Manirathnam�s Ayitha Ezhuthu is a let down. The movie is about three youths and how their destinies are intertwined. Surya is your leftist that wants to take the country forward. Madhavan is a henchman-rowdy. Siddarth is the dollar-dreaming dick. The movie is supposedly stylized; the story is told as the characters are established. But Mani mucks it up with songs, lame humor, and clich�d heroines. Mani, stereotyping is bad for digestion, when will you ever learn that. Popcorn eating commoners like me will not like the movie; we want value for money. It is for intellectually elevated folk like
Lazy Geek. ;-)
No matter what the intellectuals say about the style and presentation of the movie, fact remains that Mani fails in delivering a movie that entertains and makes the viewer feel that he got his money�s worth. Let�s see why:
Style does not precede content: When your story telling is shaky, your movie will lose despite the much publicized �stylized� movie-making attempt. Mani seems to have worked hard (in the movie) at letting people know that the movie is stylized than actually concentrating on stylizing the movie. There are no half-f**ks Mani; either it is a f***k or it is not. Also, drama is when the audience cries, and not when the actors cry. Same goes for stylized moviemaking: I should worry about how the Dinosaur is going to be killed, and not appreciate �wow, that creature looks so real!� Get it?
If Mani were sincere in making something new he would not have disrupted the coherence of the movie with some stupid song sequences. That�s my point: when you want to do something new why be insecure and slip-in some �sure-sell� content like songs?
Characters: Madhavan as the henchman-of-politicians comes across as half-baked. Mind you, it is not Madhavan�s fault; the character sketch itself is confusing. He loves his wife, but he lets her down. He kills his best friend, but negotiates for more �power� with the politician who wanted to kill him. When I create a character and throw him in the midst of a volatile plot, I can not afford to impose what I think is best for the character or story; I will have to worry about �motivation�. Madhavan-in the movie- had all the motivation to kill the politician, but he doesn�t.
Surya is good. He seems to revel in the tough-guy roles. Siddarth needs to take acting lessons. Esha and Trisha are ornamental characters that hardly bother to make an impression. Meera Jasmine is good; watch out for her. Bharathiraja, well, he is ok.
AR has a long way to go before he can come up with background scores that captivate the audience. He should watch some Ilayaraja movies to learn the craft. However, his songs are good. I love the club number. Its bass riffs set your pulse racing and your feet tapping, but as usual the discos in India ignore it and continue to play shitty tracks by Anu Malik.
Ravi K Chandran�s camera has the freshness and energy of a new born calf. He delights us with his camera work. Sujatha�s dialogues are ok. He needs to get over himself and try and be honest to the script. Ah, the script: written by Mani himself, it sucks like hell. It is articficial, at best, and successfully irritates commoners like me and makes us boo.
Verdict? The movie sucks. Do not waste your money.
Lazy Geek says on his blog, "Aayitha Ezhuthu is about serious cinema and not just for the popcorn eating cinema commoner."
Well, there is nothing like serious cinema brother. There is good cinema and there is bad. And the popcorn eating commoner pays for Manirathnam. And I don�t understand this class-bifurcation; if Mani wants to appeal to the �class� audience, why does he persevere with song and dance sequences and run the risk of being artificial? Does that mean that �your� serious cinema condones hypocrisy?
Write to me: suman 'at' techwritersindia 'dot' com
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