Monday, June 18, 2007

Shivaji - The boss


Post script first :
All this rant is not worth your while or mine .

But if you are willing to go ahead anyway, please do .......

After much hype and hoopla about Shivaji we set out from our town Reading, no not in Nagapattinam but in the UK to Feltham to watch it .It is my first ever Rajni movie and after a news-knows-how-many crores shell out i expected it to stimulate my senses /sensibilities a trifle bit .

Scene after scene the movie crushed my spirits ,stomped over my sensibilities and scratched my soul with its screechy nails.I have often been warned that logic doesn't figure in such movies and i put aside that bit of my brain, actually all of it in the closet before we set out . The movie has Rajni aka Shivaji - the idealist wanting to build colleges, schools, hospitals for the poor and needy.After many crushed attempts,the tired Rajni becomes Robinhood and changes black money to Ujala white.
All fine and eternal sunshine, until now.
Along with this main dish came french overfry jokes from Vivek and sloppy tomato sauce Shriya gyrating to cluttered music.
All this stampede my poor soul bore and bore .
I have been warned and i ask no more .

But my thumb (these days my soul resides here) felt sore when :
Rajni wants Tamizh Kalachara Pen so why let Shriya's small dresses scream with suffocation ? (logic please please stay away)
Shriya sheds her mel aadai and runs in front of a train to stop it from Rajni whose foot is stuck in the tracks.Eye candy with soda brandy !This is just what a Tamizh Pen should do .
Rajni comes up with "witty" dialogue about colour discrimination ?Aha you have made a point Mr.Rajni butwhat about scenes when you cringe on seeing two nubile girls who have been painted black ?
On being asked to sing, Kalachara Pen Shriya sings Theeradha Vilayattu pillai and Mr Smartass Vivek sneers at her ?
She dances a classical number and you demand a ghostly Raa Raa ?
You poo-poo away dwarves in a song sequence .So this is how equally you see your makkal ?

All this made me realise that 60 crores of reeking money cannot even by mistake produce anything sensible .But what totally threshed the poor thing was when i turned around to see lots of asians (many thanks to software) feeding their kids with such things .i wanted to leap across and shut every unblinking pair of small eyes that were gaping at this monstrosity.But i silently put my thumb(soul) in my mouth instead.

My soul and belief in humankind is lying low for a while .
For a long time now it will be music,nature, swans,
.................................................... sense ,quiet and frowns.

All this said i pause while entering the publish button . All this rant is not worth your while or mine .Why must i even bother ?i hope to sleep this night and wake up next morning and consider it all a nightmare .
i wore my logic back and she types in bold Verdana :
Let the world rest kid but not on your shoulders .

10 comments:

phreakv6 said...

i was contemplating but now you've assured me. i shudnt take sou to this movie (if i ever go for it that is). :)

--
theanalogkid

(y no anon comments? u made me use my age-old blogger id)

Sathej said...

Hello,
You have rightly put it,Ahiri!Logic is out of the window in such movies.Reading your post is not a waste of time, watching the movie is.And people watch in England too?Astonishing!And kids watching all this is even worse!
Sathej

Diviya said...

Sweetheart, sweetheart, if you expect logic in a Rajnikanth movie, you should expect to be disappointed. After 80 crores of expenditure, it would be madness to assume that the movie makers would be interested in anything but high RoIs.

karthik durvasula said...

i agree with ur commentary on the film's flimsy 'equality/respect' undertones.

however, to call such movies a waste of time might be uncalled for. afterall, if football, boxing, rugby and sprinting can entertain, then why not hypocritical, nonsensical (either order) movies!

maybe centuries from now, people will look back at us and wonder about/ridicule our sports as we do roman-gladiatorial bouts today (cf. the recent trend in machofying violence and idiocy- Gladiator/300/Bravehart...).

అగంతకుడు said...

Your meaningful yet emotional reaction to this "Shivaji" is in place. You must be aware of the promotional fanfare that is going on and what - even the US Consul over here has "enjoyed" this movie. As the years go by people may tend to forget Chatrapathi or the Chevalier and remorsefully remember this ridiculous version.

It is a pity that this fellow knows how to exploit the situation and derive maximum mileage for himself out of it. Sivaji Ganesan or Savithri or J B Chandrababu or even MGR (in his own way) were all the while actors. They studied life to imitate it on the screen and had left behind certain memorable performances that did Tamil Nadu proud. The situation now is that there is no necessity to "act" in films these days. It is a kind of programmed stuff with all eyes on the box office. There is not an element of art in the movies, but good photography and the omnipresent monster of technology stares at you scene after scene. Film is not a matter of nuances, subtelities, grace movements, powerful dialogue, didactic prose and the like. It is a substance-less vessel and the best vessel is the one that makes the biggest noise.

In fact in spite of many persuasions I did not watch Chandramukhi as we had seen Manichithratazh umpteen times and I preferred to hold only those memories and nothing else. Now a small "Mozhi" campaign is on... and I do not know. Certainly shivaji is ruled out even if an offer of offers come to me.

Your desparation is something aking to what Ray had to say once: "At least the sun rises in the East, regularly" , meaning no one manipualtes that act!!!!!!!!!!

Siva

ammani said...

Oh dear! What have you gone and done? Now you're going to invite all kinds of riff-raff telling you why you are so wrong and why indeed this is the next best thing to slice bread. Et cetra, et cetra. I have not watched the movie. I was not tempted to either. I can only imagine what an assault on the senses it must be. The noise around the movie has been so much that one often forgets how to react to it instinctively. I'm glad you've been able to think above the din. And thanks for the warning.

Sathej said...

Thank you for the congrats, Ahiri. My music? You mean the music I upload?
Sathej

Adithya said...

its a SHANKAR movie first... then a Rajini movie... sample the 2nd half.. it was abt a million times better than the 1st... don't you think atleast 1% of the politicians would've changed after watching the movie ? Shankar wants to spread his message... he does so in a sugar coated method. After all, the movie talks abt the country being developed...

on a lighter vein.. Shreya looks always sad or angry in her saree or half-saree while she looks very happy and excited during the songs...lol :)

Anand said...

Shriya was not sloppy tomato sauce! I admit she's not much of an actress, but she was hot. And that is all that matters.

As for all the other things you mentioned, I agree with you.

Jaya said...

:) I truly believe all that u've put in here, and its delightful the way u've put it. Nice writing!