Spoilers ahead…
There’s a sly joke in Irudhi Suttru about the Kollywood (and indeed, the Tamil) tendency to bestow titles and nicknames, put up cut-outs and banners, transform the most ordinary of events into a combination of Pongal, Deepavali and the Superstar’s birthday. The utterly ordinary event, here, is the return of Hissar-based boxing coach Prabhu (a quietly effective R Madhavan) to Chennai. In his honour, the local gym is festooned with posters that proclaim: Kuthusandai singame, Thamizhnaattin thangame. The joke isn’t just that these celebrations are for a man who’s been disgraced (a sexual harassment charge hangs over him), a man who did not choose to come back in the first place. It’s also that he wants none of it. He doesn’t want this fuss. He just wants to find new boxers and train them. In other words, he just wants to do his job. Had this been a Gautham Menon movie, he’d have turned to the junior coach (Nasser) at the gym and barked: Cut the crap!
That seems to be the motto of director Sudha Kongara as well. Irudhi Suttru is resolutely old-fashioned – not in the Rajini Murugan sense, where there’s nothing new, but in its conscientious commitment to the basics: writing, craft, performances. Sudha doesn’t want to make “world cinema.” She doesn’t want to make alphabet-soup cinema either, pandering to A, B, C centres. What she’s made is something rarer – a Rocky (or maybe we should say Creed, in this Oscar season) kind of heart-warmer where a predictable narrative is polished up by… cutting the crap. The situations are fresh, funny. There’s not a moment that doesn’t belong, that doesn’t rise from what came earlier, that doesn’t slip into what comes later. “Dignity” isn’t a word we use very often with our commercial cinema, but this film has that quality. A situation involving something as sensational as oral sex is depicted through a bruised lip. Whatever was used to create that bruise is the only kind of makeup in this movie, which is similarly free of artifice.
The story has to do with Prabhu stumbling upon a girl he finds a “born champion.” But Madhi (Ritika Singh), who sells fish in a corner in the northern parts of Chennai, doesn’t see herself as a boxer. Her sister Lux (the excellent Mumtaz Sorcar) is the boxer in the family; she’s just the over-excited cheerleader. But Prabhu convinces her, and what follows is a battle of wills. If he’s got attitude (he attends a boxing committee meeting slurping from a can of beer), she’s no pushover either. She mocks his age. She mocks his paunch. She mocks his attempts to make something of her. This isn’t sports training. This is breaking a wild horse. (Santhosh Narayanan’s untamed tunes, all serrated edges, are their own versions of wild horses.) Ritika Singh, who’s a professional boxer, is marvellously skittish. She plays the part like someone who grew up in the mountains, with no exposure to civilization. Even when still, she appears to be at the verge of bursting out of her skin. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a heroine so… alive.
But the film isn’t just about this. It isn’t just Million Rupee Baby. It’s also a story about sibling rivalry. Lux begins to resent Madhi because she saw herself as the star, and now the supporting actor has top billing. There are delicate layers here. Lux sees boxing as a means to a job with the police force – it’s a way to drag the family out of poverty, gain some respect (perhaps even fear) in the neighbourhood. And here’s this upstart, boxing for the sake of boxing, because she has it in her genes. Lux has a terrific moment where we see how much she’s sacrificed, and what it would have meant to her had Prabhu chosen her as his protégée. We see a lot of red in boxing dramas, but here we also see bits of grey. Prabhu himself is no saint. In his very first scene, he’s sinning with another man’s wife. And then something about boxing comes on TV. He pulls away and sits up. He likes women. But he loves boxing.
And what happens when he gets both in the same package? Irudhi Suttru, thus, is also a love story. (We could call it a… glove story.) I had a lump in my throat when Madhi calls Prabhu’s bluff and asks what this is if not love. (I had a bigger lump at the end, when she leaps into his arms.) Most movies make the mistake of harping on issues – they turn into pamphlets. (The recent boxing drama, Bhooloham, was one – its final scenes still smelled of the printing press.) Irudhi Suttru ticks off its fair share of issues as well (poor infrastructure, politics in sports, sexual harassment), but it’s always about the characters. (The writers are Sudha Kongara and Sunanda Raghunathan.) Except the painfully one-note villain (Zakir Hussain, whose Tamil is the most wince-inducing since Shah Rukh Khan’s in Hey Ram!), everyone else is thoughtfully fleshed out from their generic moulds. The Wastrel Father is also a man who’s recently found Jesus. The Long-Suffering Mother is also the woman who encourages her daughter to box – and she’s from a Hindi household. The Junior Coach is… just the junior coach. But Nasser negates the clichés. He gives the acting world’s equivalent of a warm hug from a grandparent.
Irudhi Suttru is what you get when an in-sync team comes together. The cinematographer is Sivakumar Vijayan, who shot Vidiyum Munn. With just two films, he’s already become one of our best mood manufacturers. In a couple of scenes, the theatre seemed flooded by sunlight. You feel you need to borrow Madhavan’s Aviator sunglasses. The film is filled with these touches. I liked the touch that Prabhu, when transferred to Chennai, doesn’t hop on to a plane. He bikes it, pitching tents along the way. A touch like that is worth five pages of dialogue. Even the most minor characters give us a glimpse of a larger story. I’m thinking about the boxing committee member played by Radharavi, who’s there for all of five minutes. But we see him with Prabhu, and we sense their shared history, the true nature of which is revealed at the end. That something this deep, this dramatic is accomplished through a laugh-out-loud line (one of many) is the sweetest punch of all.
KEY:
- Irudhi Suttru = last round
An edited version of this piece can be found here. Copyright ©2016 The Hindu. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Srinivas R
January 30, 2016
One of the rare positive takes on the movie( the only one?). Other reviews have been calling this limp and cliche ridden. Will definitely give this a try.Glad to know you liked. I hope for Maddy’s sake this works out.
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udhaysankar
January 30, 2016
Seems to be another winner for cv Kumar. This man is on a golden streak. He is the only producer whose films I hate to miss in theatres. I hope his future Ventures continue to perform well commercially.
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karzzexped
January 30, 2016
@ Srinivas R :- While the Tamil version has received an overwhelming response, the Hindi version has got a lukewarm one. Probably has got to do with ” Bhaag Milka Bhag ” and ” Mary Kom” being a strong establishment and also the misconstrued resonance that this movie has with “Chak De”.
I got a hold of this movie and what I felt this was a no-nonsense movie which established its sense and setting right from the first scene as BR rightly mentioned. Do give it a try.
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Arun
January 30, 2016
Santosh Narayanan is a very gifted musician. His score lifted the film a notch and for a sports movie, I think it is very important that music to be there and given that this has a huge emotional core I think he did all that and more. Can’t wait to see what he has composed for Thalaivar as the Madras/Attakathi combo returns there.
That moment when Maddy goes back to his mottamaadi and just punches the hell out of that boxing bag was so awesome too. Such was the ferocity, that it reminded me of Tom Hardy punching the wall in TDKR.
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Enna_koduka_sir_pera
January 30, 2016
Having read the other reviews for this movie, I like how you talk about it as a movie, instead of a story as such, bringing greater depth to your analysis.
Is the analogy of Santosh Narayan’s tunes being like wildhorses meant as a good or a bad thing? Usually, I find his background score to elevate the whole experience I get from the movie and make me more absorbed into it (Jigarthanda, Madras come to my mind).
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Punee
January 30, 2016
Ok, I wasn’t going to watch it but now that you said its also a (g)love story I will 🙂
Also who won’t want to jump into Maddy’s (now admittedly gigantic) arms? 🙂 😛 #MightyJealousOfRitika
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sanjana
January 30, 2016
The critic who has a bleeding heart! A teacher who cares than canes.
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brangan
January 30, 2016
Punee: Also who won’t want to jump into Maddy’s (now admittedly gigantic) arms?
Just wanted to say that it’s nice to have your enthusiastic (that’s too mild a word, really) voice in these parts, even if at times I’ve begun to feel I’m running a dating site 🙂
sanjana: LOL. The critic who has a bleeding heart!
Next, you’ll be recommending me for a Padma Vibhushan 🙂
Enna_koduka_sir_pera: About Santhosh Narayan’s tunes being like wild horses… I mean that as a good thing. He takes the same instruments and makes something wild. Like his sawing violins. Like the voice that seems to be finding the tune as it goes along. His music fit in perfectly here. It’s perfectly “unpolished,” if you know what I mean.
About background scores, I find it difficult to get into specifics after just one viewing of a film, unless it’s a very strong leitmotif-driven Raja-like score (in which the repetitions and variations drill the music into us even as we are watching the movie) or it’s something with very specific instruments (like what Raja did for Thaarai Thappattai, or what Amit Trivedi did for Aiyaa, where it’s just the flute).
I mean, during the first viewing, I hear what instruments are being used and maybe I even register some tunes and patterns, but the entire “connect” to the editing rhythms and the emotional content of the film — which is the whole point of BGM — is too much to absorb in the first viewing (for me). Unless it’s just plain music playing (over stark scenery), like in the opening of The Hateful Eight, and we’re only listening to this music as we’d listen to a CD or a concert.
BGM, for me, is like cinematography. I may register some very strong scenes, but it’s only on re-watching that I fully see how the “sync” happens between the cinematography and the acting / staging.
I’m always amazed when people seem to talk so authoritatively about these aspects after just one viewing. But yes, Santhosh’s earlier films — on re-viewing — have proved to have very nice scores. Soodhu Kavvum, especially.
PS: I also wonder if this film’s music is a factor for the film being panned by north-side reviewers. When I hear “vaa machaaney”, my foot starts tapping automatically. But maybe the song does nothing for them? So the whole “local” milieu that’s conjured up may not be working for the north audience? I don’t know… Though this may be a silly point, because we’re supposed to slip into any milieu, provided it’s created organically…
PPS: I’m wondering if there are instances of Tamil films working (with critics, with audience) where there was a strong north Indian milieu. Even Nayakan, though set in Mumbai, was set in the Tamil-speaking parts.
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sanjana
January 30, 2016
Northies lap up songs like lungi dance.
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praneshp
January 30, 2016
@sanjana: maybe that’s the problem. I don’t hate that song, but it doesn’t make me tap my foot….
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prakash
January 30, 2016
Million rupee baby… Glove story (grin)
Really appreciate the effort you put into your writing and making it entertaining for readers. Not much of a movie watcher, but come here just to read. Might check this one out if the Tamil version is playing with subtitles.
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Punee
January 30, 2016
@BR: Thank you good sir! 🙂 My enthusiasm will soon have a channel (no, not dating! 😛 ), there is a very strong reason I started writing on your blog and you shall know all in the course of time 😀
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brangan
January 30, 2016
Enna_koduka_sir_pera: BTW, every time I see your name, I recall the opening words of this song 🙂
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Srivatsan
January 30, 2016
Can’t help noticing Agni Natchithiram score in the scene where Madhi realizes her blunder and starts practicing. It’s the first day of her training and Prabhu instructs to do 50 extra push-ups, a little Punnagai Mannan-ish touch?
Madhi, a Dhanush fan, replaces the picture of Prabhu in her wallet, does it symbolize the return of Maddy?
Well, did he leave?
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
January 30, 2016
How come there is no mention about Dhanush in the review? Hindi-version layum Dhanush thaana? 🙂
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Sutheesh Kumar. P. S.
January 30, 2016
This movie is actually about two lost souls finding redemption together.
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Ragenikanth
January 30, 2016
There’s a sly joke in Irudhi Suttru about the Kollywood (and indeed, the Tamil) tendency to bestow titles and nicknames, put up cut-outs and banners, transform the most ordinary of events into a combination of Pongal, Deepavali and the Superstar’s birthday
I disagree that this is limited to Tamil, I live in Bangalore it is no different here & when it comes to hero worship nobody can beat Bangalore you just cannot count the Dr.Rajkumar Raod’s and his statues in BLR
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apex
January 30, 2016
Though I won’t be able to watch this, hope this is a good film for madhavans sake-Like him…
Though was overshadowed by kanganas tour-de-force in TWMR, his performance was underrated, nuanced there…
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bart
January 30, 2016
Both the Padam & your write-up are super. Hearing claps in the climax as well at “the end” accentuated the punch of the movie. The music, locales, new faces, the small details and fresh writing – made it not just another sports movie. The chapter between Radharavi and Madhavan could’ve been touched upon a bit more; it would’ve also helped us look into his (relations) side. Rithika just blazes through the screen. Lets pray that a Genelia stereotype doesn’t evolve around her.
I too am surprised to see not so positive reviews for the Hindi version. Maybe its the disconnect of mileu, music & actors. Most MR movies are set in north – half-Bombay, half-Mouna Ragam, Nayagan, Guru to the latest OKK. All of these did work with critics and audience. I found one “saala khadoos’ review saying that the performances are played at higher level in the movie. Do performances vary between south and north (like western sensibilities vs ours)?
I think one of the disconnects is probably the potrayal of the main protagonist + family, which was not to the south indian stereotypes. Whatever be it, its a good tamil movie for sure. A warm welcome to Sudha Kongara in her second attempt!
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Anu Warrier
January 30, 2016
This is playing in my local theatre, and I was dithering between going, or not. The reviews of its Hindi version, as many have pointed out, were disappointing. Now, I think much has been lost in translation. Thanks for an alternate viewpoint, Brangan.
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Enna_koduka_sir_pera
January 30, 2016
BR – your description of SN’s tunes being like wild horses perfectly captures my thoughts on his tunes in general. There is a rawness in their form, but somehow they are polished as well. Very different sensibilities from other music directors in Tamil.
For me, BGM is one of the first things to strike me as I watch a movie. I am a layman when music is concerned, so I don’t go into the technicalities of the score, but what I think of a great BGM is when the final product helps me get into the mood of the movie without necessarily thrusting the emotion of the scene on my face. For this reason, I find melodramatic tunes often jarring. For example, this scene from Kannathil Muthamittal could have been so much more if not for the jarring “aaaaahhhhaahh” in the background.The BGM shouldn’t cry for me, but should make me cry.
I think ARR has grown mellower now, but I have found a liking for SN’s BGMs (I am product of the 90s, so haven’t heard much of Ilaiyaraja’s work). I agree though that multiple viewings might be required to analyze how the tunes synced with the movie, but I have never done that.
As for the music being a disconnect factor in Saala Khadoos for reviewers in the North, I have played some of SN’s and IR’s songs to a couple of my ‘Northie’-friends and they couldn’t connect with them at all and found the language and tunes too ‘rough’ on the ear. They could connect with ARR’s songs in general, but not with a song somewhat rooted in Tamil folk like Mettupodu from Duet. But, as you said, if it all organically fits in the milieu, it is hard to think why that should have mattered.
ROFL at the Enna solli Naan Ezhuda song and her expressions!
Also, just noticed the effects of me learning coding. I learnt to replace spaces with ‘_’ in file names, but realized I have extended that to my pseudonym on this blog 😛
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marees
January 30, 2016
@bart I think intensity is more in south, not sure why that is so.
Even in music Hindustani vs Carnatic the Hindustani is very smooth whereas Carnatic can go deeper I think
@BR, I some readers comment that it is loud/melodramatic etc on other sites. What is your opinion? I hope this movie works because I love Glove stories & Madhavan. Would be a shame if people don’t appreciate a well made movie.
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Bharath
January 30, 2016
“A situation involving something as sensational as oral sex is depicted through a bruised lip”
The bruised lip was a result of the knockout punch from the Russian boxer right. I am not getting the connection with the train scene which I guess you are referring to.
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Venkat
January 31, 2016
Br this is one of your honest reviews which I feel is because of the impact that this movie created. Further, this was more surprising to me as the online Hindu had a review of the same movie by some nincompoop. I felt that the editorial team forgot to review that piece of work before publishing.
Also I was LoL on the alphabet soup comment as I have had a similar feeling reading some of your earlier reviews. But this one was spot on. Padma on its way in the coming year if you could promise not to join the list of people who are eager to receive the award for sake of returning it back the subsequent year
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Sivam
January 31, 2016
May be for Tamil audience this one is a fresh story to watch but for folks like me who watch both Hindi and Tamil, I did not anything new in this film which impressed me so much. But I do agree with you if you are watching it is a sports related film in Tamil which completely deals with Boxing, it is a OK movie.
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Sathish
January 31, 2016
In a movie where a lot of details are well thought, there is one scene I found that was put in intentionally like a easter egg, but it almost appears as if it was an afterthought!
As the camera pans over the crowds clapping after the last fight, there are two women in the crowd who remove their veil,show their face and start clapping!! The scene is there for a second or less, but I wonder why the director puts that in – some kind of political statement?
or did I just imagine it?
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Punee
January 31, 2016
@apex: Agreed completely. Though I was quite shocked by his rotund appearance in TWMR (I am a Maddy fangirl from his Alaipayuthey days 😛 ), I must say his quiet fortitude was the perfect foil for Kangana, and I don’t think anyone else could play Manu so well.
A question to BR and others: I am extremely confused as to which language would be better to watch it in? Please help.
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brangan
January 31, 2016
Ragenikanth: I disagree that this is limited to Tamil
And I never said it was either 🙂
bart: I think maybe the film doesn’t have Hindi ‘nativity’? Like how Band Baaja Baaraat was terrific but Aaha Kalyanam was such a dud. It didn’t look like it was rooted anywhere.
Enna_koduka_sir_pera: just noticed the effects of me learning coding.
LOL. All my file names have this. I replace spaces with ‘_’. Old habits die hard 🙂
marees: Hindustani is very smooth whereas Carnatic can go deeper I think
Not really. The alaaps are so much more detailed in Hindustani concerts. You can’t really compare the two.
Bharath: Yeah, that bruise was probably from the fight, but I felt that the fact that it was on the lips kinda added to the train scene…
Sivam: May be for Tamil audience this one is a fresh story to watch
No. Even for Tamil audiences, this isn’t exactly a fresh story. But then, how many films have fresh “stories”? It’s all about craft, performances, details, writing…
Sathish: No, the hijab-lifting women were definitely there. I think it was there to add to the women’s-empowerment angle. They were cheering for someone who managed to “get out of the ghetto.”
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apex
January 31, 2016
@ Punee : “I must say his quiet fortitude was the perfect foil for Kangana, and I don’t think anyone else could play Manu so well.”
egg-jacktly!! …agree
Kangana hit the ball outta the part but me thinks madhavans was also a v competent but underrated act…
I’ve no doubt that Saala khadoos will be a good movie and this new girl would’ve done a competent ‘job’, but theres this ‘ need’ of a known ‘saleable’ face to get people in thru the ticket window, unfortunately ..
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Bharath Vijayakumar
January 31, 2016
𝐁𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡: 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞…
Yeah, probably. There is also an earlier scene that shows Dev zooming in on Madhi’s lips on a tablet. After seeing your review I think this was also a scene to establish Dev’s fetish.
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Murugesan
January 31, 2016
Santhosh BGM was not sterling, the movie has greater scope for background. His songs are excellent tunes and nicely gel with the movie, but background scores I din feel great. In fact all of his movie not that great background scores except Madras. Expected a lot from cuckoo movie he disappointed in that also, it had infinite emotional scenes which can get standing ovation through BGM.
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Hermoine Granger
February 1, 2016
Neat movie with solid characters. I’m so utterly grateful that the heroine had perfect lip-sync! Just could not imagine otherwise with the terrific local slang…
PS: Nice project idea for your next feature, please do a piece on dubbing artists. We never hear about them from most places…
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Gradwolf
February 1, 2016
Punee: I do think the film was conceived in Tamil so it might be more rooted as BR said. Watch in tamil. While I liked Saala Khadoos, the Hindi speaking father and things like that seemed out of place. But it was perfect when Nasser speaks his broken, accented Hindi. Might be a case of a great actor rising above the material too but I thought it complimented the setting very well.
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chenab35
February 1, 2016
Saala kadoos was a time one watch… saw the same in Chak De India.. hero getting transferred by establishment.. check, coaching of the women’s team.. check, hero finding redemption… checkmate. All similar. We saw the same in Nakul’s Vallinam and Sibiraj’s Lee. Familiar template as of other sports films. Only the climax scene and girl’s acting was the USP of this film. If anybody could notice the same villain acted in Lee also.. similar characterisation!! Does he not feel bad at all for being typecast?
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Punee
February 1, 2016
@Gradwolf: Thank you! I was very confused, so I appreciate it! 🙂
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the brangan fan
February 1, 2016
the director was an assistant of mani ratnam for 7 years. is there any mani-ratnam-ness in the film also??
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Deepak
February 1, 2016
“Unnake ellam puriyave puriyathada…” – Maddy says this when Zakir passes a snide remark about the relationship with Ritika. That for me seemed like a genuine film makers call to the audience:!
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arielsomebody
February 2, 2016
A film as a film should be. Honest! And on point review! So many authentic little details are what makes this movie and saves it from being a cliche.
Regardless of the fact that morattu kalai madhavan with his hugeness was hot and all that, i don’t think he thinks of madhi’s ‘love’ for him as anything other than a perfectly natural crush of student on admired teacher who changed her life.
He does love women and boxing, but it doesn’t follow that when he finds a woman who boxes well he should thus automatically be in love. That’s really not how love works.
The final scene with madhi jumping into his arms works perfectly as loyalty and attachment of student to guru who initiated and made this journey possible by being there at every step of it, i see madhi and prabhu strengthening their guru-shishya relationship and finding a mutual respect and comfort while finding perfect love with other people.
That apart, those posters with the badly photoshopped lion’s mane on prabhu etc were priceless, would watch the movie again just to read them all more carefully.
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|()/\()| (@manathakkali)
February 2, 2016
Saar, your review has been shared by Mike Tyson on FB.
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praneshp
February 2, 2016
Ha. Nice!
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brangan
February 2, 2016
OMG! 😀
Idhuvallava true… punch!
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brangan
February 2, 2016
But seriously curious how this happened… I mean, does he have a search tool that brings him all boxing-related results?
I can’t somehow imagine Tyson-vaal waking up to The Hindu every morning 🙂
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l
February 2, 2016
Superb! Congrats.
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bart
February 2, 2016
Saar, engeyo poyiteenga… 🙂
Perhaps, Madhavan can also say to himself, “Ennamo poda Madhava, engayo poyitta pola!”
Kaadhu badhiram..
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Srinivas R
February 2, 2016
Now your review is international news :). Congrats sir. My wild guess is some Indian friend/ acquaintance of Mike Tyson could have suggested this movie and he landed on your review
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newbie
February 2, 2016
Nice! I can vaguely imagine someone from the movie’s PR department diligently sending clips and review of the movie to all boxing legends in a bid to muster more support and recognition for the movie.
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Raj Balakrishnan
February 2, 2016
Congratulations. Innimae ellam Hollywood thaan.
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Kumar
February 2, 2016
Congratulations on the iron mike reference. Why do some bi-lingual movies transcend language/milieu barriers beautifully eg. Bahubali, English vinglish and some just seem very odd crossovers for the other side to accept like saala khadoos and some which are off for both sides like Raavan. And then you have movies like kaaka muttai that didn’t go through the pain of getting dubbed and just subtitled their way to being accepted by a pan-Indian audience. Is it a script shortcoming, the subject or a director’s lack of skill.
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Ram Murali
February 2, 2016
I watched Irudhi Sutru last night and boy, I was totally zapped. It was one of the most energetic films that I’ve seen in a while but without the overt flashiness (not a criticism, just an observation) of a Scorsese. The word that kept coming to mind was one of your favs – organic. I really felt that every bit of detail (from the clumsily worn sari right down to the “Aadukalam” Danush photo in her wallet) was just right. And, the emotions felt genuine not only with the bigger characters but also the smaller ones. I loved the way Lux hugged Maddy after the latter essentially says something that brings her world crashing down. It’s a moment of truth where the characters bare their souls… it was superbly done. And, Ritika was simply astonishing. I hope that many more accolades and good films come her way.
Let me roll out a huge red carpet to director Sudha and her team.
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Praveen
February 2, 2016
BR,
My thoughts as below:
Irudhi Suttru is not a revenge between Madhavan (Prabhu Selvaraj) and Zakir Hussain who plays Dev Khatri. It is about Indian women in boxing sport. (substitute ‘Indian women’ as Ritika Singh who appears as kick-boxer Madhi.) This is the premise line we understand as Prabhu Selvaraj says in one of the scenes to Zakir. I wish this self explanatory dialogue revealing the movie premise or theme or whatever was removed. The premise of Irudhi Suttru according to me is something different which I am trying hard to explain in words.
Three years back when I was working in Cognizant (an IT company), there was a guy named Sandeep who sat next to me. Sandeep was a man of less words but the entire floor spoke more about his excellent hard-working skills. Later I came to know him better and he told me this. “My ambition in life is to take-up a job in aviation which is a distant dream, everyday I come here and fantasize about aviation industry, I don’t think I really try hard to give my best in this IT job, I just give my 30% effort here without being so conscious and people around me consider my work as exceeding the expectations. If my ambition was to become an IT professional then I guess I might under-perform because of the fear of being over conscious”, If you understand what Sandeep was trying to tell me then you can get the premise of Irudhi Suttru
Prabhu performing the best boxing coach is not a direct result of his ambition as a coach, its a by-product of his doomed career as a boxer. Madhi’s commendable boxing skills is not because she aspires of being a world class boxer, its a by-product of her unrequited love with Prabhu, the boxing coach. I can imagine the Junior Coach (Nasser) never gets promoted to senior coach position because he aims of being a good coach and can never get any better and ends up being a good human as a by-product of stagnation. I feel his back story is worth exploring to different layers of human psychology. The sister of Madhi, Lux is into boxing because she dreams that her boxing profile will help her to get a police job to support her family. Ideally this is the kind of film character who should win or who will win. It is again different where she ends up accepting her defeat against Madhi (her sister) as a by-product of her displaced stepping stones. The heart of the film is about by-products — something produced in the process of making something.
Expanded Version – https://medium.com/@pp2chillax/irudhi-suttru-and-the-first-round-d33d324a780#.emsndj7e9
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Rajan Iyer
February 3, 2016
Not bad. For me, having the bar set by the early ‘Rocky’ movies makes me feel IS could have been even better. Perhaps as a result, the dissonant chords seem even more so.
Fr’instance,
Brahmin-bashing with the scene in the fish market. It certainly didn’t move the story forward. If the intent was to add to Madhi’s ‘bazaari’ characterisation, this was a lazy-at-best, gratuitous-at-worst effort.
Binge drinking, that old trope of Tamil cinema gets another airing. Dramatic effect and all is OK, but still…
On the positive, I thought Samikannu/Samuel was effortlessly funny.
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praneshp
February 3, 2016
Wow, it’s quite a stretch to call the fish market scene brahmin-bashing. People love to find everything offensive.
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Supertramp
February 3, 2016
Once you get over the fact that Mike Tyson can actually read, it seems only natural for him to read a BR review. Not really surprising.
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Punee
February 3, 2016
Maddy’s still got it 🙂 Interesting that the female character is named Madhi- sounds kinda onomatopoeic 🙂
That scene with him jogging shirtless- total paisa vasool moment during which the whole theatre and I were screaming and whistling 😛
I found Maddy’s character to be kinda like Roark in The Fountainhead, where he is ready to give up Everything for the sake of doing the right thing and when others insult him, he doesn’t consider it an insult.
Dev reminds me of every ass**** credit-stealing colleague I have ever worked with and I loved the justice he gets in the end.
I haven’t watched Mary Kom yet even though the DVD lies untouched since I bought it months ago. Wish Maddy’s movie had released first, I am sure its the more magnetic i.e better-told story.
@Rajan Iyer: At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, I would say that what you call “brahmin-bashing” is normal among us lower classes 🙂 Its sometimes said with affection, sometimes with resentment, sometimes with arrogance, rarely with hatred. It was in keeping with her character and her surroundings. Lux would have never spoken like that, Madhi would and had to. Prabhu didn’t seem to care about it, why so thin-skinned? 🙂
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Sriram
February 3, 2016
Spoilers ahead: She bits his penis in the train scene; he shouts in pain. In the next scene, police arrests her on false charges of looting money. The bruise in her lip is due to the punchin by her opponent in boxing.
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Punee
February 3, 2016
BR; your blog doesn’t do bulleted lists. What ya!
Gradwolf: Thankee for the reco. It worked except for Dev’s weird accent.
Another interesting aspect. The lyrics of “Ey Sandakara” were reflected in the ending:
“Thedi Kattika Poren
Thaavi Ottika Poren…”
Which makes me assume that the next thing that’s gonna happen is:
“Thaali Kattika Poren – Aama”
😀
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Punee
February 3, 2016
I suddenly remembered, I was the only person in the theatre screaming “Ghengis Khan Ghengis Khan” in the finale scene! 😀 The people around me seemed quite bemused 😛
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Ram Murali
February 3, 2016
Punee – that’s a very thoughtful interpretation of the lyrics of “Ey Sandakkara.” I love it when lyricists manage to sneak in this kind of stuff (if it was intended in this case which, from your explanation, looks like it was) into their lyrics. I was reminded of the time that lyricist Thamarai mentioned (to BR, if I am right) that she wrote the line “Thadai Illai, Saavilume Unnoda Vara” in “KangaL Irandaal,” keeping the end in mind.
I thought Vaali was quite the master at this kind of stuff. Exhibit A: “Ellorum Sollum Paatu” (Marupadiyum) and Exhibit B: “Kana Kaanum KangaL Mella” (Agni Saatchi)
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Punee
February 3, 2016
@Ram Murali: To be honest, I am not a native Tamil speaker, it only hit me once I searched for the meaning of the lyrics as I didn’t understand a lot of the words including “thaavi ottika poren”.
When I understood what it meant (courtesy: https://ajzpage.wordpress.com/2016/01/25/ey-sandakara-irudhu-suttru-lyrics-english-translation/ ) I just knew.
I think this may also be the reason why the Hindi version didn’t “connect” musically to the audience, the bare-boned “wild” music works only when the lyrics are so sensual and sexual (in this particular song)- the lyrics of the Hindi version sound almost silly in comparision. “pagli main jhalli” – WTF.
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Krishna Mohan
February 4, 2016
Fantastic review. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was a total package. There was plenty of wry humor in it, which seems to have gone unnoticed.
What surprises me is many of the comments refer to Chak De as the baseline. There have scores of English movies that have been made before. Almost all sport movies follow a similar format. The key is the presentation. This movie has been presented beautifully as you have pointed out.
Tongue in cheek moments include the father changing religion, women lifting their veil in the climax and so forth.
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Deepak
February 4, 2016
@BR – This NDTV article seems to explain how the article ended up on Iron Mike’s timeline.
http://movies.ndtv.com/bollywood/mike-tyson-wants-to-watch-saala-khadoos-unbelievable-says-madhavan-1272864
So you know who to thank now 🙂
We are just thankful to you for a wonderful review.
I would really love it if you watch the Hindi version also and contrast the 2 versions. I usually end up liking the version I saw first – which is what happened in the case of Yuva, even though overall acting and song lyrics were much better in Ayudha Ezhuthu (Dhakka laga bukka v/s Jana gana mana)
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Punee
February 4, 2016
@Krishna Mohan: I would even say this movie was more “fun” and thus better than Chak De which at times had too much speechifying. Even the “India, India, India” stuff was said so subtly. When he gave her what I think was his boxing corner jacket, it was so sweet and quiet and understated, where anyone else would have made a spectacle out of it.
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Sutheesh Kumar. P. S.
February 4, 2016
The BGM sounded Hans Zimmerish, i.e. Zimmer’s sound for Christopher Nolan.
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vijay
February 4, 2016
why is it that when it came to “Madras”, the fact that the movie had nothing new to say story-wise was an issue (see BR’s review) even though the film had other things going for it, but when it comes to this film everything else besides the plot -craft, technique whatever, etc. suddenly become the only things important?
Is there no other new template possible in sports drama other than a disgraced ex-coach/ex-player mentoring an unlikely protege for redemption? You transpose this template to art and we saw a fine film 30+ yrs back, in Salangai Oli, with a loser but brilliant dancer in Kamal mentoring a reluctant Shailaja.
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Harish Sankar
February 5, 2016
Glove Story 🙂 !
Nicely Done, Mr. Brangan.
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Rahini David
February 5, 2016
Punee:
Are you really
not able to
use bulleted points?
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Rahini David
February 5, 2016
~ yes, there is something wrong in this theme.
~ may use alternatives though
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Punee
February 5, 2016
Yes Rahini, I have tried a couple of times now 😀 But I see that dashes work!!
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Punee
February 5, 2016
Also I find it incredible that you are so skeptical of everything I write 🙂 I am not an alien I assure you, the benefit of doubt given to any fellow human can be given to me…
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Rahini David
February 5, 2016
Punee: Ordered/Unordered lists should not be a problem in a typical wordpress comment.
BTW, it isn’t personal. 😀
Certainly not incredible.
BR: It is quite alright. Punee will live without bulleted points for the moment. And meanwhile, I will find a workaround. Please do not meddle with this theme. I beg you. No no no flamboyance. 😦
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newbie
February 5, 2016
Enna_koduka_sir_pera: That scene from Kannathil Muthamittal has me tearing up every time I watch it regardless of the BGM and even without it – rain and Nandita do it I guess. Also, I notice that it impacts me more now (as a new-ish mom) than when I first watched the movie in college. So guess it has different effect on different people with different experiences. Also, (for reasons unknown) it immediately triggered memories of another movie that moved me quite a lot – (even when I was very young) one that I haven’t really thought about for ages – “Veedu”. I could remember it as having very moving BGM so looked it up now and well, the BGM was done by Illayaraja and he had used some of his composition from his album titled – guess what – ‘How to name it’ 🙂
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Punee
February 6, 2016
@Rahini: I wouldn’t presume to tell BR (or anyone else) to change their format to accomodate the vagaries of my writing style. I was just generally fake-whining 🙂
Your skepticism is extended to the entire human race then? Interesting.
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vishwas
February 6, 2016
can anybody tell me meaning of “EY SANDAKAARA” song.
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Iswarya
February 7, 2016
BR: Terrific as the dialogue was, in general, with its refreshing earthiness, I noticed on second viewing a couple of lines that seemed a little odd, almost like what you called LHHE in Zoya Akhtar’s films. One was in the early scene where Madhi tells Prabhu where to stick the hundred bucks he offers her. Isn’t that a typically English construction? (UYA kind of thing – actually this bothered me even in the first viewing.) And the more awkward (to me) bit was when another girl tells Madhi on the train that “Talent mattum unna engiyum kootittu pohadhu” or some such thing, which again seemed such a translated thought.
Does this kind of thing bother you in Tamil movies too? I guess this isn’t as frequent in Tamil as I suppose it is in Hindi. Still..
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brangan
February 7, 2016
the brangan fan:Yes, there is a Mani Ratnam-ness — a smartness in the staging, a certain energy, a certain contempt for cliche in the set-ups…
Kumar: Why do some bi-lingual movies transcend language/milieu barriers beautifully eg. Bahubali
I think it’s a combination of things. Milieu is definitely one. A film like Bahubali is archetypal. It’s in myths all over India. No one has to make allowances for “voice.”
Krishna Mohan: I too am surprised by the constant Chak De references. That’s like comparing every war movie to The Longest Day. These are genre tropes. If you make a rom-com, you WILL have elements that are in “Notting Hill” too.
vijay: Even with Madras, I did say “The energetic filmmaking dusts the cobwebs off Madras.” Same thing applies here. I guess it helps we see fewer movies of this type, compared to Madras, which is very much your average “hero’s journey” type movie?
Iswarya: I guess it bothers me if it keeps happening. If it’s one or two instances, then I shrug it off.
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arielsomebody
February 7, 2016
Iswarya: i assure you ‘soothulla sorigiko’ or ‘pinnale sorigiko’ are indigenous tamil expressions. Same for the other line with talent, which is a common enough usage not to be foreign in this milieu. i didn’t find any LHHE or LTHE in this film, instead i found great care taken to keep the sensibilities authentic.
Bollywood, on the other hand, as you state, is rife with LHHE, so much that it’s practically unwatchable. Every bollywood movie is playing you, selling you an ideology, urging culture to imitate art by selling to you that their depiction is universal, and you’re the outlier, while never letting art imitate culture, which is bizzare. And i say this as a mumbaikar.
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Rahini David
February 8, 2016
I was ..mmm.. inexplicably reminded of the following post.
It makes me wonder how long I have been frequenting this space.
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Jay
February 9, 2016
Nice review (once again) and must mention that before I watch a movie, I go to TheHindu for checking out the reviews and usually I find BR’s reviews to be very trustworthy. Coming back to this movie, I like the fact that the director chose to leave some questions unanswered. For instance, what happens to Madhi’s love? It shows that focus is on Madhi as a boxer. But it also leaves plenty of room for people’s imagination too. And when that happens, the movie and characters linger in your mind much longer. My guess would be, they continue to be guru-sishyai, taking a cue from Madhi falling at her coach’s feet toward the end. BTW, sorry for chipping in late, in the small town that I live in, this movie had to wait till all others had run out. But boy, it was worth the wait.
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rangraj
February 21, 2016
Please dont patronise this movie.Its jus a rip off and copy paste of hollywood movies. I was shocked to see even some dialogs are copied from hollywood movies. I know why you guys are praisng this movie, its caste-ism all over again. If a Brahmin director join hands with a Brahmin hero, you praise it like angels fallen from heaven. Its either Brahmin makers or to glorify them like what happened to Bala. He made a movie where a guy loves a Brahmin girl and he becomes mad, the girl dies at last because she loved a guy who is not a brahmin. What a sick country I m living in. Dont just patronis this movie without knowing the truth behing everyone praising this movie.
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Sharan
February 24, 2016
Don’t compare irudhisutru with other movies released with this movie because this is not a commercial movie they have worked to bring it realistic in every frame .outstanding elements are humour that goes on with storyline characters prabhu madhi and picturing climax fight .congrats to director sudha
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Tina
March 5, 2016
I think I must be the only person who thought maddys tamizh or rather dialogues were vazha vazha kozha kozha (not diction).
Still nice movie. And a really nice review!
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Deepak
November 14, 2016
I finally ended up seeing the Hindi version (wifey doesn’t understand Tamil so not much choice there) and maybe something was lost in translation. For one the dialogues seemed a bit too crude without any specific reason – both Maddy and Madhi seemed too rude to everyone without any reason (I mean sure both have been shown to have had a lot of knocks in life, but it did seem overdone) – made it tough to at least initially root for either of them. Once Madhi became serious it was much better and more engaging and I found myself rooting for her to do well. And then that climax scene arrived – it was so cringeworthy. I mean you’re already fighting to win for your coach’s sake but still you need him to be physically present in the stadium before you start doing your best? For someone shown as an independent woman she seemed to need far too much hand holding to get over the finish line. Quite glad I didn’t go to the theater for this.
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