Aruvi and Last Jedi - movie review
Aruvi – Ever since release, there has been so many reviews and feedbacks and appreciations and accolades around this movie that, it was really surprising to see such an unanimously positive comment. And surprisingly, not a single one of the review carried any link about the story and the comments were also an exact replica of each other. Felt as if, someone typed a review and circulated it to all newspapers and social media to “touch upon” and circulate. Every single one of them had praised on the finer aspect of the casting, be it the heroine, the soothing bgm or the wonderful supporting cast. The words were a repeat across all media. Usually, such kind of reviews are reserved for Karan johar, SRK movies, which are often “sponsored” content. But for this movie, everyone went out of their way to promote word of mouth publicity.
When I saw the movie, I felt, all those adulation were more out of guilt rather than anything else. Guilt that as a society we have failed to take care of the needy. Guilt that we, knowingly, ill-treat transgender people and diseased, especially the HIV infected. Of all the cursed diseases, people with AIDS would be the most lambasted lot, for it not just questions their immunity but their character as well. No one would wontedly get afflicted with any disease, especially this dreaded one with varying reasons the source for spread and for infection. The storyline is more of a sentimental slap on the ignorance of the public and the collective lack of empathy which people have towards the victim. There are lot of sentimental scenes which are interspersed with dark and gallows humor that would make it an interesting watch on theaters. Since the subject is emotion heavy, any comic relief is well received. But it still doesn’t justify the reason for the hostage scenario. May be its full of metaphors which are total bouncers for my little brain. I loved the first half hour into the first half, which are so full of life and traverses a normal life of any girl maturing into a lady.
Gils verdict – There are some movies about which you cannot say bad. Aruvi is one such movie, for at its heart, it’s an honest attempt to hold mirror to our inner selves as to how we are at our baddest. It takes guts and lot of preparation to present such characters on screen. Kudos to the heroine and the director for venturing into such a bold subject. Wonder if she would have such meaningful roles or any roles ever in tamil movie industry. She will be slotted as “performer” and considering that the industry churns out mostly masala stuff, antha cute smiling heroine mega serials pakkam pack paniduvanga nenakren.
Last Jedi – Be the previous installment “Force awakens” or this one, the Star wars franchise are adept at the art of packaging old stuff in new bottle. The rise of the franchise co-incided with video games and with predominantly most of the scenes in current generation video games resembling more real life action, wonder for how long the series would get mileage. Story wise, even the original series was nothing new and with the rehashed version, its yet another done and dusted plot, heavily borrowed from its illustrious previous episodes. The heroine, who is the hero in this version of the series, looks and acts her part. Han Solo’s equivalent hardly has the screen presence of Harrison Ford’s dimple. The villain or the anti-hero looks like younger version of Snape and is as confused as the character. But from a mob mentality feel good perspective that you are also part of the bigger crowd of “naanum star wars fan da”, it makes a passable watch. Spread almost over three hours, by the time help comes in, it almost felt, was the previous scene from pre-interval or from previous episode!!!
Gils verdict – Deepavaliku ganga snanam aacha pola, Rajini padam release aana paathacha kekara pola, Star warskum antha dialogue porunthum. Wish they have an abridged version for TV. Ilaati Christmasku start aagi Newyearku thaan mudiyum with all its ad breaks.
When I saw the movie, I felt, all those adulation were more out of guilt rather than anything else. Guilt that as a society we have failed to take care of the needy. Guilt that we, knowingly, ill-treat transgender people and diseased, especially the HIV infected. Of all the cursed diseases, people with AIDS would be the most lambasted lot, for it not just questions their immunity but their character as well. No one would wontedly get afflicted with any disease, especially this dreaded one with varying reasons the source for spread and for infection. The storyline is more of a sentimental slap on the ignorance of the public and the collective lack of empathy which people have towards the victim. There are lot of sentimental scenes which are interspersed with dark and gallows humor that would make it an interesting watch on theaters. Since the subject is emotion heavy, any comic relief is well received. But it still doesn’t justify the reason for the hostage scenario. May be its full of metaphors which are total bouncers for my little brain. I loved the first half hour into the first half, which are so full of life and traverses a normal life of any girl maturing into a lady.
Gils verdict – There are some movies about which you cannot say bad. Aruvi is one such movie, for at its heart, it’s an honest attempt to hold mirror to our inner selves as to how we are at our baddest. It takes guts and lot of preparation to present such characters on screen. Kudos to the heroine and the director for venturing into such a bold subject. Wonder if she would have such meaningful roles or any roles ever in tamil movie industry. She will be slotted as “performer” and considering that the industry churns out mostly masala stuff, antha cute smiling heroine mega serials pakkam pack paniduvanga nenakren.
Last Jedi – Be the previous installment “Force awakens” or this one, the Star wars franchise are adept at the art of packaging old stuff in new bottle. The rise of the franchise co-incided with video games and with predominantly most of the scenes in current generation video games resembling more real life action, wonder for how long the series would get mileage. Story wise, even the original series was nothing new and with the rehashed version, its yet another done and dusted plot, heavily borrowed from its illustrious previous episodes. The heroine, who is the hero in this version of the series, looks and acts her part. Han Solo’s equivalent hardly has the screen presence of Harrison Ford’s dimple. The villain or the anti-hero looks like younger version of Snape and is as confused as the character. But from a mob mentality feel good perspective that you are also part of the bigger crowd of “naanum star wars fan da”, it makes a passable watch. Spread almost over three hours, by the time help comes in, it almost felt, was the previous scene from pre-interval or from previous episode!!!
Gils verdict – Deepavaliku ganga snanam aacha pola, Rajini padam release aana paathacha kekara pola, Star warskum antha dialogue porunthum. Wish they have an abridged version for TV. Ilaati Christmasku start aagi Newyearku thaan mudiyum with all its ad breaks.
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