Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Naan Kada-fool ?

Ok, so I made one more mistake that was worth it. I watched it - the Bala film that everyone was apparently talking about. As expected, 'Naan Kadavul', the latest 'hot movie on the stands', was not upto my expectations (was that self-contradictory?). Plot? What plot? It was'nt exactly the kind of movie that leaves you with the satisfaction of having finished a book, or seeing an action movie in which the hero kills them all in the end and saves the heroine (pun intended, for those who have watched the movie)..

But all that said and done.. So what? If you're looking for change, I say go watch it ! Just make sure you dont come out shouting 'Kadavuleeeee' at the end of it :).

'Disturbing' is how Naren described it first to me. And that.. what I felt throughout the movie.. was the biggest enjoyment. The scenes with the beggars - the suffering of the poorest level of society - was truly path breaking, and what one should expect of a director who dares to explore. The new faces in the cast - the disabled, deformed, impoverished and I should say, scary new faces - they have really done it. Whether it came from the bottom of their heart because its what they live out or not, the beggars in the movie truly bring the emotions on. And let's not go back to the 'Slumdog millionaire' debate of denigrating India's status or anything now. Cos those guys deserve the kudos.

Ok, then what is 'Naan Kadavul' really about? Aghori Hindus? I dont really think so. The lead character comes out more as a madman to me than representative of a sect. (You should check out the loincloth scenes, they might actually leave u laughing in the most serious part of the movie). A confrontation with the 'Religion' question ? Not really.. As everyone else before him has done, Mr. Director is going around the question, rather. Safer option for him. Showing the plight of the poor? Sorry, this wasnt exactly a documentary. No wonder Arya himself had to stand on top of his head, figuring out what his role was all about :)

So NK is just about the scenes. A set of awesome scenes that unfortunately do not make up a whole. Beggar girl Puja's amazing performance. Arya's ganja puffs and occasional Blah-blahs in Hinskritamil (combo of all the languages as and when he chooses to) that are delivered as if to imply a deeper philosphical meaning attached to them. Ilayaraja's beautiful music, both foreground and background, that give a, shall we say, doomsday feel to the movie. And as I mentioned before, the well depicted plight of the underpriveleged, if you're not sick enough of seeing it already. And somehow all these are mixed up somehow in an unrealistic way to bring together a plot.

So after all that review, if you ask me "whats the point of watching the movie", I'll reply with a PJ. No point. A point is an intersection of 2 lines. NK is just a bunch of parallel lines that are never supposed to meet. But if u enjoy seeing the lines go to infinity, well watch on.. (Kadavuleee.. Kaapaathungo..:D )

7 comments:

Vijar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Vijar said...

some want to do films differently but this is absurd

Hari Vishnu said...

@rajiv
looks like u had a bad 3 hours watching it :).. well, the movie was exploratory all right, it depends on the viewer whether he can digest the 'difference' of the movie.. and sometimes it does come out as absurd instead of novel..

Mahesh Mahadevan said...

IMDB has a "bottom 50" list that a bunch of my friends took the effort to torrent and watch. I suppose you can join the effort, albeit in Indian languages. Don't forget to add a list of "Captain" Vijay Kanth, Mithun Chakraborty, and Balakrishna (Telugu) films to these and you're good to go. They will reform you more than anything you can imagine.

The Third Twin said...

lol @ No wonder Arya himself had to stand on top of his head, figuring out what his role was all about :)


well it was a good effort as u put it.. but then again u shudn have brought the pj abt parallel lines.. now i have to counter it ... parallel lines meet ‘at infinity’?. What does this mean? Does
the meeting happen in an instant or gradually? If the latter, they cease to be parallel as
soon as one or both begin to converge so either the process starts before ‘infinity’ or
‘infinity’ has a territory of its own. If there is such a territory, is it part of infinity? If the
line-meeting is an instant one, where in the universe does it happen? What do parallel
lines which have met look like? They are probably just one line but the coming together
is at infinity so there’s nowhere further for the united line to go. Perhaps it would be
preferable to claim that parallel lines cease to exist at infinity.. In that case don watch this movie for u wil cease to exist at some points :P

Hari Vishnu said...

@Mahesh
lol yea ive watched some of the ir scenes.. but not all.. 'Gunda' starring Mithun chakraborthy is one i want to watch asap, after all the stuff im hearing about it..

@Naren
macha.. no more replies to that chali :).. uve taken it to infinite levels (if they exist)

Dorm Bedding said...

Gosh, I sooo hate watching crappy movies that don't live up to the hype - so many fail to :(