There was hype in Tamil Movie Industry about Ayirathil Oruvan (AO).. It is translated to One in Thousand.. actually a old movie title which legenday actor and ex-Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu MGR acted. The movie stars Karthi of Paruthi Veeran fame, Reema Sen, Andrea, Parthipan..
The director on his pre-release shows in all TV Channels told that this movie is outright fantasy movie and full of my imagination. The movie has clear disclaimer on this line that it is totally imagination and no inaccuracies of history is not intended.
It is an out & out fantasy movie about two erstwhile kingdoms of Tamilnadu.. Cholas and Pandiyas, mostly on their rivalry and Cholas last (or lost!!) emperor. The Archaeological Dept goes for search trip to an island in Vietnam to find the remains of Cholas who fled after a defeated war wtih clear objective of safeguarding the heir apparents of the king.
The adventures and traps are clearly a hallmark of creativity and the logical reasoning and effective computer graphics makes one feel attached to the movie and the script.
All the lead actors have performed their life out for this movie especially Parthipan who as an estranged king, shows the emotions of life lost in wilderness and also scores point with clear diction of ancient tamil verses in the dialogue. The two lead actress were justified in the role selection.
The climax of the movie is a stretched affair with unwarranted scenes of violence on women who are captivated. The director should have made a difference by showing some other means of getting the chola group disappear or killed.
If you want to be nit picking film critic, sure I think there will be lot of doubts and loopholes in the story line, script and also some of the scenes. Also there will be comments or criticism that the movie is inspired by English movies. Such adventure / search related movies will sure look similar.
I think Director Selvaraghavan ignited atleast few people to go back to historical references of Chola kingdom. Their engineering prowess is clearly highlighted in the movie with traps, barricades and checks for anyone to enter the area of hiding.
It is sure Ayirathil Oru Padam.. meaning One in Thousand Movie to be watched. I am sure it requires lot of effort, research and continuous creativity to come up with such screenplay, dialogues, etc.
For those willing to spend 3 hours on creative surge, go ahead and watch the movie. I think the movie should be marketed pan India for more viewership but it is grey area whether pan India people is aware of history related to Cholas, Pandiyas :(
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
How one can create another controversy out of 3 Idiots movie :)
Is Chatur reflection of South Indian Students
The success of 3 Idiots seems to be surprising for few bloggers though they are appreciative of the message it carries. Rote learning / Race behind marks are not the ideal education system.
Also the high pitched war of words of the credits controversy seemed to have blown down another controversy with the movie's characters. Here is my funny take on possible interpretations by public / media on that one.
During the ragging scene, the character "Silencer" or "Chatur" introduces himself as "Chatur Ramalingam" and speaks only English. The senior guy chides him to speak in Hindi. Chatur says "I am born in Uganda and studies in Pondicherry, so I cannot speak Hindi". Then he goes on to learn the lingo. The controversy is hidden here :)
There are ways to interpret any scene in a movie but here is 2 ways of interpreting and blowing it as controversy.
Interpretation#1 : I think director / script writers (I wouldn't tell them as story writers obviously because of the other controversy)wanted to convey the point that South Indian students are behind the marks race and adding that they are not Hindi literate per se.
Interpretation#2 : The other way it can be interpreted is that writers wanted to portray that those who do not know Hindi are not born in India and written the script such that Chatur says he is born in Uganda and raised in Pondicherry.
I think the Media didn't bring it up because they are pretty sure this will not get them the TRP pointers. Also there are no major TV Channels that are dependent on South Indian viewership as one of the famous TV Editors agreed that English channels don't allocate much airtime for South Indian news.
On the other angle, one can be pretty sure, the South Indian language media or English media (both print & TV) based in Southern part will not get into such matters, they by far have better news to cover rather than mindless controversies.
So Script writers' arrogance came in while creating such character because they could have kept one of 3 Idiots to be from South India.
Now the serious part, Chatur was pivotal role in 3 Idiots to stitch the screen play and also driving home the message that the movie intend to convey.
At the same time, somehow I was not impressed with characterisation of 3 Idiots because it reminds of lot of earlier such rigid characters like Big B's Mohabbatein role or Dean from Munnabhai MBBS or some strict family headman in few village oriented movies. The exaggerated way of gross dressing (not cross dressing) of a director of an reputed institution doesn't go well.
I have not read the book, so I won't comment on the controversy but the book should make a good read, will sure buy one legal copy from a book stall so that the royalty goes to either of the CBs (Charity Books or Chetan Bhagats). Hey I do follow CB in Twitter and one of the message he indicated that money made during that controversy will go to charity.
One of the hidden message from the movie is not to stereo type education or life but somehow script writers stereotyped Pondicherry / South India educated students, which is bad from people who made Gandhigiri famous after 60 years.
The success of 3 Idiots seems to be surprising for few bloggers though they are appreciative of the message it carries. Rote learning / Race behind marks are not the ideal education system.
Also the high pitched war of words of the credits controversy seemed to have blown down another controversy with the movie's characters. Here is my funny take on possible interpretations by public / media on that one.
During the ragging scene, the character "Silencer" or "Chatur" introduces himself as "Chatur Ramalingam" and speaks only English. The senior guy chides him to speak in Hindi. Chatur says "I am born in Uganda and studies in Pondicherry, so I cannot speak Hindi". Then he goes on to learn the lingo. The controversy is hidden here :)
There are ways to interpret any scene in a movie but here is 2 ways of interpreting and blowing it as controversy.
Interpretation#1 : I think director / script writers (I wouldn't tell them as story writers obviously because of the other controversy)wanted to convey the point that South Indian students are behind the marks race and adding that they are not Hindi literate per se.
Interpretation#2 : The other way it can be interpreted is that writers wanted to portray that those who do not know Hindi are not born in India and written the script such that Chatur says he is born in Uganda and raised in Pondicherry.
I think the Media didn't bring it up because they are pretty sure this will not get them the TRP pointers. Also there are no major TV Channels that are dependent on South Indian viewership as one of the famous TV Editors agreed that English channels don't allocate much airtime for South Indian news.
On the other angle, one can be pretty sure, the South Indian language media or English media (both print & TV) based in Southern part will not get into such matters, they by far have better news to cover rather than mindless controversies.
So Script writers' arrogance came in while creating such character because they could have kept one of 3 Idiots to be from South India.
Now the serious part, Chatur was pivotal role in 3 Idiots to stitch the screen play and also driving home the message that the movie intend to convey.
At the same time, somehow I was not impressed with characterisation of 3 Idiots because it reminds of lot of earlier such rigid characters like Big B's Mohabbatein role or Dean from Munnabhai MBBS or some strict family headman in few village oriented movies. The exaggerated way of gross dressing (not cross dressing) of a director of an reputed institution doesn't go well.
I have not read the book, so I won't comment on the controversy but the book should make a good read, will sure buy one legal copy from a book stall so that the royalty goes to either of the CBs (Charity Books or Chetan Bhagats). Hey I do follow CB in Twitter and one of the message he indicated that money made during that controversy will go to charity.
One of the hidden message from the movie is not to stereo type education or life but somehow script writers stereotyped Pondicherry / South India educated students, which is bad from people who made Gandhigiri famous after 60 years.
Tail Piece: Maybe CB vs 3 Idiots controversy was triggered to avoid this getting blown up :)
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