Consider these two story lines –
Story 1 – Very contemporary with probably the most original storyline in recent times (unless if inspired from some foreign language film). Deals with murders that are being televised online and also has a tragic real time incident as backdrop and has an interesting twist which is untraceable.
Story 2 – pretty stale. Done to death backdrop of cop vs gangster. Involves lot of flashbacks and is almost predictable or the twists are hardly original.
Which of these stories would you bet on to be a winner at BO? I would want to bet on the former, for the only reason that the latter, being a cop story is dime a dozen.
The movie with story 2 is “Vikram vedha”, the recent blockbuster which is running packed houses, increasing in trend every day. The former being a damp squib of a dud movie called “Inaiyathalam” (Website). When I was watching Iniayathalam, I felt at many places, what reviewers mean by amateurishly picturized. There is a chase scene in a mall, where the hero is seen chasing the bad guy. In one shot, the bad guy rushes past a glass décor and in the very next shot, the hero shatters the décor jumps across and confronts the bad guy who is shown to be still running behind the décor. An obvious editing mistake. Another cliché, that we keep hearing is, how tv artists find it tough to shine on the silver screen. A good example for the same can again be found in this movie, in Erode Mahesh. He is infact the defacto hero, who has his own duet, the only duet, hogs the role of comedian as well and sadly gets killed in the end (spoiler alert!!). He gets to mouth lot many technical stuff as dialogue, much more than your office network admin and he dutifully manages to recite them, sometimes in chaste tamil. Having seen him on TV across multiple shows, his gags and gig hardly sound original or fresh. Had it been done by any other regular movie personality or even a new comer, probably this character would’ve felt a lot more realistic. But nothing to take away the effort by Mahesh. Ganesh venkatraman (claim to fame – bigboss and previously “Abhiyum Naanum” trisha’s punjabi lover) does all the things action heroes need to do – look smart, fight and wear a stern look. But he does exactly the same even in the reality show, which makes one wonder if at all he can emote in any other way. His efforts have clearly gone waste. Heroine looks much older and probably fits the role of a single mother. But hardly inspires as a cyber crime fighting techie cop. Infact, many a times, I was wondering whether they directly shot the movie on a handy cam and released it without even watching. Many of the scenes on the first half hour were hardly coherent. The pace, despite so many logical gaps, picks up slightly during second half and with the introduction of the surprise villain, it almost makes you wonder, when the climax lets you down, completely and miserably.
The major flaws that I found in such a great story on paper, was primarily on the way its been set for screen. Despite its 2 hour running time, its been made to feel even longer with uninspiring dialogues and erratic investigation technique, which is neither all the way technical nor its diluted for common men. Meaning, it’s a dud for A center and will never get theater in B centers. For such a great storyline, I wish the director had paid bit more effort in fine tuning his screenplay, which would’ve made it a super surprise package and probably made the career for the lead actors.
Gils verdict - Wish they remake this in telugu or Kannada and make this movie a great hit so that it can be remade in hindi for a larger reach. Probably the tamil version is a case study for how not to tell a tale.
Story 1 – Very contemporary with probably the most original storyline in recent times (unless if inspired from some foreign language film). Deals with murders that are being televised online and also has a tragic real time incident as backdrop and has an interesting twist which is untraceable.
Story 2 – pretty stale. Done to death backdrop of cop vs gangster. Involves lot of flashbacks and is almost predictable or the twists are hardly original.
Which of these stories would you bet on to be a winner at BO? I would want to bet on the former, for the only reason that the latter, being a cop story is dime a dozen.
The movie with story 2 is “Vikram vedha”, the recent blockbuster which is running packed houses, increasing in trend every day. The former being a damp squib of a dud movie called “Inaiyathalam” (Website). When I was watching Iniayathalam, I felt at many places, what reviewers mean by amateurishly picturized. There is a chase scene in a mall, where the hero is seen chasing the bad guy. In one shot, the bad guy rushes past a glass décor and in the very next shot, the hero shatters the décor jumps across and confronts the bad guy who is shown to be still running behind the décor. An obvious editing mistake. Another cliché, that we keep hearing is, how tv artists find it tough to shine on the silver screen. A good example for the same can again be found in this movie, in Erode Mahesh. He is infact the defacto hero, who has his own duet, the only duet, hogs the role of comedian as well and sadly gets killed in the end (spoiler alert!!). He gets to mouth lot many technical stuff as dialogue, much more than your office network admin and he dutifully manages to recite them, sometimes in chaste tamil. Having seen him on TV across multiple shows, his gags and gig hardly sound original or fresh. Had it been done by any other regular movie personality or even a new comer, probably this character would’ve felt a lot more realistic. But nothing to take away the effort by Mahesh. Ganesh venkatraman (claim to fame – bigboss and previously “Abhiyum Naanum” trisha’s punjabi lover) does all the things action heroes need to do – look smart, fight and wear a stern look. But he does exactly the same even in the reality show, which makes one wonder if at all he can emote in any other way. His efforts have clearly gone waste. Heroine looks much older and probably fits the role of a single mother. But hardly inspires as a cyber crime fighting techie cop. Infact, many a times, I was wondering whether they directly shot the movie on a handy cam and released it without even watching. Many of the scenes on the first half hour were hardly coherent. The pace, despite so many logical gaps, picks up slightly during second half and with the introduction of the surprise villain, it almost makes you wonder, when the climax lets you down, completely and miserably.
The major flaws that I found in such a great story on paper, was primarily on the way its been set for screen. Despite its 2 hour running time, its been made to feel even longer with uninspiring dialogues and erratic investigation technique, which is neither all the way technical nor its diluted for common men. Meaning, it’s a dud for A center and will never get theater in B centers. For such a great storyline, I wish the director had paid bit more effort in fine tuning his screenplay, which would’ve made it a super surprise package and probably made the career for the lead actors.
Gils verdict - Wish they remake this in telugu or Kannada and make this movie a great hit so that it can be remade in hindi for a larger reach. Probably the tamil version is a case study for how not to tell a tale.
Comments
Vikram vedha was pakka mass :-)