Selvaraghavan, the master story teller of human being's dark emotions and relationships, is back with a magnum opus in 'Irandaam Ulagam'. With 'Aayirathil Oruvan', Selva has dabbled with fantasy before, but with a touch of history. So, what's the difference here ? Love is the thematic essence of this project and Selva throws a question to us by asking how far we would go for love. That's a question which can give rise to a myriad of answers, so let's stick with the question of how far did Selva go with his 'ambitious' project till date ?
What's strikingly similar with 'Irandaam Ulagam' and his previous projects, is the entire focus being projected on the lead characters. The story revolves only about them and evolves along with them. Its the same here as well, but with a small change. The lead artistes are made to enact two different roles, each. Let's start of with Arya. Having a time of his life, in regards to his cinematic career, he seems to be an interesting choice for this film, especially when the character has a heavy hangover of Dhanush, written all over it. But Arya, excels as the soft-spoken Madhu Balakrishnan. The calm and composed manner of dialogue delivery, gave the character more conviction and Arya seems to be very confident about it. Whereas, as Maravaan, Arya certainly had the hard, strong and massive physique necessary for the role. Kudos to him for beefing up to that extent and for showing the dedication towards his role. Emotional quotient wise, this character suffered a lot and there was not much of acting scope for him.
Anushka Shetty on the other hand, was cute and adorable as Dr.Ramya. Her nuanced expressions are the plus points. As Varna, the warrior girl, she is the best choice in the industry, thanks to her imposing height and sheer confidence. We don't get to see the heroines of Tamizh cinema kick some butt, in a convincing manner, but you have it all here, with Anushka doing the swashbuckling antics, usually reserved for the heroes, with ease. Chinmayi's dubbing suited Anushka, to a certain extent. Both the lead artistes, share a good chemistry, but it was not utilized properly by Selvaraghavan. Venkatesh Harinathan and Padma Raman, don the peripheral characters quite well, but the Georgian artistes were just a big drawback. Though one can appreciate their dedication in getting the lip-sync quite well, they were just too amateurish with their performances and left a mark of artificialness, very bluntly !
For all the grandeur connected to the film, we could just wish that the costume designer Deepali Noor could have done a far, better job in the costume designing department. It just makes a mock of the budget of the film ! Action choreography was different, especially with the sword-fights, executed neatly by Arya and Anushka and well choreographed by 'Ruff' Rajashekar and Zura Nanobashvili. Dr. K.Kiran's production design is splendid. He has worked in tandem with the direction's so-called vision of the apt exo-planet and had adorned the sets with apt props for the fantasy world episodes. Veteran editor, Kola Bhaskar deserves a lot of appreciation for the painstaking effort in the editing department. He managed to put together the VFX-filled sequences quite well, and tried to maintain a decent tempo for the running time, though more work from his sharp scissors, could have done more good for the film. Keith Devlin and Merzin Tavaria's visual effects design was rich with psychedelic colors and the imaginary, mythical beasts. As having spoken about the visual effects, the experienced Ramji must be congratulated for his hard-work in cinematography. His framing and lighting is an immense contribution for the visual effects sequence. The snow-pouring sequence, late in the second half was beautiful, with soft lighting and a deep color tone.
Harris Jayaraj teams up with Selvaraghavan for the first time, and this combo has produced a unique track-list. Though the songs might appeal as standalone, they do not gel well with the script, and its below par, for Selvaraghavan's standards. "En Kaadhal Thee" is the opening song and was shot on the lead pair, in both worlds, which had many montages, with nice framing by Ramji. "Kanimozhiye" was shot on the characters Madhu-Ramya, and also had plenty of montages, shot in a camp-like scenario. "Pazhangkalla" was the only purpose shot song sequence, featuring Arya as Maravaan, and had a bar-like atmosphere, though the set was made to look like with an ancient Eastern European-sort of interiors. "Mannavane" was rich in color, especially with the snow effect and had apt angle and framing, to capture the necessary moments, required for the sequence. The song was shot on Arya's Madhu with Anushka's Varna.
Anirudh Ravichander, the hot-shot, on fire music director has handled the background score and has added an additional two songs for the film. "Penne Nee Enna" was used as a background score and was used for the fantasy sequences, whereas "Iravinil Oruvanai" was a situational song shot on the lead pair in the real world. Anirudh certainly adds a different color to the film with his background score, which is rich in sound and grandeur, since it was recorded at Hungary by using the services of the Budapest Symphony Orchestra. It is certainly a big challenge for Anirudh to score for such a project, at such early stages of his career. In fact, the background score sounded more in tune with the script, if you are ought to compare with the song compositions. He has given his best and hope the lad will continue to experiment more with his musical compositions.
Selvaraghan is a passionate movie maker, and it has been evident in his previous films, with intense portrayal and brooding screenplay. With 'Irandaam Ulagam' ? The passion transfixed at the conceptualization stage alone and gets lost miserably, when the necessary transmission to screen, was acquired ! What's appalling, is the shallow and weak characterizations of the lead pair, and its an even bigger shock to see it coming from Selvaraghavan ! There is no depth in the lead roles, and that projected a confused state-of-mind image for the artistes, throughout the film, who must have not fully understood, the actual intricacies of their respective characters.The non-linear screenplay further deteriorates the necessary impact from the lead characters, towards the script and us, the viewers. Selva's 'Aayirathil Oruvan' was a good attempt, but without a strong script, what's the point of dabbling with an innovative concept ? Yes, Selva should be applauded for his daring attempt, but did he justify his bravado act ? Certainly, no ! For those who keenly observe and keep up to date with Selvaraghavan's projects, they can certainly sum up that Selva has dusted-off his old Dhanush-Andrea script, and added a fancy, fantasy element to it for apparently no, convincing reasons ! The need for foreign locations is not justified properly, and Selvaraghavan could certainly do away with the unnecessary 'neon-lit' atmosphere he visualized for the Georgia-based sequences. The striking colors, robbed the beauty of Georgia and a realistic environment could have convinced us better that, it is indeed another world, after all ! Selva's cheeky dialogues were a relief, only in the first half. The second half drags big time and as with the case of 'Ayirathil Oruvan', Selva leaves us with lots of unanswered questions and loopholes in the script.
'Irandaam Ulagam' - Undeniably, Selvaraghavan's worst film, thus far. In, Selva's standards, that is !
Ratings: 2.75/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
'Sutta Kadhai' made noise for its unique teasers and posters. Coming from the stable of total newcomers, it piques the interest of audiences with new ideas and creative presentation. With some good artistes in the casting, did this pulp-fiction inspired film live up to its expectations ?
Television host and celebrity Balaji Venugopal and Venkatesh Harinathan play the two bumbling, dubious constables to a certain respectable degree. Balaji as the dumb kleptomaniac, uses more of his facial expressions and dialogue delivery to delivering his acting chops whereas Venkatesh, who has partial hearing disability, utilizes his good body language to bring out the character's personality. Nassar, was the true scene-stealer with his impeccable expressions and comic timing. The veteran simply oozes class, especially with his snooze mode antics. Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli fits her character and pulls off some stunt movements with confidence. Jayaprakash leaves a good mark with his unique dialogue delivery. R.S Shivaji, Lakshmi Ramakrishnan, M.S Bhaskar, Jayamani, T.P Gajendran, Shanmuga Sundaram, Rinson and etc fits the crazy characters they enacted.
T.Ramesh's stunt choreography is a little over-the-top, but it was essential for this sort of script and Lakshmi Priya, handled most of them quite well and with ease. Sivakumar's costume designing was okay, considering the shoe-string budget he worked one, with some good, minute detailing. Sivaraj's production design should be appreciated, especially the police station set and the various props used for different plot settings, such as forest, comic book world and etc. Surya's editing was though slick, in regards to the length of the film, drags big time in the second half. Nizar's camera work is commendable, especially the way he has utilized the natural landscape of Kodaikanal and adapted it very well for the design and mood of the script. The night effect shots, were professionally handled, especially in regards to lighting. Kudos, Nizar !
Music of the film was handled by the Madley Blues band, consisting of Harish Venkat and Prashanth Techno. Songs were decent, but nothing really brilliant about it. The opening song, "Kattukulle" was terrifically designed, using the comic book template design, where the director intricately weaved the whole film's plot. Superb idea and execution ! "Yelay Yelay" had plenty of montages and focused on the lead pair of bumbling cops, rooting for the tribal female lead. "Dingu Dongu" was shot on a cheap liquor bar setting, with plenty of earthy tone and feel to it, which was complemented by apt set properties. "Twist on Top" is a situational track number, with good camera movements and angles, focusing on Jayaprakash's episodes. "Anbe Aaruyire" was the climax, situational song and featured a few characters going against each other, in a dark forest. Nizar did a very good job with the lighting, and the slow motion effect added to the pulp-fiction effect, the director was striving to present. The background score was adequate and fun.
Written and directed by newcomer, Subu, 'Sutta Kadhai' is basically a dark-comedy film, inspired by the 'Sambasivam Crime Comics' template. The problem with this idea, is that many will not be able to relate to such Tamizh pulp-fiction comics, and that was a craze for youngsters of a generation ago ! The fun quotient of comic book story-line and presentation did not translate smoothly from the print edition to it's celluloid version. The characters, though unique and quirky, do not stand out properly and is marred by poor writing and characterizations especially in the second half. What's unpalatable is the fact that the film is crisp in duration, yet drags big time in the second half ! The funny moments and twists in the second half, falls flat entirely. A dark comedy should be not be just dark in visual presentation, but also in its writing. Subu can be commended for his various absurd sequences, but the connective thread is missing and the story becomes dull.
'Sutta Kadhai' - Novel attempt, but not so good execution.
Ratings: 2.25/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
