Starting with Dr.'Chiyaan' Vikram, this film must have been a welcome relief for him, as he has enjoyed doing the role of a bride-punching, liquor-guzzling (that too through a funnel !), notorious, fisherman. He was endearing and charming in his portrayal throughout his episode and his relationship with Tabu was wonderfully written and picturized. An excellent performance from 'Chiyaan' after a very long time. Jiiva on the other hand, was the exact opposite, with a very serious but energized portrayal. He displays the correct level of intensity and expressions needed for the emotional scenes and proves once again that he is one of the best performers in Tamizh cinema, among the younger breed of leading heroes. The other best role in the film was of Tabu's and what nonchalant, and matured performance from her ! She simply sizzles as 'Frenny', the friend cum adviser of Vikram. Deepa Venkat's dubbing was okay for her but still it takes out the originality of the character. Isha Sharvani, was angelic and sweet as the deaf and mute girl and was very apt for the role of 'Roma'. Lara Dutta comes out with a neat and composed performance and got her pronunciation right for the lip-sync. Saurabh Shukla is a scream in his role, whereas Nassar was as good as always as the devout Christian priest. The rest of the cast such as Rohini Hattangadi, John Vijay, Nishan, Prahlad Kakkar, Shweta Pandit, Sheetal Menon, Sunder Ramu, Manish Jha, Sathish Kaushik, Rubi Chakravarti and etc all were very apt and performed realistically in the film. A big cast, but wonderful performances from all. Bejoy should be lauded for the characterization of all the roles, enacted in the film, which were well written.
One will look forward to a Bejoy Nambiar film for the technical finesse, and Bejoy does not disappoint us. All technicians involved in this project are some of the best in the industry, and Bejoy has used their capabilities to good use. Ameira Punvani and Falguni Thakore's costume designing was very apt for each era and characters involved in the dual-story lines of the film. The look for both Jiiva and Vikram was perfect. Stunts were very well choreographed by Javed Aejaz and what makes the stunt sequences authentic, is that the fights for each lead protagonists imbibed the characteristics of the protagonists, be it the drunk Vikram or the angry Jiiva. Well done, Javed ! Rajeevan's production design was very natural and authentic. The props for each setting, be it Mumbai or Goa, were very much original and his presentation made it look believable. Sreekar Prasad's sharp editing kept the pace of the film bearable and nearly avoided being too languorous. Ranganat Ravi's sound designing was also spot on, with the necessary minute sounds, well implemented in the film. The film definitely belongs to the two very talented cinematographers, R.Rathnavelu and P.S Vinod. The former's picturization was very exotic and pleasing to the eyes, with perfect lighting and the appropriate 'sunny' tone of the Goan episode. Whereas, the latter's Mumbai shots were gloomy, dark and gritty in nature. The fight sequence was fantastically shot, with brilliant lighting and color tone used for it. Both cinematographers showed their expertise in their respective episodes, and it was indeed a very smart and creative move by Bejoy to employ different cinematographers each episodes.
One of the highlights of the film is the soundtrack and the eclectic-mix of the artistes involved, gives different shades to the whole album. Nonetheless, the soundtrack is a trend-setter and warrants repeated listening, for one to appreciate the music. But sadly, the songs were just used sparingly in the film and is woven into the flow of the screenplay, which cut shorts the length of a song ! "Vaazhkaiye" by the Bramfatura duo, is the opening song and also serves as the theme music of the film. It was picturized in , covering the climax sequences of both story-lines. "Maria Pitache", composed by Remo Fernandes, was shot on Dr.'Chiyaan' Vikram brawling with fellow drunkards, in a set resembling a Goan hut cum bar setting. "Machi" by Modern Mafia, is a montage song, shot in a first-person perspective technique, on Jiiva's daily routine as a guitarist. "Theerathu Poga Poga" is a lovely song composed by Maatibaani, shot on Vikram, Nishan and Isha having fun together. R.Rathnavelu's lighting and camera movement was good for this song. "Iravinil Ulavavaa" is a catchy song composed by Prashant Pillai, which was shot beautifully on Vikram and Isha, in a "boatride-under-the-moonlight" scenario. "Manamey" is a thumping song, full of percussion beats, composed by Prashant Pillai featuring Tao Issaro. As mentioned earlier, P.S Vinod's cinematography was brilliant in this song which was shot on Jiiva taking on a bunch of guys. The rain effect was put to good use, with minimal lighting and apt color tone. "Kanave Kanave" by Anirudh Ravichander is a beautiful, soothing melody used in both story-lines and was placed appropriately in the screenplay, but was used minimally, sadly. The "Light House" track by Remo Fernandes was used throughout the Goan episode as a background score and not to forget, Mikey McCleary's background score, especially for the Mumbai episode was brilliant.
First things first. Bejoy Nambiar is a director of substance and it is evident in his narration and directing skills. He somehow magically makes an ordinary scene to look extraordinary, powerful and gripping with his narrative skill. The Vikram-Tabu sequences were handled with high-level of composure and maturity and is a delight to watch for its casual treatment ! There is a deep and philosophical message, underlying in the script, which is revealed, post the inner-battle of the lead protagonists and the screenplay by Bejoy Nambiar and Natasha Sahgal was not bad. But what spoils the film, is the heavy-dubbed feel we get, while watching it. A majority of the artistes involved in the Hindi version is retained for the Tamizh version and the dubbing was awful in most of the scenes. The poor dubbing spoils the originality of the film. The dialogues by Manikandan.G and Venkat Subbaraj was of no help as well, as it lacks the depth in creativity and sounds plain simple. Though the film looks fine if you go scene-by-scene, the overall story-telling was a letdown, as there's not much connectivity between the two story-lines and each track had a different mood and pace to it, which might test the patience of viewers. Also, its unforgivable for a director of Bejoy's class to make silly mistakes in detailing. One glaring mistake is the scene where Nishan sings the "Pondaatti" song from the film 'Osthe' at Isha. Mind you, the film came out in 2011 but the timeline of the Goan episode was 2010 ! Such silly mistakes must be avoided as it further spoils the interest of the viewers.
'David' is a unique and interesting attempt from Bejoy, which has excellent technicians who delivered superb outputs in the film, especially the cinematography and music department. But disappointingly, it did not really live up to the expectations it generated prior to the release. A film which could and should have been much better, as it promised a lot, but served pretty less than what was promised.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
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