When did Tamil cinema begin yoking its valorous heroes to wild animals? I suppose it all harks back to Rajinikanth, who first unleashed a Murattu Kaalai, and followed it up with a Paayum Puli. (There was also, at some point, the dull roar of a Garjanai.) Today, every hero who wants to ascend to that superstar stratosphere is heading to the jungles for inspiration. Singam, Siruthai, Vengai and now, M Muthaiah’s Kutti Puli – the multiplex has become a bloody menagerie. This film, itself, is something of a menagerie, a hodgepodge of “mass” elements. There’s romance, fights, thaali-centered drama, drumstick-centered comedy, and – above all – unceasing amma sentiment. When whipped mercilessly by the police, the small-time thug named Kutti Puli (M Sasikumar) stays silent. Asked why, he says it’s because his mother (Saranya Ponvannan) is outside the station, and if he cried out in pain, she’d end up in tears. All this aching tenderness… in a film where a 13-year-old schoolboy is offed in broad daylight with a knife plunged into his throat.
Sasikumar, after Subramaniyapuram, shone with the promise of turning into a superb filmmaker. Now, it appears, he’s happy trying to be a superhero. He saves an elderly woman trapped in a burning building. He loves kids. He’s respectful to women. (“Oru pombala nenachathaan neeyum naanum aambala.”) He fights evil. And in line with the rationalist stance of the politics in the state, he endorses vaguely heretical “good deeds,” like stealing from the temple donation box in order to save someone’s life. (That someone, no surprise, is the ailing wife of a drunk.) After dressing up in jeans and a cool shirt – bought from a store where he is likened to Shah Rukh Khan – he asks his mother: “Jananga yethupaangala?” (Will the masses accept me like this?) And to make sure they do, I guess, is why they didn’t bother to compose a new song for the love duet between Kutti Puli and Bharathi (Lakshmi Menon). What we hear, in its entirety, is Ilayaraja’s glorious Ponnoviyam, from Kazhugu – another Rajinikanth film named for a creature of the wild.
All of which makes the ending a total surprise. It’s a brilliant twist, whether viewed from an emotional standpoint (given the characters and their trajectories) or, more clinically, from a critical point of view (it’s a startling subversion of the heroics that preceded it). We should have risen from our seats in applause. But the way the sequence is cut and staged is so ineffective that all we’re left with is the sense of something that could have been great. A major problem is that the villain is so ill-defined. He’s just another thug when he needed to be larger than life, a mythical monster, and his demise – no spoiler there if you’ve ever seen a masala movie – doesn’t carry the weight it should. And it doesn’t help that he vanishes for long stretches. Instead of being reminded of his menace, we keep cutting away to comic bits set to songs from the 1970s and 1980s. (One of the more inspired choices is the MGR-by-way-of-Kamal Haasan hero-worship number Aayirathil nee oruthan, from the ill-fated Naanum Oru Thozhilaali. And yes, in keeping with the running theme, the lyrics hail the hero as a jallikattu kaalai.)
The story has something to do with Kutti Puli resisting marriage because he’s afraid that his blood-spattered life – inevitable, according to him, given that a kalavaram illaadha Madurai is like a kalasam illaadha gopuram – will leave his wife widowed, like his mother. (Didn’t anyone tell him he’s the hero?) This narrative thread promises high drama, but the film finds its footing only in the lighthearted sequences, which are entertaining in a way things are entertaining on TV when there’s nothing else to watch. A few weeks back, we were celebrating small, brave, oddball films that seemed to herald a new era. And now, we have Kutti Puli, with lyrics like “Aatha un selai, aagaayam pola,” and with unimaginative fight sequences executed by veshti-clad men with an unstoppable itch to keep flashing their innerwear. I left the theatre with the image of Tamil Cinema as Michael Corleone, murmuring mournfully, “Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in.”
An edited version of this piece can be found here.
Copyright ©2013 The Hindu. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
KayKay
June 1, 2013
Sasikumar= Cheran Part 2= a promising director who
now insists on parking his mug at the wrong end of a camera.
Pass.
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Kiruba
June 1, 2013
So it’s still alive? Hope we get to see it this time..
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ram
June 2, 2013
Last line- roflmao…. I watched the film, wondering why was it not given an “A” certificate for its gory violence. The one-line story is good but was executed very poorly. Sasikumar is getting unbearable. The four comedians added to the irritation.
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brangan
June 2, 2013
Kiruba: Yeah, I hope so too 🙂 On a side note, I don’t know how producers and directors do this. The watching, the waiting, the negotiating and deal-making and second-guessing — it’s nerve-racking. I wouldn’t survive for a day!
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Adithya Bourne
June 2, 2013
sasikumar nowadays trying to project himself as a mass hero,we can see that in his recent films(opening songs,punch dialogues,OTT fights)…IMO he should be behind the camera not infront….
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Mambazha Manidhan
June 2, 2013
So, CineMadurai is officially on its way out, huh? 7-8 years is not a bad run at all.
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vijay
June 3, 2013
“A few weeks back, we were celebrating small, brave, oddball films that seemed to herald a new era. And now, we have Kutti Puli, ‘
come on, you really thought that after a couple of Soodhu Kavvums Tamil cinema has suddenly changed overnight? you build expectations too easily. A There will be Blood has to be balanced by Transformers and a Soodhu Kavvum will be balanced by several Kutti pulis.Surya is set to roar with his Singam sequel. And then Devgun or Shetty will roar with their Singham franchise. Neenga anubavikka vendiyadhu innum neraya irukku 🙂
Atleast you get to hear some old IR hits in these movies and have the pleasure of mentioning it here everytime 🙂
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vijay
June 3, 2013
Kaadhal 2 kalyanam release aagaradhukulla Ramya Karnataka CM aanalum aagiduvaanga.
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brangan
June 3, 2013
Seeking tips from regular FB/Twitter users.
If you post links to your pieces — as I do — how many times do you re-post them? The idea is to cover readers across time zones, etc. So once in the morning, once in the evening kind of thing? And once after the weekend, on Mondays? Would like to know how you do it. Thanks.
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dinakaranonline
June 3, 2013
Normally people post a maximum of 3 times – mostly in weekend when people relax and free to read . They also add a tag called #re or#replug when posting for second or third time ! Regarding the timings , there are certain tools (eg. HootSuite)that help you analyse which of your tweets are read by many people and provides you a report. You can use that !
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brangan
June 3, 2013
dinakaranonline: Hootsuite? Ayyo, don’t make me look at new technology man. I’ve just begun to embrace FB more actively 🙂
See but the thing is my blog stats shoot up on Mondays/Tuesdays — I think because people read longer pieces when taking office breaks. I posted a few links last weekend and again today, and the readership from today’s posting was higher.
Anyway, thanks.
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dinakaranonline
June 3, 2013
https://hootsuite.com/ It is not new technology and all 🙂 just configure your fb/twitter id and it will help you with analytics and when people click your tweet and all such data !
If people read more on weekdays, it means majority of your audience , as you rightly suggested , read it from office during breaks( or like me during office hours :P) . Some do not have internet at home to read i guess ? may be…
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Ra's Al Ghul
June 4, 2013
Rangan: Your blog is the very first website i open on Monday because thats when i get your reviews on the friday’s movies. In the middle of week, you dont post reviews so those pieces can be read at leisure. They dont have the same ‘curiosity’ i gues. Aand reading your analyses during the weekend doesnt sit well with my lazyness. Looks like that’s a profile that many of your readers would fit into!
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Bala
June 5, 2013
@Baradwaj: Btw, if you’re still interested in writing that book on my namesake (Balachander) and if the big publishers aren’t biting, may I suggest the kickstarter route ? I for one would certainly pay for it 😉
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brangan
June 5, 2013
Ra’s Al Ghul: There’s a regular readership that reads the posts promptly, and some of them even subscribe to this blog. I was talking about acquiring non-regulars, through FB and Twitter posts.
Bala: Not sure how that works. Who’ll give me royalties saar? Or are you offering that too? 🙂
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Bala
June 5, 2013
@Baradwaj : Royalties enna, people will pay the full price. Put this up on kickstarter, set some amount which has to be reached. Offer stuff to the people ponying up the money ( say signed copies, photographs whatever). If the amount is reached, then it’s a success and you can write and then self-publish it (I guess). If not, well, at least you get a rough idea of how many loyal/interested readers you have 🙂
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Gradwolf
June 5, 2013
On Twitter, usually people stick to three plugs. Across timezones. And traffic, especially on social networking sites, is high on weekdays/office hours than on weekends. I mean, really.
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MumbaiRamki
June 7, 2013
BR, I don’t think reposting will help for FB if you do it within a day . These factors will influence whether ( and thats why i did not get your post in my fb, as i don’t interact with you in FB much )
1) How strong is the connection between you and your friends in Fb ? ( measured by likes, comments of how many your friends gave to your post)
2) Which type of content is most liked by your friends ( video, images ,links, plain text – priority is in this order)
3) How strong is your current post in terms of number of likes , comments ?
4) How many days is it since it is posted ?
I would suggest that you post your stuff as images with a linik embeded . And for ‘ sudu’ ( hot:)) articles, repost it with another images with some updates on number of comments .
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MumbaiRamki
June 7, 2013
Coming to TIny TIger ( saw it in madurai FDNight Show ) …
I quite like the climax and the surprise of it , but then the whole story should have been between a powerful villain with a strong reason for vengence, a man who doesn’t want to turn into a family person , a mother who is obsessed with his son’s life ..
Munumae illa 🙂 . It has fantastic melody ‘ aruvakaran’ – no mention of it ? The re recording of the movie was spot on if you re-scale your expectations of what Gibran can do with this movie !
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