Spoilers ahead…
After Thodari, Dhanush could have made Parattai Engira Azhagu Sundaram: Part 2 and we’d be calling it a return to form – but Kodi, directed by RS Durai Senthilkumar, is really the kind of “commercial movie” we wish more of our stars would make. A bird’s eye view of the plot suggests business as usual: the leading man in a double role. A party worker (Karunas) and his wife (Saranya) have twins. The party chief (SA Chandrasekhar) declares: “Oruthan veettukku, oruthan naattukku.” He might well have said, “Oruthan class-ukku, oruthan mass-ukku.” Anbu grows up to be a professor, delivering lectures about mesh/loop analysis. But, expectedly, the twin who couldn’t be bothered with studies is the one who is valorised. This Dhanush is named Kodi – ostensibly in keeping with the film’s political backdrop, or maybe because he looks, in profile, like a flagpole. But he means business. He wears dark glasses. His thick beard is darker. An early scene shows him driving kids to school (translation: nallavanukku nallavan), stopping midway when accosted by burly hero-introduction-fight extras, and then beating them to pulp (kettavanukku kettavan). We sit back, awaiting a story that will keep prostrating at Kodi’s feet, turning to Anbu only when it’s time for romance. Or comedy, perhaps with Kodi stumbling into Anbu’s classroom with a quarter in his hand, and breaking into a song as Anbu’s students transform into backup dancers.
That none of this happens is the first of the film’s many sweet surprises. Kodi features a “mass” character who’s unusually focused on his work. We see Kodi in party meetings, progressing from the head of the youth wing to an MLA candidate. Politics, in other words, is more than just a “fresh” backdrop – it informs everything he does, everything he is. The reason his mother won’t speak to him – that’s got to do with politics. Even his girlfriend (Rudra, played by Trisha) is in politics. I’ll wait for a minute while you absorb the fact that here’s a Dhanush film in which the heroine doesn’t just have a job, she has the hero’s job. The film keeps sidestepping cliché. We know the party chief isn’t an entirely good man, but we don’t get into the Sathya/Madras zone where he is entirely evil. He’s just doing what he needs to do in order to win elections. And Kodi isn’t a wide-eyed worshipper either. He’s wary. He has a file the party chief – his mentor, the man who named him – wants, and yet, he isn’t naïve enough to hand it over. Loyalty is one thing. Survival is another.
Kodi is the rare hero-centric masala movie where the people around the hero traverse arcs too. Like Kodi’s mother. She experiences loss. It’s only right that she’s the one who stays the hero’s hand when, at the end, it looks like she might lose him too. Or consider the hero’s friend (Kaali Venkat). It isn’t just about his relationship with Kodi. It’s about his relationship with Rudra too. Even Anbu’s students end up more than just bodies warming up benches. To see a film like Kodi is to realise that it’s not impossible to make a commercial movie that isn’t just a whistle-dispensing machine for fans. Which isn’t to say the film is above mass-hero moments. There’s a fantastic one involving Anbu in the latter portions. But the whistles come from the writing, not the posturing. We saw this in Sethupathi too, but Kodi is far more layered, textured. Sethupathi was about the home – it looked inwards. Kodi looks outwards, at the world. The issue of contention is mercury contamination by a Unilever-like factory. This isn’t explored in much detail. But it’s handled with dignity, which is more than what we can say about other “mass” films that ripped headlines off the newspapers, like Kaththi (ground-water depletion by a Coca Cola-like MNC) and Kakki Sattai (the illegal organ trade). The issue isn’t just a vehicle for cheap, empty rhetoric – it’s the mercury that contaminates the film, the characters.
If it appears that I am overselling the film, it’s because even the heroines are mesh/looped into the narrative. The more dispensable one is named Malathi (Anupama Parameswaran). At first, she’s just the love interest. But she’s the one who slowly leads the film back to the mercury-contamination plot. Had she been a generic heroine, the only way to keep us from forgetting her would be through generic duets and romantic scenes – but she’s invested in the cause, and she joins the hero’s crusade. It’s not the most elegant of screenwriting solutions, but it’s refreshing. But Rudra is a magnificent creation, right out of Macbeth – a good woman slowly corroded by visions of power. You see her and you think: When was the last time we saw a mass-film heroine with ambition? When was the last time we saw a heroine who’s the hero’s rival? (They belong to different parties.) When was the last time – if there was ever such a time – we saw the hero so understanding about the heroine’s career, with a tossed-off line like “politics vera, personal vera”? Such a woman is usually never the heroine. She’s the vamp. She was one in Padayappa. The hero put her in her rightful place, under his feet. Here, Kodi doesn’t seem to care that she may rise to a position higher than his. Kodi is Padayappa minus the misogyny. Unlike Ramya Krishnan’s Neelambari in that film, Rudra doesn’t become who she is simply because she was rejected by a man. The reasons are so complex, so clouded that Rudra is as surprised as we are when she turns into a Neelambari.
The great tragedy of Kodi is that they created this fantastic character and called on Trisha to flesh her out. We want a fiery orator, a Machiavellian manipulator – we get the cardboard cut-out of Rudra outside Sathyam theatre. The actress couldn’t be stiffer if she tried. But Dhanush compensates, despite a key Murugadoss-like, pseudo-scientific twist being disappointingly under-written. There’s no other star who’s so in tune with his inner actor, no other actor so capable of doing the things that make a star a star.
KEY:
- Kodi = flag
- Thodari = see here
- “Oruthan veettukku, oruthan naattukku” = One for the home, one for the country.
- “Oruthan class-ukku, oruthan mass-ukku” = One for the classes, one for the masses.
- nallavanukku nallavan = If you’re good, he’s good.
- kettavanukku kettavan = If you’re bad, he’s baaaad.
- Madras = see here
- Sethupathi = see here
- Kaththi = see here
- Kakki Sattai = see here
- “politics vera, personal vera” = Let’s not mix political life with personal life.
Copyright ©2016 Baradwaj Rangan. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Balasubramanian Ramakrishnan
October 30, 2016
Exactly the same question rose up in my mind while watching the movie. The role of a cunning, opportunistic politician required an actor with a commanding screen presence. Trisha, though, looks a bit soft to sell us this kind of role. The lip-sync was also a bit odd at places. Nevertheless, it was a solid drama. I was expecting another ‘Thodari’ like screw-up from Dhanush. But, this was refreshingly surprising, given Dhanush’s recent pack of movies.
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brangan
October 30, 2016
Balasubramanian Ramakrishnan: It’s not about being soft. The role needed a performer. Trisha is not a good actor, period. I kept wondering how much better the film would have been with say, an Aishwarya Rajesh (a name I’m picking off the top of my head).
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JalabulaJugs
October 30, 2016
Throughout the film I wanted to picture an intense actress who can deliver those fiery political lines with conviction and also do justice to the well-etched character. Unfortunately I couldn’t picture any of the current heroines in this role. Nithya Menen maybe?
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Balasubramanian Ramakrishnan
October 30, 2016
@brangan – I partly agree with your point that Trisha is not a good actor (since she had an one-off with Yennai Arindhaal.) Seeing Trisha in Kodi was almost similar to witnessing Katrina in Raajneeti. A perfect miscast. Apart from Aishwarya Rajesh (who is a top performer), Anushka is the other name that springs up in my mind for this role. The only problem is she might look a bit urbane for this kind of role.
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brangan
October 30, 2016
JalabulaJugs: Haha. The tragedy of Tamil cinema. They finally write a fantastic part for a woman, and then find there’s no one to play the character 😀
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Srinivas R
October 30, 2016
How about Priya Mani or Parvathi ( of Mariyan fame?)
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Karthik Suryanarayanan
October 31, 2016
About Trisha’s acting: I think I get the why. Imagine if your full time job for 10+ years was about being athletic enough to run around, either with a guy who teases you to no end or from a guy who’s out to get you. And one day, out of nowhere you are given a script and asked to ACT. That’s not fair is it? In her interivew in Indiaglitz she admitted she asked “why me?” for the role. Apparently the director wanted a tamil ponnu.
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Sudhir Srinivasan
October 31, 2016
Oh my. Just walking out of the film. All I can think of is the same. Trisha’s casting is a spectacular misfire.
Curiously though, everybody’s raving. Ah, well.
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Godz
October 31, 2016
@BR you have just invoked the wrath of The feminists here and already laid seeds of another lengthy post. But sadly I have to agree on what u say. She is just not a actor at all period other than some good looks
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Niro
October 31, 2016
My major annoyance with actors in Tamil cinema (including Trisha) is that they don’t grasp the concept of “emotional preparation”. It’s a Meisner technique used to ask actors to bring their own emotions to the table in rehearsals. A capable actor will incarnate the emotion a scene wishes to convey and will play it with variety, invention, and originality. For example, I liked that Trisha wanted to go against type, and it can rarely work with great directional notes, but throughout the film, she was only trying to convey a gale force of anger, sticking to one tone. In scenes, Trisha was nice, quiet and polite but we missed a scarier side to her like what if she stuck a screwdriver into someone’s eye socket. I would get shivers. There is nothing ever unexpected about her performances. She needs to play her characters with more indifference. That’s just one of many issues I have with her. I don’t have time to list them all.
I don’t know if Tamil film actors rehearse at all before production but I’m convinced they don’t take preparation seriously at all as this is where most of the character motivations can be fleshed out and can be one of the most rewarding aspects of the filmmaking process. It gives actors the opportunity to play, to find something unexpected that will take the scene to the next level.
For me, though, what separates okay actors with great ones are the ones that tap into their own emotional reserves, i.e. their own traumas, experiences, feelings, and memories to vividly bring a scripted character to life. The greatest ones engage and draw the audience into the story.
Perhaps actors like Trisha have never experienced personal trauma to draw from? I don’t get why they just don’t give more chances to theatre actors like Pooja Devariya. For me, she handled a very complex arc very well in Iraivi.
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Ramesh
October 31, 2016
I didnt care for this because of Trisha. The story was decent, Dhanush showed up after run of disasters but with bad casting, they took away the bite of clever script albeit mass entertainer.
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mrinalnarayan
October 31, 2016
Agree that Trisha is not a great actress. But it was a good attempt and felt good to see her being pushed out of the comfort zone, given the number of years she has been in the industry.
She did falter at few places. But It was decent overall. It was quite obvious that she was putting efforts.. something like what Tamanna did in Dharmadurai..
So It’s a bit strong to say that she did not do any justice.
And why not give a chance to actors like them? When do we get to see these heroines learn and do something different??
Someone like Aishwarya Rajesh or Amala Paul would have been definitely better. With Trisha, it was still a good experiment.
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Anisha
October 31, 2016
I think Tamil cinema directors have a long way to go when it comes to getting their casting right. Heck, I don’t even think casting directors exist. I don’t even think auditions exist either. I’m damn sure they put Trisha here, simply because she and Dhanush made a “fresh pair”.
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brangan
October 31, 2016
mrinalnarayan: The sentiment expressed in your comment is the reason Tamil cinema — except in the hands of a few filmmakers — is so bad.
“At least he/she gave it a shot…”
“Let’s give him/her a pat on the back…”
“At least they tried something different…”
“Why not give him/her a chance?”
“How will he/she learn otherwise?”
I am sorry, but her job is to learn, to prepare BEFORE coming to the film. Just like it’s a sportsman’s job to keep training before a race, a musician’s job to keep rehearsing before the final studio recording.
Trisha is an extraordinary limited actress who works in the Aishwarya Rai mode, when asked to embody a certain aura, as in Yennai Arindhaal. Otherwise, even after all these years, she has never learnt to loosen her body, unfreeze her face, and the way she speaks is like she cannot be bothered to show her laugh lines. You don’t mind these limitations in a Ghilli because that’s not a performance-oriented role. But here, it’s a HUGE issue. She practically wrecks the film.
Niro: It isn’t even about emotional preparation. Forget “technique.” I would be happy with just good “instincts.” Someone who is able to read a script and catch a few “found” moments on the fly, during shooting. Even that is not happening here.
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rame
October 31, 2016
Although I haven’t watched kodi yet but, I agree to the majority view about Trisha’s limited capability. I remember Abiyum Nanum…she was looking extremely poor alongside a loving and caring father played by prakashraj….
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hattorihanzo4784
October 31, 2016
////
Ridley scott imdb trivia:
Of all the professional actors he has hired / worked with for his films, over 50% come from elite drama schools and the theatre, such as the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford Upon Avon, The Globe Theatre, The Old Vic and the National Theatre in London, which he feels brings as large a presence to the screen as the actors do to the stage.
////
i can only imagine the other 50% is not dumb material either, maybe they come from some other less popular theaters or they have some innate genius within them which makes them natural actors.
Basically hollywood and british film industries have young talent which is well seasoned to work with. Which is not the case in tamil film industry after Sivaji Ganesan era. Indian film directors get to work only with raw talent. Its like fielding debutante test cricket players straight from school without them having gone through the rigors of first class cricket.
I have read somewhere (“outliers”, gladwell) that if anyone spends 10,000hours on a skill then they attain a mastery over it. So people who spend about 8-10 hours a day on a skill right from the time they are 18 eventually reach that level when they are 24-25 years old.
Now there are two problems for Indian actresses
They dont have a theatre background like english, american and australian actresses. whatever they learn is what they learn at the movie sets.
The material they learn is piss poor. So someone like kiera knightley gets to work on stuff like atonement, anna Karenina, pride and prejudice, dangerous mind… etc… whereas trisha gets to work as second fiddle who appears for glamour relief in star vehicles. her roles (bheema, aaru, kuruvi amongst other gems) dont test her skills neither do they improve her resume as far as acting is concerned
By the time trisha completes her 10000 hours, she is a 35 year old and basically gets casted as the arrogant mother in law to a hero she was cast opposite just a decade back… whereas someone like ajith or vijay who were equally despicable in their early years gain a semblance of dialogue delivery and keep getting better as actors when they enter their 40s
if you remember even jyothika’s best acting came only at the fag end of her career and by that time her time was up and she needed to get married…
There is nothing called a good mainstream young actress in tamil movies thesedays – kajal, tamanna, trisha, hansika, samantha, nitya menon – all suck hard…
in the 50s – savitri, banumathi etc… had fantastic practice in the touring theatres for about a decade before they came to the cinema industry. they were into the acting profession since the time they were in their early teens, by the time they are 22-23 they were well seasoned professional artists
sridevi, jayapradha, radhika, revathi, suhasini – all had a lot of practice… they acted in way too many movies than the actresses now and gained mastery pretty soon… also the material was much better than what the actresses get now.
so i just want to conclude saying that criticizing trisha is a tad harsh… its not lack of talent but lack of practice… lack of opportunities and the fault lies in the system.
its not like trisha had the opportunity to work with balu mahendra, shekhar kapoor, balachander, puttanna kanagal, bharathiraja in her first 10 years and still sucks hard at acting. The biggest director who casted her was mani ratnam and even that in a forgettable role with hardly any importance.
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doctorhari
October 31, 2016
The intention of this director is obviously not to present a realistic political drama, but to make a commercial masala with some recent political incidents thrown in. The casting of Trisha is purely a business decision I guess. (The film is released dubbed in Telugu too.) The director should have thought that for the audience it caters to, seeing a different Trisha will be enough. The editor has tried his best to cover up for her. In atleast a couple of scenes we are shown Dhanush’s and other’s reaction for an extended period as she is delivering her long dialogues. Her acting seems to need such ‘subtitles’. ☺️
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lowlylaureate
October 31, 2016
Hi BR,
Awaiting your review but you might like to check out the FRS for Kodi here: http://wp.me/p1DoiQ-ue
#sorryaboutpluggingblogs
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Siva
October 31, 2016
Kodi pleasantly surprised me with its content n execution as trailers promised just a run of the mill entertainer. Dhanush back to his Versatile best. Dubai’s story telling was crisp neat. Characterizations string too. Trisha is winning a lot of accolades along with Dhanush as she has never done something like this before. In that sense she has taken Audience by surprise but I strongly felt Aishwarya Dhanush would have cracked it better. Still nice film.
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dechaitanya
October 31, 2016
Trisha totally spoiled the film for me. Kept on thinking how Ramya Krishna or some one else would have done the role.
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Rangarajan
October 31, 2016
Hi BR,
I seldom go by connoisseurs because film making in Tamil isn’t evolved, sadly. A tear jerker and a movie that shows sadness, morbidity and sadism is hailed when compared to rank entertainers (there can be good clean comedy movies too, that are awesome – like MMKR or Kaathalikka neramillai)
But I should admit that beyond a few names, the lady actors haven’t really evolved (can’t accept the crap of not used to acting after 14 yrs in the industry)… how many actors emote? I mean Trisha should, at the end of 14 yrs be ready for good roles amidst Gillies and Kurivis.
The performers don’t have the charisma (Aishwarya Rajesh, your own example) and those that have, dont even get their lip sync right. Nithya Menen is good but this role needs a Jayalalitha or Savithri or such powerful performers who can get their body language, eyes and voice to to the talking. Those heroines of yesteryears did play silly movies but when they got plum roles, they made it count. Even Sri Devi (Moondru Mudichu)
Priyamani (or Sneha) could come closer… both very old for Dhanush (on screen)…
Let’s blame the director for lowering his / her limit of excellence. In a digital era, it should be fine having multiple retakes (unlike erstwhile film rolla time)… the directors feel “this is ok”
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Abishek
October 31, 2016
@Siva I think you meant Aishwarya Rajesh and not Aishwarya Dhanush .
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Aadhy
October 31, 2016
I don’t think anyone from the current crop of heroines could’ve done complete justice. Iswarya Rajesh is a far better actor, very instinctual, looks the part and knows the language, yes. But this part also needs a strong star power, someone known to the audience for quite some time, someone who’s mere screen persona would bring a love-hate facet to her character, someone like Simran from her heydays. I can’t think of anyone now in Tamil cinema that possesses this balance of talent and star power. Nayantara would’ve been a disaster. Nitya menon is a terrific actor, but she has a very likeable persona and won’t look convincing in trampling people to rise up the ladder. Maybe Asin or Sneha, but they’ve been out of work for some time and don’t think can pull off a power-hungry politician. The lesser said about Keerthy Suresh and the likes, the better. So in this context, I must say I didn’t mind Trisha. Of course, none of her supposedly fiery political speeches had an iota of conviction. She was hardly even opening her mouth. BR, You’d written about VTV that the wishy-washiness of Trisha kind of aids the wishy-washiness of Jessy. I was reminded of that, especially in what could probably be the biggest scene of her career yet. She did display the I-can’t-believe-I’m-doing-this-to-you and I-can’t-let-you-stand-in-my-way set of emotions quite effectively, I thought.
BTW did anyone think Trisha’s character is loosely based on the one-who-must-not-be-named? The arrogance, thirst for power, subjugation of fellow party members. The way a party underling aka sycophant kept addressing her as “Akka” seemed quite suggestive of this.
And is there anyone that could portray reeling under betrayal better than Dhanush? He seems to have mastered this emotion. This particular theme seems a rub-off from one of Vetrimaran’s tropes, like Daniel Balaji-Kishore in Polladavan, Pettaikaran-Dhanush in Aadukalam, Samudrakani-Dinesh in Visaranai.
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thulasidasan17
October 31, 2016
Reading through the comments and skimming through multiple reviews, one common thread that passes through was that Dhanush gave a somewhat ostensibly good performance. I think I’ll make a case here; this is a far cry from any good performance from Dhanush. He just skimmed through the film, almost on a default performance mode.
Maybe what irritated me was (SPOILER ALERT) the director realizing that obviously, no one prefers Anbu to Kodi, so he naturally adopts some form of scientific rationalization for killing off Anbu too once Kodi died. It’s obvious that everyone loves Kodi more, but that’s no excuse for killing off Anbu, surely. You can say that post-Kodi’s death, apparently some sort of fusion occurred between Kodi’s and Anbu’s characteristics. OKAY, but where’s the evidence? All we see again is Kodi’s characteristics again no? Anbu barely stands out in the fusion. TO MAKE IT WORSE, we have Saranya voicing ostentatiously that Kodi is good hearted, but Anbu is wicked and a fusion of them unleashes hell. No scene is fleshed out properly on how Kodi-Anbu fusion works, what’s the traits or whatsoever? If Kodi-Anbu fusion does occur, this is a treasure for any screenwriter; you could explore the dimensions of depth that Dhanush has, on how he couldn’t control his ANBU/KODI characteristics within him, on how one persona leaps over another; on how he suddenly sees Trisha as a woman of sex appeal again since Kodi sees her so. SO MANY UNEXPLORED plethoras. This is a complete pullback on the director’s behalf, breathing Kodi alive again once he “dies”. I don’t mind Kodi being resurrected again, what annoyed me was Anbu’s sacrificial character death to make way for Kodi. Another evidence to this on how Anbu’s love arc was ended; a hopeful glance on the female’s behalf and a confession that things might never work out to her friend in the bus. Really, that’s all? If so, why devote a chunk of time on their arc, if you’re going to dispose them with just two scenes? Perhaps, because the only reason we ever needed Anbu’s lover’s character was to introduce to us the setup of the factory poisoning case.
Aadhy: Agreed! Almost no one strikes the right chord in the emotions and swagger power needed for the Trisha character. I wasn’t too amused watching Trisha, but she looked confident to me.
Niro: Wouldn’t know how much of these are real, but apparently for Thevar Magan, Nasser was handed the script three months prior to the shoot. During that three month period, he trained himself to understand the motivations, primal emotions of his arc character. What we saw was a phenomenal performance, before he got typecasted into such roles. Perhaps that’s not the same with Tamil Cinema. We hear news of all sorts; Dhanush not knowing the entire story till he arrives on Thodari sets; Sundar C/Mani Ratnam only narrating one liners before confirming their actors. The way Tamil Cinema has shaped it’s vehicle over the decades is vastly different (if not inferior) when compared to world cinema, let alone Hollywood.
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Niro
October 31, 2016
Brangan: To capture a few “moments” on the fly you have to work on your characterisation before production so you have your parameters worked out so on set you can improvise within them. It’s the approach used in “Mumblecore” storytelling.
But you’ve just stated the problem in the industry; only 2% of actors read scripts, and the majority greenlight a project based on a narration. Actors should stop judging script quality based on the strength of a director’s oral narration.
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Ragenikanth
October 31, 2016
Trish & Arya both needs serious acting classes they should be sent to Jigathanda school of acting
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Siva
October 31, 2016
@Abishek Yup. I meant Aishwarya Rajesh. Typo.
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Dhanda Soru
October 31, 2016
SPOILERS AHEAD
I had a modicum of hope for this, given the fact that it was produced by Vetrimaaran. Glad it didn’t disappoint. Not entirely anyway.
While it was nice to see a meaty role for an actress in a big-budget hero film, I wish she was written better. Why, for instance, does she want to be a politician to such an extent that she’s willing to kill her lover in order to further her political ambitions? We’re told that her mother might’ve been a whore, and therefore it might have influenced her, but is that all? Why not spend some time delving into her psyche, thereby giving a glimpse of what makes Rudra Rudra? I also felt that her romance with Kodi was a tad under-written. What is it that draws these two together? Is it the trauma they underwent as children?
I also felt that the Kodi-Anbu dynamic could’ve been fleshed out a bit more. It’s obvious that their mother loves them both, but clearly to varying degrees. I wish some time had been spent on this.
As for Trisha, I felt she was adequate – good even – in the first half, but she really began to struggle in the second-half. Why not cast someone like a Parvathy? Or a Radhika Apte? Or even a Ritika Singh? Someone mentioned in the comments that the director wanted a tamizh ponnu for the role. While I laud him for not casting an alabaster automaton in the role, he needs to understand that being a tamizh ponnu doesn’t automatically mean that said tamizh ponnu will do justice to the role.
I also feel that the Anbu-Malathi romance was a tad perfunctory. I felt that the film could’ve spent a bit of time showing the effect(s) of Anbu’s transformation on Malathi.
Despite all this, I quite liked the film. For one, despite the poor casting, it was nice to see a meaty role for an actress in a mainstream movie. I also liked the razor-sharp focus of the film. No individual comedy track, laughs that arose organically from the situations. The smart usage of a double-role. And of course, Santosh Narayanan’s songs.
All in all, a good political thriller that needed better writing and casting.
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Dhanda Soru
October 31, 2016
SPOILERS AHEAD
@thulasidasan17 – I think the whole fusion of personalities contrivance was intended to lend credence to an age-old masala trope: reincarnation. Personally, I thought it was brilliant. A solid modernisation of an age-old trope. While I agree with you that it perhaps could’ve been fleshed out better, the sheer high that the moment provided outshone the ludicrousness of the contrivance. Easily one of the best masala-moments of the year. I agree with you wholeheartedly about the Anbu-Malathi romance, though. They should’ve come up with a better way to tie up that thread.
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Raj
October 31, 2016
Exactly my thoughts- the movie would have done wonders if not for Trisha. She did not fit the bill in acting/native looks. Aishwarya Rajesh/Anjali might have been better choices. Traditionally an actress in Tamil who have lasted long are good performers Radhika, SImran, Revathy and to an extent even Suhasini but am always stumped how Trisha has survived with such minimal acting skills…..
However, the movie was very a good example of good commercial movie and worked well for me….
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brangan
October 31, 2016
hattorihanzo: Now there are two problems for Indian actresses
I wouldn’t say “Indian.” This is more of a Tamil/Telugu phenomenon, where they choose heroines only the basis of looks. Bollywood goes for looks + talent (exceptions being the likes of Katrina Kaif, and these are rare). Look at all the big heroines — Anushka, Deepika, Priyanka… They may not be Kangana-level “performers,” but given a role, they range anywhere between decent and excellent.
Actually, Deepika is a great example. She was, at first, a tad stiff, but she loosened up slowly and now she carries off tough roles. Trisha has been in front of a camera far longer — but nothing’s happened. And don’t tell me it’s because she hasn’t worked with big directors. IMO she just lacks what it takes.
Dhanda Soru: SPOILERS AHEAD
I agree. That was a great mass moment, though I wish they’d fleshed out the “twinless twin” syndrome a little more.
About “Why, for instance, does she want to be a politician to such an extent that she’s willing to kill her lover in order to further her political ambitions? “…
The writing is very clever here. It’s an impulsive thing. She herself does not know she’s going to do it till the very last minute. She tells him that. And you easily join the dots from here. She’s already been very conflicted about being with Kodi. Her party is giving her hell for being with Kodi. And now, an opportunity presents itself.
I thought it was great writing, excellent characterisation.
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
October 31, 2016
Trish & Arya both needs serious acting classes they should be sent to Jigathanda school of acting
Ragenikanth: +1 for Arya. 🙂
I was half my age when Mounam Pesiyadhe happened. Her acting abilities might be limited, but a Tamil ponnu surviving in the Tamil film industry as a ‘heroine’ for this long is quite a feat!
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brangan
October 31, 2016
I’m with you on that. I’m a huge admirer of people like Trisha and Katrina off-screen — who, despite so many obvious minuses, keep surviving.
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Siva
October 31, 2016
BR: Waiting for your full review of Kodi. Personally I felt the one agenda which the makers achieved in casting Trisha is the surprise factor. I saw a lot of general audience at the theatre n on fb/Twitter who were pleasantly raving Trisha as they just didn’t expect her to take up such a role. So commercially the move has worked wonders at Box office. I ofcourse 2nd the critical angle that Iswarya or anjali would Hv cracked it bigger. Overall happy that a sensible Commercial film with superb characterizations has won.
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
October 31, 2016
This is more of a Tamil/Telugu phenomenon, where they choose heroines only the basis of looks.
Quite true, but there’s no guaranteed success for ‘star’ kids in Tamil cinema. But, that isn’t the case with Telugu and Bollywood (to some extent). Shruti Haasan is a great example.
Agree with you on DP. The last three to four years have been a game changer for her, though not like Vidya Balan’s amazing 2009-12.
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brangan
October 31, 2016
Honest Raj: I am not talking about success/failure of an actor. I am talking about casting someone solely on the basis of looks or star power. Trisha’s casting here is as bad as Katrina’s casting in Rajneeti. These powerful roles need powerful actors, not just looks or star power.
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Aadhy
October 31, 2016
SPOILERS AHEAD
Dhanda Soru: I think the montage Sirukkivaasam sufficiently showed both their journeys and how they ended up liking each other. I felt relieved that the director spared us of any meet-cute romance. We also get the preceding scene where she tells Kodi that he is just a small speck in her big dreams, and she’s hell bent on realising them no matter what it takes, kind of foreshadowing what is to come later. My problems are similar to what thulasidasan17 pointed out, the unceremonious dispatching of Anbu and Malathi. I was really interested in what was going to happen to Anbu in the midst of all the political drama. It turned out that he existed just to carry on Kodi’s macho posturing post his death. It would’ve been lovely to have had a few Anbu moments after he turns Kodi, to see how he grapples with the new changes within him. But there is no time for all that. And the nuances in Trisha’s character seem to vanish towards the end, where she just turns into a scheming villi. For someone who killed her boyfriend in an impulsive moment, we could’ve been shown some remorse from her once her act starts to sink in. What we see is just fear of getting caught/losing her position. Maybe she’s that intoxicated in her quest for power that she doesn’t even have a moment to reflect on the days they would’ve spent together.
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Godz
October 31, 2016
@BR I wouldn’t say “Indian.” This is more of a Tamil/Telugu phenomenon, where they choose heroines only the basis of looks
This is where the fundamental problem of Skin color comes into play. Tamil audiences i am not sure whats wrong with them are so much fantasized with white skin whether its rose color Saroja Devi, kusboo, simran, Nagma etc. Come on how can you cast Simran in Kovil patti VeeraLakshmi? That shows tamil people obsession with white/rose color. They simply cannot accept anything other than white/Rose On Screen when it comes to female actresses. If somebody need to blamed for this talent dryness, its absolutely the tamil audiences and no one else. According to them, the dark skinned female lead is not fit for mainstream/masala cinema.
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Dhanda Soru
October 31, 2016
SPOILERS AHEAD
BR, Aadhy: I take your point(s) about Rudra murdering Kodi as an act of impulse. Even so, what drives Rudra to be the manipulative bitch that she is? It was easy to get inside Kodi’s head, to see as to why he exhibits such an unwavering loyalty to his party. With Rudra, it is suggested that she may have been stigmatized because of her mother’s profession. But that’s about it. We don’t really get inside her head. Not saying we need a lengthy flashback or something, but a little more detailing would’ve been nice. This is similar to the Arvind Swamy character in “Thani Oruvan”. He’s poor, sure. But what is it that makes him the manipulative bastard that he is?
Regarding the melding of personalities, now that I think about, perhaps a scene or two detailing this transformation would’ve made it more plausible and less outlandish.
Aadhy: Agree wrt to Rudra turning into a slightly one-note villain post-Anbu’s transformation. Surely, seeing your lover (even if said lover is now something of a ghost) back from the dead is likely to stir up a myriad of emotions. Perhaps a better actress would’ve clued us in to these emotions, even if the script didn’t. Guess we’ll never know.
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
October 31, 2016
I am talking about casting someone solely on the basis of looks or star power.
BR: Fine. But these days even somebody like a Vishal has the privilege of choosing his heroine. Also, somebody made a good point about Trisha and Dhanush making a ‘fresh pair’.
Godz: It’s not just TN, but the whole of our nation. It’s just that we don’t have a ‘parallel cinema’ movement in our industry. We’ve had dark-skinned female leads. In fact, the actresses who’ve won ‘Best Actress’ National Awards from Tamil are predominantly dark-skinned ones.
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Akhilan
October 31, 2016
What annoys me even more about the likes of Trisha is despite being from Madras, she still refuses to dub in her own voice… I mean what…?? I think the last movie where she did so was perhaps for Aayutha Ezuthu… (Mani Ratnam wouldn’t have accepted any less…) This automatically makes her ‘performances’ appear even more cardboard-ish and inert…
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Raj
October 31, 2016
I felt that the Rudra’s character left unexplained opens up several shades for her character. I think it gives the director the flexibility to shape her the way the situation demands. Defining her character would have forced the director to follow a certain template for the character. The unpredictability of the character lends itself to the twists in the movie and it felt more organically developed rather than forced. However, with Trish on board the finest nuances an actor should have bought in was all missing. Unfortunately because of her acting I could never take her seriously. I heard somewhere that the director wanted a Thamizh ponnu but Trisha can’t even dub for herself. Isn’t she a Thamizh ponnu only if she speaks the language?
I really didn’t care for the romance between the other pair and could have dedicated more time to the transformation of Anbu or to the investigation of Kodi or to a better lead up to the cimax where Rudra makes a blunder of exposing herself. Would have preferred if Anbu discovers her true identity rather than she revealing it.
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Dhanda Soru
October 31, 2016
BR, I’ve been meaning to ask: How did Tamil cinema go from giving heroines roles where they were made to do something to roles where they’re asked to look pretty and go all loosu ponnu on us? Even if heroines nowadays are cast solely on the basis of looks, surely the likes of Aishwarya Rajesh and Parvathy, in addition to their acting chops, fulfill the aforementioned criterion. Or, as pointed out by Godz, is it more of a skin color thing? I mean, what else could possibly explain the success of the likes of Tamanaah and Hansika? Is there a particular film/heroine that birthed this trend?
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Aadhy
November 1, 2016
SPOILERS AHEAD
Dhanda Soru : Not saying we need a lengthy flashback or something, but a little more detailing would’ve been nice.
I agree that a bit more insight on her motivation could’ve made us understand her better. But this didn’t bother me much because we constantly see, in flashes, what power meant to her. She grew up watching leaders talk, she feels power when she sits on that chair, and she’s had hundreds of people listening to her speeches for years together which in itself could be addictive. Most importantly, she’s also hungry for respect from the society, fuelled by the disrespect meted out to her family due to her mother’s profession. What better way for her to gain respect back than by holding positions of high power.
Perhaps a better actress would’ve clued us in to these emotions, even if the script didn’t. Guess we’ll never know.
That is true. Post Kodi’s death, Trisha wears a constant deadpan expression which never takes us into Rudra’s head. Till his death, as I mentioned before, the ‘cluelessness’ of Trisha actually aided Rudra and her actions. She’s torn between her love and her ambitions, and it all boiled down to the point where she almost got kicked out of the party. Rudra is herself clueless about handling that situation, which leads her to murder Kodi. She still remains clueless as to whether she could be happy without him.
Post this point, the movie went downhill for me. The nuanced writing gave way for huge dollops of heroism, caricaturising Rudra as the one-note evil villain, and in the process unmasking Trisha’s severe acting incapabilities. I mean, she literally puts on a frozen face to convey her ‘coldness’. The fact that Dhanush, Saranya and Kaali Venkat are all in such fine form, saved the ending quite a bit. Oh yeah, and Santosh Narayanan. He give Rudra with his score what Trisha couldn’t with her performance. Depth.
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KayKay
November 1, 2016
“I don’t think anyone from the current crop of heroines could’ve done complete justice”
Haven’t seen the movie but I presume the role called for a cold, calculating ice-cold bitch?
Wasn’t Reema Sen available? After Aayirathil Oruvan and Gangs Of Wasseypur, this is something she could have aced in her sleep.
Trisha…hahahahahaha….nigger, please!
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ramvaradan
November 1, 2016
your teaser review got so many responses? allow me, to bestow you legion d’ honneur of chevalier of reviewers 🙂 btw, let me congratulate myself for the right taste — for patronizing you since the ageold newsprint media.
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Narendiran sundarapandian
November 1, 2016
I got reminded of the underwoods from house of cards though only Trisha’s character shared the ruthless pragmatism, which was very very poorly executed by Trisha. Her face was plastic as always. Parvathy or Ishwarya rajesh would’ve done justice to the role.
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shaviswa
November 1, 2016
I wouldn’t say “Indian.” This is more of a Tamil/Telugu phenomenon, where they choose heroines only the basis of looks. Bollywood goes for looks + talent (exceptions being the likes of Katrina Kaif, and these are rare). Look at all the big heroines — Anushka, Deepika, Priyanka… They may not be Kangana-level “performers,” but given a role, they range anywhere between decent and excellent.
Er…really? I thought if there was anything uniform in Hindi films, it is how almost nobody tries to perform. Acting is secondary to looking good. Always.
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brangan
November 1, 2016
Dhanda Soru: The loosu ponnu has always been around — check out Saroja Devi in some of the MGR films, or even Vyjayanthimala in bits of Then Nilavu etc. I mean, they act “cute,” with a childishness that one may find endearing or irritating. But today’s heroines appear full-on loosu because they look so unrelated to the proceedings. They look alien. They don’t look like they belong. They don’t look like the speak the language. There’s no effort made to make them act normally.
I mean, someone like Roopini was no great actress, but look at her in Theertha Karayinile, and you’ll see a fairly believable gramathu ponnu. (I hope I’m remembering the film’s name correctly.) She doesn’t gesticulate wildly. Her lip-sync is decent. The acting is basic — ‘happy face’ for happy situations, ‘sad face’ for sad situations. But it doesn’t throw you out of the films.
I think the directors then took care in telling these heroines how to sit, stand, act, where to look, how to modulate body language — all of which does not happen today.
As for when today’s trend of alien-looking loosu ponnus started, I’d go back to Radha Saluja in the MGR films. That, I think, was the beginning of the end 😀
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Rahini David
November 1, 2016
Has everyone suddenly become alive to the need of Spoiler Alerts or is BR slapping it on regular comments as he sees fit?
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thulasidasan17
November 1, 2016
Rahini David: The film packs a couple of twists. Better not spoil it, don’t yer agree?
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Yossarian
November 1, 2016
Does Trisha really have that much of a following for her casting to make business sense? Especially with a movie that has Dhanush in 2 roles. Genuinely curious.
BR sir, “Review coming soon..” ku 50 comments, you are quite the trendsetter :). Please post the review soon!
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Aditya (Gradwolf)
November 1, 2016
I thought Kodi was fantastic. The twin trope was used pretty well, even if the twinless twin explanation was a little ELI5 – which is par for the course in these films – I actually liked that they cared enough to give a reasoning. So many double role films exist where the innocent bystander twin suddenly rises to the occasion (couple of Captain films come to mind!) that it just throws you off. I also liked some of the foreshadowing in a lot of sequences. The whole thing about Rudhra suddenly realizing what she really wants in that sequence. It’s like how one tries a coin toss during a predicament only to realize what they truly desire. The tiger (bad CGI notwithstanding), for example, so random but plays a part later. That scene when he catches students messaging during his class and then later uses the same for his purpose. Vetrimaaran hand in many places I suspect.
It’s true about Trisha being very limited but I always felt it’s bizarre that someone who’s been in this industry this long has never had a major role (miscast also fine) or a role that’s made famous, even if performance is sub-par. Even Simran had many such roles and like someone said, Katrina in Rajneeti. I mean, how did it take this long for her to be miscast?! Almost what, 15 years(?) and not a single memorable role. Yet, we have two films from her that need celebration simply for the fact that they go beyond the loosu ponnu template in a hero-centric film. This one and Thoongavanam. I feel it will go a long way if we celebrate these things – while calling out their other flaws of course – just the way we need to call out the loosu ponnu tropes. Maybe things will change. But ya, I wished they had found a better performer.
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Meghnath
November 1, 2016
Btw why is the review not up yet ? 😛
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Godz
November 1, 2016
@Dhanda Soru: To my knowledge it all started with The Great Khushboo. Their were no North indian successful female leads in tamil cinema before her (Correct me if i am wrong) and she rocked TN in the 90s and as you all know rest is history. I guess that started everything suddenly and “North indian Import” and “White Skin” become a common and irresistible aspect in Tamil cinema. Who Cares Ethnicity and background of the character? and add to that hysterics of Jyothika “The queen of Loosu Ponnu”. Who could forget her Performance in Kushi and Dhool and those crazy sounds oi oi oi..? Although we had few occasional exceptional performances in the likes of Sneha, Nandita Das, Its PriyaMani who finally ended this madness with her Exceptional Performance in Paruthi Veeran. (Fortunately, the white skinned north indian heroes never made it even to the border Ex: Kunal etc). But it seems our people need more white and now we are going into whole different direction. We import actress from London(Amy Jackson) for that perfect white color..I guess this will only stop when a genius director remakes Avvaiyar and cast Angelina Jolie as Avvaiyaar and then finally our people will realize “What have we done?”
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hattorihanzo4784
November 1, 2016
BR
yeah i meant south indian heroines (mostly tamil/telugu) in my post. i noticed the mistake after i posted it. but the comments section doesnt have an edit option… so…
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Madhu
November 1, 2016
All: What do you mean, there is no actress who could have done Trisha’s role! There is Vasundhara (of Poraali and Thenmerku paruvakaatru fame) who would have rocked this role. There are so many budding actresses, who for the sheer reason of dark skin tone and legit Tamil knowledge always seemed to get shoved out of mainstream films. Take Iniya, for instance. She was wonderful in Vaagai Sooda vaa. Did she get atleast one memorable role after that? Heck, that poor thing didn’t even get a loosu ponnu role. Aishwarya Rajesh, though, is an excellent performer is still isn’t shaded enough for this role. You know, she still doesn’t have that strong woman persona. I am sure I am forgetting many, like Dhansika. All these women are eactually capable, extremely underused and generally miscast. It always breaks my heart a little bit when good actresses (first of all good roles for women is in itself a miracle) just fade away, so sad.
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Aadhy
November 1, 2016
but I presume the role called for a cold, calculating ice-cold bitch?
Not entirely. She is also vulnerable, clueless at times. There’s a mature and quite adorable lovetrack with the hero as well. It’s quite intricate. So yeah, not a complete bitch, atleast till the later portions of the movie. Casting Reema Sen would’ve dispelled this enigma rightaway, no? People would just wait for the moment she turns into a total bitch, not caring for the romance or any character shade that comes across earlier.
Not saying Trisha fits the role by any means, just wondering if anyone could’ve lived this role at all.
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MANK
November 1, 2016
What happened to our Dhanush fanboy Amit Joki ?, Dhanush does a solid movie after some time and he is not here celebrating , weird!
And thank god no stalking in this film, for that alone dhanush should be given a Nobel prize for this one 😀
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Ravi K
November 1, 2016
Godz: “Fortunately, the white skinned north indian heroes never made it even to the border Ex: Kunal etc.”
That’s probably because South Indian films are mostly from the male’s POV, aimed at men who want to imagine themselves as the heroes romancing North Indian women and defeating North Indian villains.
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MANK
November 1, 2016
Godz, there was Amala before Khushboo. But yes Khushboo was the game changer. the kind of adulation she got completely changed the way heroines are presented on screen. . khushbhoo->Naghma->Simran->Jyotika has been the top heroines since that time. there has been heroines like Roja, Meena and Soundarya side by side but the commercially dominant heroines have always been the the north indian heroines.
One thing intriguing about Trisha is that, forget being a good actress, she isn’t even a good dancer, yet she has managed to survive over a long period of time.
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Jagajaga
November 1, 2016
In my opinion, Trisha’s performance in this film was commendable.
Her characterization was brilliant – that she is ambitious and fearless is beautifully depicted when she catches a snake nonchalantly. We get to know that she is spontaneous immediately – when she feigns to be unconscious. Rest all follows. No further explanation was needed to tell us why she craves politics so much.
About her performance – Per me, for the role of Rudra, this film needed someone who looked attractive, who could pass off as cunning, one who did not know how to loosen her body, and unfreeze her face. The person had to be cunning. Her face should not give away anything. There should always be a doubt in the audience’s minds as to whether this woman reached the heights because of her oration or due to her incredibly deceptive nature.
Put all of this together, Trisha fit the bill perfectly. No need to overact (or even act). Look innocent (which is what I see Trisha’s looks as), act entirely the opposite (which is how she was characterized).
It seems to me that brangan and all the others seemed to have missed this point. So Trisha despite being a bad actor generally (I completely agree with this) was a great cast for Rudra’s role! Do correct me if I am wrong!
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shaviswa
November 1, 2016
Trisha dubbed her voice in Manmadhan Ambu and Thoongavanam. She does not dub in non-Kamal films.
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Rohit Sathish Nair
November 1, 2016
Who’s the better actress: Trisha or Nayanthara?
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Ramsu
November 1, 2016
@Gradwolf: I agree with you on the use of foreshadowing. Much to like about the use of the leopard-cam, although the CGI of the leopard was Godawful.
I didn’t find myself enjoying the Twinless Twin concept much, though. It’s not so much the conception as the execution. Had it been just a few subtle indicators that only a few people (notably the Trisha character) had been able to spot, I think it would’ve been more effective. Going all the way with the transformation seemed more in line with a this-is-the-Dhanush-people-want-to-see mindset than a this-is-the-Dhanush-the-script-needs one.
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Naren Mani
November 1, 2016
I think BR is silently enjoying the Flow of Comments for his yet-to-be-published Review.. whattay….!!! 🙂
Saaaar… movie releasku kooda ippadi wait pannathilla… Daily checking twitter and this blog…and keep F5 ing… Hmmmm!!!
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Aadhy
November 1, 2016
Madhu : This specific role needed a star who can also act, don’t you think? Someone with charisma and a screen persona, who’s aged on screen with the number of movies, over the years. She has to look Dhanush’s age, in terms of on-screen maturity, in order to be convincing both as his love interest and his professional nemesis. This on-screen age gives a certain stature to Rudra’s character. I don’t think the newer actresses have this specific quality, yet . I kept thinking of Sneha. She would’ve been convincing both as the ambitious wannabe politician with a love interest and later as a menacingly mean and sly MP, I think. I don’t know.
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Enna koduka sir pera
November 1, 2016
“Look at all the big heroines — Anushka, Deepika, Priyanka… They may not be Kangana-level “performers,” but given a role, they range anywhere between decent and excellent.”
BR – Am just curious, how would you define a performer?
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Godz
November 1, 2016
@Madhu There are so many budding actresses, who for the sheer reason of dark skin tone and legit Tamil knowledge
Bulls Eye..Proficiency in any language is important specifically English. But Identity is Equally important too. Again the idea that if some one who can talk English Walk English is Equally knowledgeable, brilliant, know all, civilized is strongly rooted in our people that they are ashamed of their identity. Its when they realize language is just a means and the 5 out of 8 G8 countries does not even have English as their official language, that this atrocities will stop. on that day Trisha will be forced to speak in proper regional language and dub herself. Again I am not writing politics here. Its all profession and all it requires is some effort. Being in industry for 10 plus years and not able to dub herself in regional language or speak proper regional language shows how tolerant tamil people are.Its ok..Velaiya irukaraven Poi Pesa maatan… Its not against Trisha but the general attitude of the industry and its audiences. God Knows.
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Madhu
November 1, 2016
Aadhy: No, I don’t think it needed a star. It needed a solid performer who would look a little frail but should be convincing when showing strength and shades. That is why I said Vasundhara would be good. I think the character are in their late twenties, aren’t they? Saranya says she stopped talking ten years ago when Kodi refused to go to college, which means Trisha and both Dhanush are twenty-seven-thereabouts. So, both in terms of the age factor and maturity I think Vasundhara would have fit. The other actresses whom I have mentioned are more about moaning. These are actresses who would have easily groomed themselves given right roles, in regularity. They have the potential. But I do personally feel Vasundhara would have been awesome. Said all that, I forgot to add that Trisha didn’t do it badly, as in…you don’t wince at her performance. It is more about, oh come on…a little more pain, a little more hurt, a little more frustration. She just doesn’t get cunning or that torn between feeling. I agree with MANK that it is high time she had a solid role. I really liked her in Thoongavanam. She was even tolerable in Manmadhan ambu, except for the Tamil poems part. But this role basically needs a present day Ramya Krishnan kind of acting on a Nadhiya kind of look.
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praneshp
November 1, 2016
@Gradwolf: Come on, whether you liked the movie or not, VTV was a major role for Trisha. You only need to see the hindi version to see how that role might have been butchered.
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Raj
November 1, 2016
For commercial reasons people would expect Dhanush to be paired with someone his stature in popularity/ familiarity/ age in the movie. That brings the choices to a very few… So Aishwarya Rajesh, Dhansika, Anjali are ruled out.
Hence its Trisha illana Nayantara!! However Nayanthara would be my choice for this role… Even if she can’t act she can overact!!! Trisha couldn’t do either…
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Dhanda Soaru
November 1, 2016
SPOILERS AHEAD
Aadhy: Maybe I’ll have to re-watch the film to get a better understanding of Rudra. It’s just that, on the first watch anyway, Rudra came across as manipulative simply because the script says so. That and her apparent lack of remorse regarding Kodi’s death diminished the potency of an otherwise effective character.
BR, Godz, MANK: Thanks for the insights. Intha subject-a vachu oru thesis-e ezhudhalam polla 😛
Madhu: I don’t think any of the actresses you mentioned have the requisite ‘oomph’ to pull off this role. They’re all too tame a presence, and while they may fare well in the romance portions of the film, I doubt they’d fare much better than Trisha did in the cat-and-mouse portions.
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MANK
November 1, 2016
Raj, no thanks I’ll take Trisha’s non acting to nayantaras over acting any day. I can’t stand her forced fake smiles and Ott mannerisms. I would prefer no expressions to wrong expressions. At least we can draw our own conclusions as many here are doing
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Aadhy
November 1, 2016
Madhu : By on-screen age I didn’t mean age in this movie. What I meant was aging through a number of movies. That’s how an actor develops an on-screen persona. Dhanush has been around for 15 years now. Considering VIP is his 25th movie, maybe this one is his 30th or somewhere around. Vasundhara, good performer that she might be, has done prominent roles in maybe 5-6 movies? Now when you put this relative newcomer in a love track with Dhanush, where he’s from the opposite camp, there’s already a hint that this is not gonna end up all that well. You can see the twist from a distance. Whereas with Trisha or someone who’s been around as much as Dhanush, we genuinely want the couple to end up together even before we see them together.
Moreover, with a star, a sense of rooting for the star always exists. So even if Rudra is mean, deceptive and all that, the star gives the role a bit of an extra weightage, even before the first dialogue is spoken. This character has to draw love and hate for herself from the audience. And this is not a character that’s easily likable. In such a case, the on-screen persona or the on-screen ‘image’ of the star aids us subconsciously to develop a liking for her. Sadly we don’t have a star who has such a persona, developed over years with memorable roles. I agree that a good new performer might bring in all these qualities with sheer brilliance. But then that’s a lot of weight to pull and I’m not sure if someone like a Vasundhara could handle all that burden, from what I have seen of her (Thenmerku paruvakartru, peranmai, poraali etc.).
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Rohit Sathish Nair
November 1, 2016
Raj:
Maybe her scowl could be enough for this movie, but even her trying to give a ‘performance’ can be its own kind of landmine. Case in point: Puthiya Niyamam (Malayalam).
Said to be her career-best, this was one of the worst things about the movie for me
Is there more to casting non-Tamil actresses than just looks? Is there a plain lack of actresses from Tamil Nadu in the industry? Even Mani Ratnam’s heroines were almost never Tamilians: either Hindi actresses, or Malayali/Telugu actresses who knew Tamil
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Aditya (Gradwolf)
November 1, 2016
@praneshp: I like VTV but I wouldn’t call that a memorable role. Memorable film surely but not sure the role has a big part to play in it. I was looking for a, say, Sai Pallavi in Premam level memorable in what has been a really long career.
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Amit Joki
November 1, 2016
MANK: I was waiting to give it back to some people when the full review was ready. But since you were wondering, I would perhaps give it back to them right now.
maha: Ouch! Misogynistic and crap? Vada poche. Risible judgement. Buy yourself a burnol 😂 ithula enaku chatting room ku recommendation vera 😂😂😂. Thanniya kudinga.
Someone who said Vettrimaaran associated with Dhanush only because he produced his film: Kodi is produced by Vettrimaaran and he himself said, oru bayangaramana ikkataana soolnalaila I asked him to do this film which he did accept. Now that clears a lot of things.
Dhanush-Vettrimaaran combo is a dream combo.
Aadhy: Yes, there can be none who could so articulate the feeling of being betrayed as Dhanush does. The converse is true too.
That is when he betrays and knows its consequences, for example, the way he emotes when his friend knows of his betrayal in Mayakkam Enna is easily one of the best.
And to add on, BR spoke of how Radhika Apte might be India’s best weeper. Dhanush is the top contender too. Some people evoke sympathy when they cry on screen i.e. Apte, Dhanush. And some evoke laughter, eg Vijay, Ajith. Don’t know if it has got to do with their countenance. But the fact remains.
And the news is that Vidya Balan was approached for Trisha’s role but it didn’t materialize. What. A. Casting. That. Would. Be.
Also I think, Andrea could have also played it better. She looks cute but has this gray shade in her. Simran too would have done okay.
As for Aishwarya Rajesh, I don’t think she would have looked convincing when confronting someone like Dhanush. Star power and screen presence matters. Parvathy of Mariyaan has these I guess.
And for ending Anbu’s love track, I think that director might have thought if Kodi dies single, Anbu must also be single. Once a non committed twin, always a non committed twin 😎
And that wonderful stretch of the betrayal is wonderfully enacted. There were a plethora of emotions that Dhanush conveyed before he died.
Heck, even the songs apart from the introductory one played not for the sake for it but were well etched out and well shot adding to the story.
I was pleasantly surprised that Kodi meant business when he slaps Malathi and even more pleasant is she doesn’t make a fuss about it.
Another strong characterization is in Sirukki Vaasam song where in the herd of men Rudra slaps one without feeling intimidated.
Another one is when her leader objectifies her, she doesn’t rant of how women are treated this way but continues to share with him a good rapport until she attains what she wanted to.
And then she shows him his place quite convincingly after she has his MLA seat. If I were the director I would have rousing BGM for Trisha in here.
And the most satisfying piece of writing was when I felt they ended up with a cliche when Trisha is spared, but then our Kaali Venkat avenges Kodis death by kuthing.
On the whole Kodi Parakkuthu 😎😎😎
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Aadhy
November 2, 2016
Oh btw, I think we also need to clarify on what defines a star. All along this discussion I was talking about someone with a sizeable body of work (star) versus a newcomer. In other words, an experienced/seasoned artist that is very familiar to the audience, to play a convincing politician who is pitted against Dhanush and yet is not your garden-veriety over-gesticulating villi . And not stars in the sense of a Tamannah, Kajal or Hansika who can’t act to save their lives. Of course we need a solid performer. My point is that being a performer is not just enough and she needs to look the part. The stature of an experienced artist is important here. Unfortunately what we have is a combination of huge experience + poor skills and less experience + great skills, and what we need is good experience + good skills for this specific role.
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shaviswa
November 2, 2016
@PraneshP Agree. VTV was Trisha’s best. She was really good and so was Simbu. This was obvious to me when I saw the Telugu and the Hindi versions. The Telugu version was marred by Naga Chaitanya. I thought Samantha was fairly ok in it. But the Hindi version was the dumbest. Both actors were pathetic. Can’t blame Amy Jackson though. She would not have made head or tail of what complexities her character had to go through.
Trisha, IMO, did quite well in Manmadhan Ambu and in Thoongavanam. But both were characters that did not test her histrionic skills. Kodi however tested her and I must say that she was not THAT bad. However, I still feel that the same movie, with Trisha as the lead, but from a different director, may have extracted better performance out of her. I would blame the director here for the one-dimensional aspect of Rudhra (esp post Kodi).
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Sharan
November 2, 2016
Recently I saw Q&A session of Anurag Kashyap in which he was speaking about casting and actors.
He said no actor can do all types of role. He said they can utmost imbibe traits of the character not transform themselves completely into it. He also said all great actors become great actors because their personality is so strong that it dominates the screen which also makes it difficult for that actor to become someone else. This rings so true for me in case of kamal haasan especially in his recent movies.
He said actors need to experience life in order to become good actors. I have heard many actors like dhanush say they do not go to sets prepared and try to keep their heads as empty as possible. many of these actors emote on instinct. I think it is possible only if they have varied life experiences with great emotional baggage or they have great observational power to imbibe characteristics of people around them. So Poor acting in a good role and a good movie is largely a mistake of casting director and inability of director to extract work.
Now I think I can understand why I never really liked Surya. He acts in good movies and you can sense that he has worked hard but I always felt he couldn’t generate the kind of feel on screen the way likes of Dhanush, even likes of Simbu, Karthi does. I might sound rude but I always felt Surya is fancy dressing and mimicking someone and never living as the character. It would be interesting to see how dhanush would be in gautam menon movie. Even though dhanush had acted in characters varying from psycho to lover boy, I feel they all were set in somewhat same milieu.
what is your take on actors cannot do all kind of roles ?
23:00 to 28:00 ; 46:20 to 49:00
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Aadhy
November 2, 2016
Really surprised by the tightness in the writing for a commercial fare. Some offhand moment in a song montage, like Rudra asking Kodi to put on sunglasses during a speech finds its way back into the script later when Rudra asks Anbu to remove the glasses, as it had been a constant property featuring in their romance. Note the instance where Kodi also casually slips the glasses on her in another scene.
I don’t know if Nayantara is worse, but definitely not any better. She keeps overselling an emotion and is very broad in her performances. She can be angry, sad, happy, cute, cuter but definitely can’t show something like inner conflict, with minimal dialogues. She also looks so well made-up even in rustic roles that it’s hard to take her seriously.
Also I think they needed someone who looked like JJ from her younger days. I couldn’t help noticing Saranya’s pointed curse in the end, < em> “Un Padhavi veri unna thani marama aakidum” or something to that extent. She could’ve cursed “Padhavi veri unna azhichidum”, but why specifically “thani maram” . I know it’s totally random but Dhanush doing an MGR impression in an earlier scene also led me to think about this.
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shaviswa
November 2, 2016
“Also I think they needed someone who looked like JJ from her younger days. I couldn’t help noticing Saranya’s pointed curse in the end, < em> “Un Padhavi veri unna thani marama aakidum” or something to that extent. She could’ve cursed “Padhavi veri unna azhichidum”, but why specifically “thani maram” . I know it’s totally random but Dhanush doing an MGR impression in an earlier scene also led me to think about this.”
@Aadhy – that is one amazing observation.
I got the earlier one – Rudhra asking him to remove the glasses. And Anbu from there on repeatedly ensuring that she notices him wearing it or putting it away in his pocket. That was good writing. But wish Trisha had brought in some extra emotion into asking Anbu to put it away. It just looked like a minor irritant the way she puts it across.
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thulasidasan17
November 2, 2016
Another offhand reflection on Rudra’s motivations. While her mother’s profession might justify her greed for respect, power and vast ambitions, I think the scene in which she experiences misogyny from a couple of men from her own party also breeds her motivations. The fact that she has been asked to fetch ice cubes and being only considered purely in monetary values shows what drives her political aspirations.
Another example of clever writing in the screenplay that could have been rocket, but slouched halfway.
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rajen
November 2, 2016
Great comment by Thulasidasan ”Reading through the comments and skimming through multiple reviews, one common thread that passes through was that Dhanush gave a somewhat ostensibly good performance. I think I’ll make a case here; this is a far cry from any good performance from Dhanush. He just skimmed through the film, almost on a default performance mode.
Maybe what irritated me was (SPOILER ALERT) the director realizing that obviously, no one prefers Anbu to Kodi, so he naturally adopts some form of scientific rationalization for killing off Anbu too once Kodi died. It’s obvious that everyone loves Kodi more, but that’s no excuse for killing off Anbu, surely. You can say that post-Kodi’s death, apparently some sort of fusion occurred between Kodi’s and Anbu’s characteristics. OKAY, but where’s the evidence? All we see again is Kodi’s characteristics again no? Anbu barely stands out in the fusion. TO MAKE IT WORSE, we have Saranya voicing ostentatiously that Kodi is good hearted, but Anbu is wicked and a fusion of them unleashes hell. No scene is fleshed out properly on how Kodi-Anbu fusion works, what’s the traits or whatsoever? If Kodi-Anbu fusion does occur, this is a treasure for any screenwriter; you could explore the dimensions of depth that Dhanush has, on how he couldn’t control his ANBU/KODI characteristics within him, on how one persona leaps over another; on how he suddenly sees Trisha as a woman of sex appeal again since Kodi sees her so. SO MANY UNEXPLORED plethoras. This is a complete pullback on the director’s behalf, breathing Kodi alive again once he “dies”. I don’t mind Kodi being resurrected again, what annoyed me was Anbu’s sacrificial character death to make way for Kodi. Another evidence to this on how Anbu’s love arc was ended; a hopeful glance on the female’s behalf and a confession that things might never work out to her friend in the bus. Really, that’s all? If so, why devote a chunk of time on their arc, if you’re going to dispose them with just two scenes? Perhaps, because the only reason we ever needed Anbu’s lover’s character was to introduce to us the setup of the factory poisoning case.
Aadhy: Agreed! Almost no one strikes the right chord in the emotions and swagger power needed for the Trisha character. I wasn’t too amused watching Trisha, but she looked confident to me.
Niro: Wouldn’t know how much of these are real, but apparently for Thevar Magan, Nasser was handed the script three months prior to the shoot. During that three month period, he trained himself to understand the motivations, primal emotions of his arc character. What we saw was a phenomenal performance, before he got typecasted into such roles. Perhaps that’s not the same with Tamil Cinema. We hear news of all sorts; Dhanush not knowing the entire story till he arrives on Thodari sets; Sundar C/Mani Ratnam only narrating one liners before confirming their actors. The way Tamil Cinema has shaped it’s vehicle over the decades is vastly different (if not inferior) when compared to world cinema, let alone Hollywood.”
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Hema
November 2, 2016
There is one scene in the film where they show an younger Trisha on the Chair….and all I was thinking was “Omg, They could have cast her as the older Trisha as well” That little girl conveyed so much more in those few seconds without speaking a word than Trisha in the entire film. That little girl playing Trisha was fiesty and vicious. I didn’t believe in the older Trisha even for a second, it never felt convincing that Politics was her life and she wanted this more than anything else in her life. She just didn’t have that commanding presence, that viciousness, that ruthlessness. She was so one dimensional with her facial expressions, somehow Tamil film directors think that conveying dialogues in an angry tone or the actress showing intensity by making her eyes real big and flaring their nostrils conveys evil or viciousness! Trisha has never been an actor, every movie that I have seen of hers, she’s just been beautiful and always very awkward in front of the camera, there’s this very obvious and very uncomfortable body language with her; I am not sure why. Also, she gets zero for her body language in Kodi, she could’ve used it so well to her advantage, it was like she didn’t know how to use her hands or legs in the film, and then just on cue she just put her hands on her waist to convey a “Power Pose” because the director told so! So so awkward. I totally agree with @mrinalnarayan. I mean, someone playing Trisha’s role should have prepared for months, attended workshops to get the part and the body language right. I can’t think of anyone in today’s Tamil industry who can do justice to this part. May be a few decades back, Lakshmi (and Ramya Krishnan because of Padayappa) would have been a great choice! Trisha’s role needed someone who didn’t just mouth the dialogues but it was so much about the face and body language. I guess there was no casting or audition whatsoever. This is a masala film about showcasing Dhanush. I am sure if they had got someone amazing to play Trisha’s role, then it would have been a deal breaker for Dhanush! It would have been the heroine’s film if that was the case and may be that’s they cast Trisha knowing it was a cop out on their part! The casting could have been intentional! I wish there were better actresses these days who spoke by themselves and put in some effort on their part, used their instincts to act instead of relying on cues and someone else to dub for them!
The movie was good, it could have been amazing if only they had cast someone else instead of Trisha or got her some acting lessons before the shoot. Also, I hated the contrived ending! What was that?
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Raj
November 2, 2016
@Mank and Rohit: Seri Seri.. Understand your emotions;);)
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Anisha
November 2, 2016
“Star power and screen presence matters.” Maybe…Anushka Shetty? Don’t know about the acting part, but in Ruthramadevi, she had a certain presence. Maybe if the director really extracted a performance out of her with proper rehearsals and language training, she could fit the bill?
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Mandai Bathram
November 2, 2016
Trisha’s fitting reply to her critic(s)
https://vid.me/cNFH
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adavadi
November 2, 2016
”This is a masala film about showcasing Dhanush. I am sure if they had got someone amazing to play Trisha’s role, then it would have been a deal breaker for Dhanush! ”
in Mariyaan, they made that mistake. The heroine was so good. Wonder why she does not do more films?
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Dhanda Soaru
November 2, 2016
Hema:
“This is a masala film about showcasing Dhanush.”
Masala films, in general, are about showcasing the protagonist’s heroics. Nothing new here.
“I am sure if they had got someone amazing to play Trisha’s role, then it would have been a deal breaker for Dhanush! It would have been the heroine’s film if that was the case and may be that’s they cast Trisha knowing it was a cop out on their part! The casting could have been intentional!”
If Rajinikanth was secure enough to let Ramya Krishnan steal the show in “Padaiyappa”, I don’t see Dhanush having a problem in letting an equally – if not more – talented actress steal the show. Granted, Dhanush isn’t as big a star as Rajini. Even so, I don’t see him being particularly insecure about being upstaged by a female lead.
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Alpa Cheenu
November 2, 2016
Despite all her attempts, she was miscast. But again, this role required a certain Ramya Krishnan aura, albeit a younger one. And there aren’t many like that now, especially tamizh arasiyal speech and all. Nayantara has the presence, but she will again fail spectacularly in the tamizh speech parts. Priyamani would have been good, but is some kind of a distant memory nowadays. Who else?
Nithya Menen?
Paravathy of Mariyan fame?
Radhika Apte?
Or I would taken a gamble and cast the deliciously naughty Sai Tamhankar from Hunterrr .. haha
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
November 2, 2016
Parvathy of Mariyan fame
I don’t understand this. She attained ‘fame’ through Poo.
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praneshp
November 3, 2016
@aditya: I disagree that VTV was not a memorable role for Trisha, but thanks for replying anyway! I think the movie would’ve been worse with another actress, as well as that the role was one of Trisha’s best so far.
Unsure why Priyamani comes up so often in these threads as a good actress. She’s like Karthi, nothing of note after Paruthiveeran.
@Mandai Bathram: oh man, I was going to watch the movie this weekend, but Trisha looks like she is constipated. I think I’ll skip it.
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Aadhy
November 3, 2016
Shaviswa : But wish Trisha had brought in some extra emotion into asking Anbu to put it away.
Oh seriously. The way she says it is on the lines of “can you please turn the light off ? it’s too bright” types. Post Kodi’s death she goes into this zen mode like she shouldn’t be bothered to exhibit any kind of human emotion.
Coming to think of it, maybe Samantha would’ve played it better? She was really good in NEP, I thought. Maybe she was a newcomer in Ye Maaya Chesave and edgy because of that, but this is a more complex role and I believe she has the depth in her to pull it off. She’s been around for quite sometime as well, although she’s just been playing damsel in distress for most of the time. She might not have an imposing frame but has quite a spunky screen presence to make her look powerful. She also dubs for herself. But on the flipside, she could look a bit too plastic for this earthy role.
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praneshp
November 3, 2016
@Amit Joki: Unsure what you are “giving back” here. You were criticized for your opinions on misogyny, stalking, and blind/borderline-idiotic dhanush fanboyism in the other threads, and it looks like they are all intact.
@adavadi: “in Mariyaan, they made that mistake. The heroine was so good. Wonder why she does not do more films?” I saw a couple of Malayalam movies with her in it (notably Charlie), but they were bad to terrible 😦 She was really good in Mariyaan (and less so but still good in Bangalore Days).
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ramvaradan
November 3, 2016
if the role was cast sans any glamours then they should have gone for koothupattarai kind of girls … just like the Guru was chosen for Joker. they all seem to be low profile but high skilled. who cares for looks these days, when it matters? if you just want light skinned rich featured girls just watch some east european cheergirls at IPL so on.
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Kay
November 3, 2016
BR, haven’t you waited long enough? Just write the review already!
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bala
November 3, 2016
I don’t see why you had to come up with a one line post, just to destroy Trisha, the actor. May be she deserved it. “…her job is to learn,..”, I am usually annoyed at Ajith Kumar (no, not a vijay fan) for similar reasons.
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Amit Joki
November 3, 2016
Praneshp: It is a matter of extreme dilemma that YOU chose to comment what you commented for I am a very grateful man and wouldn’t reply to you in the tone I would have otherwise.
If you are unsure, please sir, do have the basic courtesy of being in know of the context.
Firstly, Maha called me out in the other thread in which she said KODI would be misogynistic and crap and asked BR to have a separate chatting session between him and me for the same reason quite sarcastically. Now Kodi was neither of it.
O Holy One! Do you get what I gave back? I wasn’t talking of myself. I was merely stating how horribly wrong she was. Why don’t people keep mum when they don’t know the context? Oh, never mind. People sometimes like to get their hands dirty in others’ playground. Had I not adressed it to a particular person? That person would surely know what I commented.
If it gives immense pleasure to judge people, go on. I don’t give a damn. If I were to become a film maker any day, which is highly improbable, I will let my films talk of what I am, what I think of women. (I pretty much know that someone would surely think, ivanla padam vera eduka poraana 😀😀)
That will be the day when I will truly give back to all those who have judged me in here.
I was making a completely different, quite localized, whole point in the other thread, but I was being taught, judged, misconstrued for quite another thing, which I already knew was right.
And those calling me Dhanush fanboy in the sense as if I owe my life to him and whatever he would do would be law for me, you guys are your own fanboys, and that sucks.
And in future those, I request people who want to call me misogynistic, to have balls to quote me, where they thought I was misogynistic. I assure you that I will have balls to acknowledge if I had even an iota of compunction and very well apologize sincerely or I would refute it logically.
I really hope that Iswarya takes with her, those who can discuss the matter out with film makers when the petition is accepted for a review and discussion, because otherwise if one of the judgemental creeps judges the film makers instead of having a civilized discussion, I am sure petition would be truly disregarded, this coming from someone who really wants the petition to succeed.
On this front, my respect for Iswarya, BR and the likes, have grown multifolds.
I don’t think Dhanush would have felt insecure having to act with, Aishwarya Rajesh.
He has been the most vocal one in his appreciation of her talent.
Don’t remember it right if it was Vijay Awards or Film Fare, he was talking pretty passionately of how good she is, how she deserved international accolades(I think that was a tad bit over the top, but still…). He was also pretty vocal in his appreciation of Somasundaram, the one who plays Joker and wanted to work with him.
P.S
Press: Y U no have any culture miss Radhika? Y U go nude?
Apte: STFU. You can’t stand the image of your body in front of your mirror, which is why you see mine.
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Udhay Sankar
November 3, 2016
Thoroughly enjoyable, solid masala fare..!
I never get bored of saranya, despite her playing the same character over and over again. She is so good in playing these types.
And Trisha’s character needed house of cards claire underwood level of calculative bitchiness and emotional manipulation, that frankly no Tamil actress is capable of.
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Raj
November 4, 2016
Thinking more about Kodi, I feel the movie would have been better to have an actor like Radhika/Ramya Krishnan who could have been a mentor to Dhanush in politics but in the rival party but turning against him to come up in politics…What more she could have been Saranyas sister… We could have still had the twist going but atleast we had more options for a better actress to act in it….Enna naan solradhu 😉
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shaviswa
November 4, 2016
If there is someone who could have done Trisha’s role better, it was Priyamani. But then, she is nowhere in the scene. Another actress with spunk (and experience as a real world politician) would have been Kuthu Ramya. Meera Jasmine too during her younger days.
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Nivaz
November 4, 2016
Same here, I believe both of them were unfit for what they are now Runs 🙂
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thulasidasan17
November 4, 2016
Hearing so many names but no one bothers to mention Ramya of Vaaranam Aayiram and Polladhavan?
Not to mention that she’s a real life politician now as well.
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Aadhy
November 4, 2016
Raj : That would make for a fantastic Aadukalam -2, set on a different ‘aadukalam’.
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maha
November 4, 2016
Amit, you got me. 🙂
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shaviswa
November 4, 2016
@thulasidasan17 Yes. I referred to her as Kuthu Ramya
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Manish Kaarthick
November 4, 2016
What about Santhosh’s music sir..?!!!I thought his songs were good especially ei suzhali ..and his bgm conveyed the right amount of mass without going too loud or over board….
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Rakesh
November 5, 2016
Ramya also happens to be the heroine of Baradwaj Rangan’s Kadhal2Kalyanam, which will never see the light of the day !
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Siva
November 5, 2016
BR: Awesome review as usual. Great review for a beautifully written film with one of the finest actors of this generation Dhanush
I loved that last line about Dhanush. ‘There’s no other star who’s so in tune with his inner actor, no other actor so capable of doing the things that make a star a star.’
Can’t describe it better. How well he balances the actor and star in him perfectly.
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Venkat
November 5, 2016
They could have considered Anjali or given an opportunity for Sangeetha for tho role
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brangan
November 5, 2016
Rakesh: And she was fantastic in the film. How I wish we could get it out at least on YouTube. Damn copyright issues.
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praneshp
November 5, 2016
@brangan: If I may ask, how did Sathya behave? The director of the upcoming Chennai2Singapore wasn’t too complimentary of him.
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brangan
November 5, 2016
praneshp: You mean how he behaved on the sets? I don’t know. I wasn’t there except for a bit of a song shoot, and he seemed quite okay. I mean, he wasn’t throwing a tantrum or something 🙂
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vijay
November 5, 2016
Easy people. Trisha is learning on the job just like how Yuvan has been learning to sing for the last 20 yrs or Arya has been learning to act or Harris Jayaraj has been learning to compose a tune in a different meter/scale 🙂
Reg Selvaraghavan- well he has been learning on the job as well like his musical counterpart Yuvan. Apart from 2 or 3 films which had a few engaging stretches his filmography is quite blah… Lets not overrate him.
I couldn’t stand 7GRC. Ayirathil Oruvan was badly executed, felt like 2 halves from 2 different films slapped together, besides the laughable Doordarshan-like animation effects.
I have not even bothered to check out Irandam ulagam and his other recent movies. His lead actors suck most of the time, esp. when they aren’t Dhanush.
If directors cannot be praised for just ambition then why put Selvaraghavan on a pedestal for one flawed execution after another?
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Kurinji
November 5, 2016
I was fuming the whole time when Trisha sniffled through one powerful scene after another . I dont have anything against the actor . It is just a job taken away from another potential deserving actress who would have bothered to put some effort into the role . A director who has the brains to write a script like this with a powerful female heroine sure can understand the (lack of) capabilities of Trisha. What is it then that was behind the casting ? political pressure ? Pressure from producers?
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Kurinji
November 5, 2016
The reviews that are highly critical about the heroine’s performance will not be published in the newspapers is it ? Interesting .
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umamaheswarans
November 5, 2016
Trisha apparently did ask the director, if he really wanted her in this movie.
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Aadhy
November 5, 2016
Another example of refreshing writing was how the age-old ‘hate turning into love’ ( Modhal-Kadhal ) cliché was given a harsh realistic spin. The genesis of their modhal/hate, i.e. the politics they stood for, still stays intact, whereas a regular film would’ve discarded the cause as something silly, something inconsequential as they start liking each other. Kodi even acknowledges in a conversation, that the same root conflict is looming large before them when they’re required to make life choices. Rudra sees that his solution of separating professional and personal life is not going to work out. Both couldn’t have had a happy life if they had ended up together. Worse, Rudra would’ve had to bid goodbye to her political career as well (her relationship with Kodi is already not appreciated by her party). She’s devastated at the prospect of all this happening, that she had to get Kodi out of politics AND her life, at any cost. All this would’ve played in Rudra’s mind in a loop that she had to seize the opportunity that presented itself to solve all her (and partly his) problems. Never come across such a strongly constructed relationship arc in a masala movie, circling back to the point it all started. Hate.
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Arun Rathakrishnan
November 6, 2016
Arguably, Trisha has been good in films like Aayitha Ezhuthu, Selvaraghavan’s Yaardi Nee Mohini original, VTV and Yennai Arinthaal. So directors who want to cast here can see some promise, but there are some stand out bad performances like Thoongavanam. I think she is being a less extreme real life version of Uppu Karuvadu Nandhita, whose success as an actor is dependent on conditions (or directors?) that are hard to replicate on every set. I don’t think it is unique to Trisha. Jayam Ravi was notorious for being good only in Jayam Raja’s films.
I have been following Vijay’s movies for a long time, and I see that there are some acting misses that are really hard to explain given his years in the industry. He can be good in a Fazil, Shankar or Siddique film and still do a Puli or Sura. It is not as if good directors (A.L. Vijay in Thalaivaa) are immune to this, and there are certain notes are especially hard for an actor to hit.
I think Trisha is cast in the wrong film playing the wrong role. But +1 for Divya Spandana. Trisha embi embi act panrathukku bathila, oru MP ponnaye nadikka vachirukkalam.
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Anisha
November 6, 2016
http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/kodi-director-durai-senthilkumar-speaks-on-the-success-of-kodi/article9309633.ece
Initially, the director wanted to cast Vidya Balan into the film. Eppadi irunthirukkum…
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brangan
November 6, 2016
Oh I don’t know. Vidya Balan may be the better actor, but she wouldn’t have been convincing as Dhanush’s love interest.
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thulasidasan17
November 6, 2016
Anisha: Vidya Balan? Hardly the right choice, given the dubbing difficulties and her pairing with wiry Dhanush.
PS. She was supposed to be in Lingusamy’s Run and Manasellam to begin her career with after her supposed debut with Mohanlal died down. Obviously, it didn’t work out so. Also, Trisha replaced Vidya Balan in Manasellam. 😉
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Aadhy
November 6, 2016
Dhandasoru : Just stumbled upon this interview of Kodi’s director. He seems to share our feeling, regarding Rudra turning into a one-note evil villain at the end. He feels he could’ve toned it down a bit and presented her more interestingly, if he’d had more time at his disposal. Looks like the nuances existed in the script and he couldn’t shoot it. He comes across as someone who accepts criticism gracefully, acknowledges the clichés and compromises a mainstream movie has to have and tries to work hard around it to make the audience not feel insulted by them.
The part where he talks about the climax starts from 28 :15.
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thillana
November 6, 2016
All they wanted was a older face but familiar tamil speaking actress. Only trisha fit the criteria.
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Sifter
November 7, 2016
@ Raj- “…Enna naan solradhu.”
Like your options 🙂 I would also add Lakshmi/Saritha into that mix.
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Nivaz
November 7, 2016
Vidhya Balan is an overrated actress just like nithya menon, please don’t bring her name here.. I was wondering how Anjali could have handled this role, even though she did well her voice wont be that commendable and dubbing for her is a bad idea.
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shaviswa
November 8, 2016
In that interview, the director makes it clear. The decision to make Trisha’s character into a one-dimensional villain was driven by commercial cinema compulsions. According to them the audience will not accept a different ending where her character does not get punished for her sins. She has to face the same end as Kodi did.
Not sure when talented directors come out of such compulsions and make a film that they actually wanted to make.
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
November 9, 2016
CARTOON : BLACK MONEY
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blurb
November 15, 2016
There’s so much misogyny in Kodi. Kodi is a Padayappa, not without misogyny, with a different kind of misogyny.
They took Sheryl Sandberg’s “success and likability are positively correlated for men; negatively correlated for women” and made a movie out of it.
Obviously, I was fuming all through.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Parts of it were predictable. Trisha kills Kodi – I guessed the moment they show Rudra and Kodi are in love. But I thought that might have been how it all ended. Something along the lines of: Trisha kills Kodi, cries her heart out, and kills herself. The End.
The second aspect which wasn’t effective at all was how Rudra died. That man came in 2 scenes, and is suddenly shown to kill her. That seemed out of of the blue.
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Ben
December 28, 2016
I am not sure why there is so much hate for an actress. Is it really actress’ fault? As some one mentioned in above comments, the director felt this acting is acceptable and given “ok” to that scene. This is the main problem. If the director felt Trisha’s acting is not acceptable, he should have taken it again until it came out well. He should have understood on the first scene itself she doesn’t look any politician. I am not sure what pressure he is under to complete the movie on time, but ultimately he is responsible. This movie should have had the seriousness of madras movie, instead they wasted time with love & songs , fake fights and made a masala movie. More time should have been spend on character development of Trisha and more examples should have been shown where she gets what she wants regardless what comes on her way.
Check the number of minutes Trisha is shown in screen versus Dhanush, you will know Trisha’s character is not given an equal chance. This movie is about these two characters, every other character is supporting character. If you don’t give equal chance to the other character, then it will look bad even if some other actress would have performed.
Tamil movie industry is still a male world, do you think a top tamil actor would allow another character to have equal screen presence time?
Personally, I feel the director’s treatment of the story is not right. It is commercialized, instead of a madras or visaaranai. I am also surprised to see vetrimaaran produced this masala movie.
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Cholan Raje
October 20, 2018
I didn’t find Trisha’s performance that bad. Tell me she could have acted MUCH, MUCH better post-transformation and I’ll agree, but tell me an Aishwarya Rajesh or a Parvathy Menon should’ve replaced her and I couldn’t disagree more.
Trisha has the looks for Rudra. If you look at her in a certain way, you can think “pretty, innocent, gorgeous,” etc, and her voice only adds to that perspective. But she’s also got a tinge of class, of brains behind beauty. Her big eyes and stark face definitely carry the looks of someone who’s always thinking of something, someone who has another face behind her complexion. She was well-cast, but failed to do well in terms of being a heroine-turned-villi.
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Cholan Raje
April 24, 2022
I retract the comment I made here in 2018. I’ve said a lotta stupid things in this blog. cringes
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Kaushik Bhattacharya
September 8, 2022
Having just rewatched the film, I’m surprised there was not a greater mention of Amala Paul as a better option for Rudra’s role. She has her limitations but is certainly a better performer than Trisha, has decent chemistry with Dhanush (as evidenced by VIP), and would have handled the grey in the role well as a power hungry but not completely monstrous (at least initially) politician.
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