi

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-52.33: All songs whenever, wherever

+127.9: Hero falls in love with one specific location for fighting scene that he requests all the goons to assemble there. Not seen anything like this!

-127.9: Movie builds up too many things but doesn’t really have the time, but then that’s why hero got second chance to become CM right?

Oh it is almost 2019 already. Intent matters, bro.

<All numbers are incidental and irrelevant, except the data provided by our data analytics team based out of Pune>

Yours sincerely

Team FRS

Subam

Vanakkam

 

–

 

Categories
cinema cinema:tamil Essay

A New Beginning

AnbeSivam1

Kamal Haasan (KH) announced that he would retire from films from barring Vishwaroopam 2 and Indian 2, not surprising at all. The fact to be noted is that both are extensions of his previous works and sadly not something new.

‘Something new’ would be the murmur of those who walked out of a Kamal film, even for the truest of fans, the films would be things that couldn’t be described at a moment’s notice.

Notice that KH has been very cautious about his late career, not wanting to be another curd rice eating lion (his phrase for the later phase of Nadigar Thilagam) but somewhere along the line he too had realized that it was time.

Time is of the essence, something that resonates in Kamal’s cinematic swan song “Uttama Villain” in which an ageing superstar has to balance between his final act to right his wrongs and his final act (in a movie) with his mentor.  For me the last Kamal consummate performance.

Performance that has no end is of little interest, one song from the film claims. Yes we have finally reached the point in the universe that there would be no more waiting for a Kamal film. Waiting and patience, the two characteristics that binds even unlike Kamal fans of which there are many.

Many careers come to an end, but few leave a lasting impact; while in fields which are driven by statistics (hi sports), achievements  which will always be broken. Performance artists on the other hand achieve near immortality thanks to their craft and can comfortably disregard numbers.

AnbeSivam3

Numbers too are surprisingly in Kamal’s favour; in a career spanning almost sixty years he has played from camp to class and what lies between.  Take 1982 for instance which gave the Tamil movie going public both Sakalakalavallavan and Moondram Pirai. This is not a singular occurrence Sagara Sangamam came with Sattam, Nayagan came with AVM’s Paer Sollum Pillai, Virumandi and Vasoolist etc etc etc and it is hard to imagine any other actor who can withstand this stretch consistently and still look natural.

Naturally, his multifaceted nature attracted different kind of fans. His long career has ensured that there was a constant churn in admiration, old fans becoming disillusioned allowing new ones to take their  place. An example would be a generation that still believes that KH was the coolest in the 80s, while another set claim he peaked in the 90s, some say he should just direct and not act, others don’t want him behind a megaphone, some want him to even work with youth directors (LOL). Personally, it is KH’s ability to be all this and more that makes me revisit his films.

Films (of his) are all that we will have of him in the future (not discounting the interviews), and it is surely exciting to revisit them not just as a fan, but as an explorer of the medium. Especially now, when there very little to expect. You have given me a lot to work with and all the best for your future endeavors, Kamal.

AnbeSivam4
Categories
cinema cinema:tamil FRS

FRS: Kodi

So by now you know what this FRS right? Right?

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-34: Narration,

ok wait first We were fooled into thinking that there was no narration in this film, and before our collective sighs of relief could trouble the person sitting before us; there was narration.

+12: Moments

like that of a deaf and dumb father aspiring son to be the star attraction speaker of a political party, thought it started off really well there. Just when we come to the portion of human sacrifice by fire, how the mother and son view this incident establishes their further course of action. Films begins with a flag fluttering, post interval also, these are some nice thematic moments.

+3.5: Dhanush’s beard, I mean why will we not give points for this.

-51.35: Hero Introductions

No matter how different how your thinking is, or how different the setting of the film is, hero introductions never change. Slow cam, let something flutter, show the vehicle first, then legs, then face (yaay fan moment), also bring in some out of form goons so that hero can show heroism before children etc. Yea yeah, no police will be lodged.

-23.1: Celebrations

No matter what Cadbury’s tell you, you actually do need proper reasons to celebrate, I know we need a intro song here, but politician becoming regional youth wing secretary is reason for district wide celebration a? But further in the movie, moments are not so well celebrated why?

-41: For a film whose primary characters are supposed to be fiery speakers, the speeches dont count, no really

-19: Dhanush and Trisha never seem to run out of secret places to meet as lovers, i mean even if they have been lovers for say a decade or more, do they allocate one day of the week on google calendar for “let’s find one more secret place to meet” #OOooOOO

-4: One secret meeting place involves a cheetah passing by simply, cheetahs are extinct in india. yeah so. Later half cheetah changed to leopard.

+7: Ei Suzhali (song) 

-71.7777: Politics

Yeah so, what is politics really? Is about people and issues no? But mostly in this movie is about how one gets promoted from one post to another, how one double crosses another or even triple crossing. Yes these are the outcomes of what happens in politics, but really there is no issue, the entire film deals with a mercury dump for so long to make us believe that the entire politix of the region depends on it. Surely there must be farmers, traders, transport, infra, forests, but these aspects do not come within the scope of film which wants to be a political drama.

Guess we are being a little harsh here, Kodi is not an issues film, it is more about the politician than the politics, which is fair enough and Dhanush carries the born politician role like someone who has stood in atleast three local elections, but without the politics the politician stands alone.

Hi to all House of Cards fans

Even the issue that he tackles as Kodi are driven by personal hangover emotions. Watering down.

-23: Double cross, triple cross, road cross in the end since none of the characters could be related to, it didnt matter. Seems just to show that politicians are capable of doing ANYTHING for a rajya sabha seat., But isn’t this common knowledge?

-9: Rajya Sabha

-18.94: Trisha apart from being completely miscast, she even has the worst named character, ‘theepori’ rudra, and no sparks only.

+13: For Vijay Kumar for playing CM in this movie, in Singam series he plays home minister as well. I’m sure Vijay kumar would have played other cabinet ministers as well. First time in history of cinema one actor has played entire cabinet kind of statement.

-23: Twins, not spoiling, but there is actually a mention of a buzzfeed type post about “10 things you dont know about twins”, the content in this type article drives the story further

-5: Theory of inefficient goons: villians will keep sending inefficient goons to hero even when they know that he is going to hit them all and send them back, still they keep sending. Dei.

+8: Kaala Chashma,

Anyways, Happy Diwali

#Notdeepavali

Subam

FRS Team, The Lowly Laureate

 

 

 

 

Categories
cinema cinema:english Essential viewing politics

THE ONE MOVIE NARENDRA MODI SHOULD BE WATCHING RIGHT NOW: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Movie Musings #2

The One movie that Narendra Modi/ Arvind Kejriwal/ Rahul Gandhi should watch. In fact entire parliament.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

“Triumph of Innocence”

Just like that, this movie begins with the death of a senator, no introductions no set up, no nothing. Even the main character Jefferson Smith is introduced without any fanfare, although this happens in a banquet. So Jefferson Smith, honest well meaning ranger is picked to be the stooge who would go to Washington and how he faces the big bad political world completes the story in gist.

James Stewart is terrific as Jefferson Smith, must have been the representative American face of the thirties (this movie came out in 1939), Terrific because it is really hard to tell when if an actor is innocent or faking it. For a film to be relevant eighty years after release is no mere statement, it is only possible if it is based on the most fundamental human feelings, like on how hard it is to be honest.

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Capra’s film can be compared in a way to Shankar’s Mudhalvan/Nayak, but the latter fails while trying to create a larger than life image for its hero, here Jefferson Smith remains the same old nature loving ranger even after accomplishing greater deeds and the tenets of American spirit: Liberty and Pride take precedence. These abstract things make more impact than a million songs or punch dialogues.

Repartee and evocative dialogue delivery, painting like faces that is even more enhanced by black and white, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a truly inspiring film that somehow makes you suspend cynical thoughts on governmental change for 120 odd minutes and support Jefferson Smith in his fight against the big bad world. Nail biting and how relevant even now!

(Also child labor)

The film is not without its minor irritations like the line, “despite being a woman”, but I guess it is reflective of the time. Capra’s films later fell into the view that they are too simplistic and practice hallway idealism and immersed in rhetoric, which is exactly why Narendra Modi should see this movie, maybe as requested in-flight entertainment, this is simply because of the fact that some things never change, like introducing a bill in the house still remains a tough job.

Also not fall prey to heavy handed industrialists who dictate how a country should be run, yes that would be a takeaway. But it is mainly about how important innocence is, and how powerful it can be at unlikely times.

Do watch it PM Modi, I’m sure it is worth your time. It is also about a guy who comes to the capital from a far flung city from a humble background, I’m sure you will relate to it; big time.

But like all good films, this also almost entirely belongs to the eyes of the heroine, Jean Arthur.

And it simply ends, just like that, no flourish and all. Nothing.
(Cry)

Also this could teach you how to hold the floor of the house and secure class participation scores.

True Classic. Level MAX.