Movie : Makante Achan
Language : Malayalam
Date : 27th Jan, 2009
I have a fairly strong belief that a director like VM Vinu cannot rise in his craft beyond a point. Even though when you walk in to watch his movie, you would want to be pleasantly surprised, you are almost sure that you know the man well from his past outings. I have seen many of his movies like Balettan, Vesham, Bus Conductor and have heard about his movies like Sooryan. Fair and Square, I was not expecting much.
'Makante Achan' is a fairly entertaining movie until the lights come on for the interval. Especially as my expectations were quite low I found myself pleasantly surprised at that time. I was quite unaware that second half could be so disastrous.The high points are some good scenes between Sreenivasan and Vineeth.
Vineeth seems have bettered after 'Cycle' for sure but his performance during the later parts of the movie leaves much to be desired. Sreenivasan is good except the scenes in the reality show where he looks artificial. Suhasini is fine as well.
Ok, now to the defining part which made me believe what I thought about VM Vinu was right. It’s the second half. As the second half takes off, VM Vinu comes in to his own. There is an unnecessarily over stretched episode about Jagathy as Fraud Saint. Along with that his antics with Bindu Panicker and all that. The whole story of father-son and their conflicting ambitions takes a back seat. And when it returns, its a weepy tear jerker. The director completely lost his plot in the second half.
The Climax for me was like almost a comedy show. There was the expected 'daddy u r the greatest' from the son and 'love needs to be expressed and sorry for not doing that' from the daddy. That was all fine but poorly handled things like the hostess of the talent show also weeping along with main characters (even though Ranjini Haridas does it every 2 weeks on Idea Star Singer). It made me laugh to say the least.
I feel that Sreenivasan would have ghost directed the first half coz VM Vinu wouldn't come up even with that kind of a first half. Anyways, I will keep waiting to be pleasantly surprised next time. Hope the day comes!!
Verdict : Below Average
Rating : 2/5
Movie : Slumdog Crorepathi
Language : Hindi
Date : 25th Jan,2009
Review
The 'Baggage'
First things first, Slumdog Millionaire (SDM) comes with a lot of baggage when you sit to watch the movie.4 golden globes and 10 Oscar nominations. Its really easy to sit back and have the verdict already in mind that its a great movie, even before the movie starts. But I tried my best to keep a clean mind before the start and be as impartial in my judgement as I can.
And when the lights came on as the credits started to roll, all I had in my heart was pure sense of fulfillment.Yes, SDM is worth each minute you watch the movie and how.Its an endearing tale of 3 characters namely, Jamal, Salim and Latika through the times spanning the all kinds of incidents and emotions.
The Journey
There is the slum life of Dharavi,there are riots, the nasty world of child exploitation for begging, the adventurous life on trains, taj mahal, red street, underworld, Call centers and kaun banega crorepathi, U name it and its all there. Through these the 3 characters live through hope, despair, loss, triumph, struggle, hate and love setting a pulsating pace.
Trust me when the end credits roll you will need someone else to tell you that Danny Boyle is not a bollywood director and Simon Buefoy is a foriegner. It cud easily have been written and directed by any good bollywood talents but its just destiny that it happened this way. But it indeed boyle and buefoy need huge applauds for a great cinematic treat and a story may be alien to their world but told so convincingly.
Many scenes are so delightful like the Potty scene (which I was so awkward about watching), rain sequence, jamal's dance at the don's place. The Young Jamal (Khedekar) was superb to watch in all these scenes. The Train sequences were superb. The Taj Mahal sequences, Subway sequence, Latika's escape from red street ...u can go on and on.
Performances are really memorable.
My favourite was Khedekar as youngest Jamal. Dev Patel comes in next with a unusually mature performance as older Jamal. Teenager Salim comes in next and packs a punch. Frieda Pinto was competant as older Latika. Younger Salim was also good. Anil Kapoor and Irfan Khan are good as usual.
AR Rahman's score is superb and lifts the movie to an altogether different level. Jai Ho is uplifting. O Saya and Ringa are nice to hear.Cinematography is brilliant and Editing top notch with a pulsating pace which only drops during the teenage phase of the protagonists.
In short, all of us who keep vociferously fighting for movies like MB,Alibhai, CG etc shud take a break for 1 day and go and watch SDM. Its a typical bollywood movie at heart with all the escapisms right in the place where it shud be. Train sequences to 2 brothers at loggerheards, Childhood lost love to Escape from Red street, u name a typical bollywood sequence and SDM has it but its the spirit of the movie that makes you go WOW!!!!
The main characters of the movie always are underdogs in all the situations but they keep hanging in there and never give up. Whether is love, life or money they keep hanging in there. In an endearing fight it shows the true human spirit which never gives up.
The only -ve I felt was a bit of slow pace during teenager phase.
Escapist Cinema at its best
Please do not go in with the baggages (4 golden globes and 10 Oscar nominations) or expecting a hollywood movie which you think may match the best hollywood movies that you have seen. You are sure to have a great time. There is poverty all right but who is noticing, as the movie is not about it anyways. This is escapist cinema at its best.
As it appears on the screen 'It was written' that Jamal shud be a Millionaire facing questions that were all related to life, perhaps it was also written that such a small budget (7 cr) independant movie shud make it so big.It deserves every bit of it and more.
VERDICT : 'Must Watch for all who love watching Indian movies'.
Rating : 4/5
SDM - A celebration of the Human Spirit and Indian Cinema. A Celebration like no other.