Spoilers ahead…
Why isn’t Papa papa the hero-introduction song in Bairavaa? This is the kind of thing you think about when a film is 168 minutes long and so short on entertainment. The picturisation of the Santhosh Narayanan number is a riot of colour, and it’s filled with the energetic steps that make Vijay’s dance numbers such a joy to watch. (The star plays Bairavaa, but then I don’t have to tell you that.) The hero-exhorting lyrics come at us from the hero himself (“Nambi vandhaa naan nanmai seiven”) as well as the people around him, who claim him as their own (“Engaalappa nee engaalappa”). The stretch is easily the film’s highlight, and yet, it’s tucked away in the second half, popping up like an afterthought.
The hero-introduction honours go, instead, to Pattaya kelappu, which is shot like a thousand other such numbers – though it’s intriguing to see how the lines about banks and stacks of currency notes relate to the movie. Bairavaa is a collection agent. Pause for a second and chew on that. What a fun job for a masala-movie hero, who can now use his supernatural strength against scores of defaulters! Miss an instalment and he’ll send you flying into space.
Bairavaa could have done something with this unique premise, but the film, written and directed by Bharathan, is content to go where every man has gone before. Okay, so let me list the few things that work (at least in the sense of interesting concepts that deserved far better execution). A fight scene where Bairavaa is pelted with packets of petrol. A scene where a disgustingly misogynistic teacher is taught a lesson. A courtroom episode where Bairavaa launches into a monologue about the System. (It’s the only time Vijay looks invested in the proceedings.) The ring tone of a rough man who’s besotted with his wife: Solai pasungiliye. It harks back to the Rajkiran character in En Rasavin Manasiley, and it’s a reminder of the pleasing ways movies can subtly play with our memories. The selection of this five-second ring tone shows thought and imagination that, if applied elsewhere, would have yielded far more bang for your buck.
Otherwise, Bairavaa is what happens when someone tosses in a bunch of must-have mass-movie ingredients into a mixie and forgets to add spice and seasoning. We get the comic sidekick (Sathish), and then the hero introduction, and then we get a heroine (Keerthy Suresh) who demonstrates her heroine-ness by smiling and feeding a little girl a spoonful of ice cream, and then we get duets, fights, rhymes (pacha mannu / yecha bun-nu), Thirunelveli accents that appear and disappear like a magician’s trick, and then we get a senior villain (Jagapathi Babu) and a junior villain (Daniel Balaji), and U certificate-worthy action scenes like the one where the hero sticks a knife in an enemy’s throat. Oh, we also get the now-patented bit where someone sticks a knife into Vijay. He must have magical healing properties. He continues to fight. This isn’t suspension of disbelief. This is suspension of 2000 years of medical knowledge. That sound you hear is Hippocrates muttering an oath.
And we get lectures. About how a husband should behave with his wife. About how an educator should go about his duties. Even about the futility of saving money. Yes, that’s right. In these demonetised times, Bairavaa says money that’s saved up is like cold food in the fridge. You have to be like a hunter, always after fresh kill. It’s only when you have a zero balance that there’s a spring in the step when you face the challenges of a new day. I’m probably getting the metaphors all mixed up, but surely I’m not the only one flabbergasted at the irony of these words coming from an actor whose salary makes the rest of our bank accounts look like a zero balance.
But that’s what a mass star does. That’s what a mass star has been doing from the days of MGR, making us believe that a real-life have is an on-screen have-not. As reminder, we get a nod to an MGR number (Budhdhan Yesu Gandhi pirandhadhu), where the actor claimed that the reason those great souls were born was for the poor, like him and those around him. And then come the nods to Rajinikanth, the other major mass-star who trod a similar path. Enkitta modhaadhey from Rajadhi Raja. Then, from Sivaji, a reworking of the coin toss and the plot point about the corruptions surrounding private educational institutions. And from Kabali, a punch line modelled after “magizhchi” (this one goes “sirappu… miga sirappu”) and the Neruppu da-like anthem (this one goes Varlaam varlaam vaa) that aims to bring the audience to their feet every few minutes.
In other words, this riff does the screenplay’s job. It quickens the pulse at least till the scene begins and we realise even the riff cannot save it. There are no memorable punch lines and even the major why (aka the Shankar Flashback™) is answered a little into the first half. Why not prolong the revelation (however underwhelming) to the second half, so there’s some semblance of mystery? And the production values are non-existent. Compare Bairavaa with Chiranjeevi’s new film, which looks like every scene has been polished with Brasso. (There may be nothing for the brain, but there’s lots for the eye.) What can you say about a multi-crore movie that cannot even buy its leading man a decent wig?
My favourite scene came when the villain realises the hero is vulnerable and sends carloads of goons to take him out. Later, he lands up to inspect the damage, and his eyes widen in surprise. It’s not the hero who’s lying in a pool of blood! It’s his own men! Really? The man must have never seen a masala movie in his life. But we’re not supposed to talk about these things, because online, the mass-hero masala movie is akin to the country, a holy entity that we’re supposed to cherish and worship without question. Otherwise you’ll get trolled by battalions of bhakts. Why is the hero introduced on a bicycle when he’s never again seen riding the vehicle? Shh… soldiers are dying on the border! Why is the film’s best song, the super-sexy soul/funk mix, Azhagiya soodana poovey, shot in such a pedestrian manner, with the couple freezing in the Alps instead of heating up a nightclub pulsing with disco lights? Shh… soldiers are dying on the border! To those who say “stop over-analysing, this is what a hero-centric mass movie is,” I respectfully submit Dhool, Saamy, Run, and Vijay’s own Ghilli and Thuppakki. It isn’t wrong to love the genre as a whole and yet have problems with lazily worked-out implementations of big ideas. Jai Hind.
KEY:
- Thuppakki = see here
- “Nambi vandhaa naan nanmai seiven” = I’m a do-gooder… or something.
- “Engaalappa nee engaalappa” = You da man!
- pacha mannu / yecha bun-nu = You don’t want to go there.
- Sivaji = see here
- Kabali = see here
- “magizhchi” = muchos happiness!
- “sirappu… miga sirappu” = good… very good!
An edited version of this piece can be found here. Copyright ©2017 The Hindu. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Baradwaj Rangan 
hari ohm
January 12, 2017
endha bhakth mela ivalavu gaandu
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Supertramp
January 12, 2017
My favourite scene came when the villain realises the hero is vulnerable and sends carloads of goons to take him out. Later, he lands up to inspect the damage, and his eyes widen in surprise. It’s not the hero who’s lying in a pool of blood! It’s his own men! Really? The man must have never seen a masala movie in his life.
Always thought about this, but probably the villain also imagines himself to be the hero of the mass masala movie, just like the audience. Remember Inba/Lallan from Ayitha Ezhuthu/Yuva going to the movies and whistling, dancing and clapping to the hero. Or may be we should make films were you show the villain watching a masala film and clapping for the onscreen villain and hoping against hope for him to triumph. That’s what I do when I am watching a bad masala film, root for the villain.
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Balasubramanian Ramakrishnan
January 12, 2017
“Why is the hero introduced on a bicycle when he’s never again seen riding the vehicle? Shh… soldiers are dying on the border! ”
Wow. I literally fell off my seat reading that. This piece is a riot, sir. I wish these kinda movies to be at least half as engaging as your blogs. But, people have developed this tendency to accept mediocrity, especially because of these so-called “mass hero veriyargal”. This has to change.
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MANK
January 12, 2017
A scene where a disgustingly misogynistic teacher is taught a lesson.
Is that the effect of Iswarya’s petition? 🙂
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Peacenik
January 12, 2017
BR, i thought you were the editor of The Hindu entertainment section but who butchers your review in the paper? The Hindu version is totally unrecognizable compared to this wonderful ode to all masala movies. I loved the bit about Hippocrates and the soldiers. Please push ‘The Hindu’ from its traditional comfort space and publish your review in toto.
love
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priyazzillionthoughts
January 12, 2017
What a waste of everything this film seems to be, especially when there are soldiers dying on the border!
What a riot of a review Brangan saab!
And this time what clicks is your key! Too good.
Taking a layer from Amul, these heroes are not just mass heroes but amass heroes with very little concern for the art of storytelling or film making. What an unfortunate waste of clout and fan following.
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
January 12, 2017
Jai Hind! 🙂
BR: As an aside, how would you rate Dhill?
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Gans
January 12, 2017
“That sound you hear is Hippocrates muttering an oath”
Or just an exasperated oath-aa? 😀
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Kay
January 12, 2017
This will go down as one of my favourite reviews.
That sound you hear is Hippocrates muttering an oath 😂
That was epic! So was the last paragraph.
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Akhilan
January 12, 2017
‘What can you say about a multi-crore movie that cannot even buy its leading man a decent wig?’
Exactly my thoughts BR…!!
Off late, Vijay and bad hair-days seem to go hand-in-hand… Puli, Theri, and now this…?!?! Right up there with Hrithik and Preity Zinta in the first-half of Lakshya and Akshay Kumar in Action Replayy…
He needs a new stylist PRONTO…!!
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KadaKumar
January 12, 2017
Why the sudden attacks on bhakts and trolls in a movie review, that too of a masala Vijay movie? It almost seems force-fitted to show off your liberal credentials.
Come on, don’t be like all the other wannabe intellectuals who just have to pepper their writing with some snide comments from the caste-patriarchy-misogyny-hindutva cornucopia for good measure even if they write about astronomy. You don’t need such bait for readership. Or maybe you do. After all, you do have a day job in the media, and need your badge, earned only by condemning bhakts in public.
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San
January 12, 2017
“What can you say about a multi-crore movie that cannot even buy its leading man a decent wig?”
This one line does the job of the entire review!!
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Uncouth Village Youth
January 12, 2017
Absolutely disappointed with the wig – a typical case of the no-clothes-emperor. Didn’t a single person in the unit, notice this ? Vijay anna – why cant you do a Bhai(even NaMo has got a good hair job done, Jai Hind!!) with all the money you have.
A good review with the right amount of spices. Vijay it seems has gone back to his older Sura/Vettaikaran days, just when I thought he was beginning to strike the right balance, between ‘mass’ and entertainment.The movie is a total washout – goes on to show how difficult it is to get a masala film right. I guess directors like KSR,ARM, Dharani, Baradwaj for all their flaws, deserve some respect- their movies at the least, didn’t bore us. A rant : Let us also proclaim that Vijay as the worst deliverer of punch dialogues, TFI has ever seen, right from ‘Vazhkai oru vattam da(just watch Jyotika’s reaction in that scene) through ‘Vera Vera Vettaikaran’ to ‘Yara vena irukkalam’ Hope no ‘Thalapathi’ fan pops up here with the classic Vijay fan comeback – Thuppakida.
@KadaKumar : That’s BR throwing some red meat for the core audience here. But then I too do that regularly in my job – you always deliver what the target audience laps up.
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Shankar
January 12, 2017
Spoilers (Perhaps not!)
I was sorely disappointed with the generic film. It had nothing memorable so much that Kaththi and Theri seem like classics. As noted by UVY, Vijay was striking the right balance within the mass medium and even if they were not a Thuppaki, I enjoyed Kaththi and Theri for some whistle worthy scenes and some solid backstories. I even liked Puli. This one had nothing…even the single line on Vijay’s background was so throwaway that it doesn’t register. Who is this guy? What’s his motivation? We get nothing. It just didn’t seem like Vijay was very invested…maybe he realized as they began shooting the film that this film was no patch on his previous few for which I would heap the blame on the director. Hopefully he can put up a better show with his next.
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Rohit Sathish Nair
January 12, 2017
Jagapati Babu’s got a fine knack for choosing some really terrible non-Telugu masala movie scripts: Puli Murugan in Malayalam, Kaththi Sandai, and now Bairavaa.
As a Pulimurugan-scarred viewer who did see how fans forgot their own issues with cash, and swept to the defence of a man, who is hardly the most scrupulous taxpayer, I can empathise with Rangan sir, though I must admit I was a bit startled by his blunt approach
You know what’s worse than having to deal with a fan of a star who is no good at acting? Having to deal with one whose idol is more than good at the job.
PS: ‘where someone sticks a knife into Vijay. He must have magical healing properties. He continues to fight. This isn’t suspension of disbelief. This is suspension of 2000 years of medical knowledge.’
Really the first time an impossible act in a masala movie bothered you?
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Adithyan
January 12, 2017
Balasubramanian: ” But, people have developed this tendency to accept mediocrity, especially because of these so-called “mass hero veriyargal”. This has to change.”
Even rangan has joined that bandwagon praising a middling remake khaidino.150 as palatable…
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SANJEEV
January 12, 2017
Leave alone acting and story in a Vijay movie..I usually see his movies for effortless and graceful dance steps which has turned to be too medicore or u can say awful in his recent movies from puli..I dont know whether it is wrong choice of dance master(Dinesh who teaches baby steps for Udhay Stalin and Santhanam)..But forget script selection ,where Vijay wont change because he wants to act as a Saviour in every movie..I expect him to at least change his Dance Master or Borrow someone from Telugu so that we dont feel sleepy during the songs
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Nilosh Moorthi (@NilFBosh)
January 12, 2017
@SANJEEV This. As a diehard fan of Vijay, this problem has always been at the back of my head since Jilla. His moves seem to be getting mediocre. I’m not sure whether it’s due to his age, or maybe, as you said, the fault of the dance masters. Forget Telugu choreographers, get Bhaskar to do it. He’s worked on most of Dhanush’s kuththu songs like Thara Local, Danga Maari and all the songs for VIP. Seems like he’s choreo’d at least one song in Dhanush’s movie. It’s been too long since we’ve seen Vijay making the audience go crazy with his moves.
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Vijay Nandakumar
January 12, 2017
BR, I am rooting for more & more of these masala movies which in turn challenge your writing skills. The existential question here is “How many ways can Rangan slice & dice & tear apart the same template masala movie?” I am not complaining as it gets the best out of you for your faithful readers. Go Masala Movies!!! Unleash the beast within BR….
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brangan
January 12, 2017
Adithyan: Even rangan has joined that bandwagon praising a middling remake khaidino.150 as palatable…
Er, no. I said it is more palatable than Kaththi… for reasons mentioned in the review. X is more palatable than Y doesn’t mean X is automatically the highest form of palatable — just more palatable than Y 🙂
KadaKumar: Why the sudden attacks on bhakts and trolls in a movie review, that too of a masala Vijay movie?
It’s not an attack. At least I didn’t mean it as one. It was more a simile. I find the fans’ defending these films very similar to the bhakts defending Modi’s every move. Was just making the point that it’s okay to criticise a masala movie and have high expectations of one because there have been instances of good hero-centric masala movies.
It almost seems force-fitted to show off your liberal credentials.
Oh, come on! All these years of writing, and you are only NOW discovering I am a bleeding heart? And I needed to prove it through a Vijay movie? Oh, come on! 😀
Vijay Nandakumar: It’s not really about “challenging your writing skills.” If the film gives you something to talk about (like, say, Aandavan Kattalai), then the review has both form and content, because you can talk about what is in the film AND you can talk about it in an interesting way. In other words, style plus substance.
But even here, I’d like to think it’s not just about “writing skills.”
The first two paras talk about song placement and tangentially about the hero….
which leads me to talk about the parts that worked for me…
which leads me to talk about the cliches…
which leads me to talk about the annoying lecturing habit of these mass heroes….
which leads me to talk about the tradition Vijay is following (vis a via MGR and Rajini)…
which leads me to talk about more flaws (and a bit about the film’s big music riff)…
which finally leads to my contention that it’s okay to love this genre and yet not like a particular film.
So I do look at this as dealing with various aspects of the film, but (hopefully) with some style and humour etc, so it doesn’t read dully. But that’s more than just “writing skills”
Of course, you are under no pressure to concur. I am very liberal that way 🙂
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brangan
January 12, 2017
BTW, got this through email, about this line in the review: …the mass-hero masala movie is akin to the country,
The email said:
By the way, should the right word be ‘nation’ instead of country?
I think he’s right.
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Raja Mohamed
January 12, 2017
\There are no memorable punch lines and even the major why (aka the Shankar Flashback™) /
How sarcastic you are…!
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Santosh Kumar T K
January 12, 2017
underwhelming wig on the hero, or you not according a movie, however shitty, or contempt-worthy, an independent universe of its own; not sure what is more worrying!
particularly sad after I read the interview with you that anupama chopra shared.
“demonetized,” “bhakts,” “compared to the chiranjeevi movie” really?!
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brangan
January 12, 2017
Santosh Kumar T K: you not according a movie… an independent universe of its own…
Can you explain this? Not sure I get you.
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Vijay Nandakumar
January 12, 2017
The first two paras talk about song placement and tangentially about the hero….
which leads me to talk about the parts that worked for me…
which leads me to talk about the cliches…
which leads me to talk about the annoying lecturing habit of these mass heroes….
which leads me to talk about the tradition Vijay is following (vis a via MGR and Rajini)…
which leads me to talk about more flaws (and a bit about the film’s big music riff)…
which finally leads to my contention that it’s okay to love this genre and yet not like a particular film.
Absolutely BR, I was just referring to your occupational hazard of running into these template movies that make no effort whatsoever to give you an alternate perspective or flavor to pick up on. Don’t you feel limited by these kind of movies, caught in a jumble of the same variables- hero-worship songs, unrelated foreign locale sequences, cliches, annoying lectures, promoting mass hysteria, flaws & more flaws, generalization of opinions as facts- the only variety you get is the proportion of these variables and the order of their appearance in the movie.
I am a big fan of well made masala movies and agree with your examples like Dhool, Ghilli etc. The effort put in those movies were tangible. In fact, I still refer to Singam (the first part) from recent memory as one of the near-perfect masala movies. Thuppaki was a strong one as well.
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Arun
January 13, 2017
Had booked a 9 am show on the 12th. Nalla vela thoongitten.
But caught a 12 o clock show and coming out after the movie, was extremely tempted when I saw two youngsters getting down from an auto outside the theatre. They were speaking in Tamil and obviously headed for the next show (I watched the film in Mumbai). Enna irunthalum namma pasanga, vittu kudukka koodathunu ninaichen. But the introvert in me got the better of me and I left them to their sorry fate. Enna villathanam (padatha sonnen).
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Santosh Kumar T K
January 13, 2017
every piece of art (despite all the tribulations, back stories, juicy tidbits, trivia, ups and downs, production years and delays, all potentially yielding themselves to books and books), once out in the public domain for consumption, ceases to exist, paradoxically, the times it was manufactured in.
it is timeless (not in a laudatory sense) but just timeless. so your bringing in contemporary phenomena like bhakts, demonetization, another chiranjeevi movie is just basic disrespect to cinema. it is rude. the quality of art in question is immaterial.
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Sri
January 13, 2017
I laughed real hard at the “Spoilers Ahead” disclaimer.
Just like the tax exemption on pointless movies, you should exempt the disclaimer on such wholesome fare.
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Harish
January 13, 2017
Not sure what your problem is. A “U” certificate implies “U be cautious”, keep your hand(s) ready to close your kid’s eyes, bring earplugs (kids size please). When the hero/villian slits the throat, Ur brains are supposed to be in full proactive mode and do the needful before the scene occurs. After all, U see it coming a few minutes ahead. bhagyaraj showed us how it’s done in dhavani kanavugal. Better yet, use common sense… Don’t take the kids. A U certificate is a political drama to get a tax rebate.I live in the US and make sure to leave my kids with friends when I go to a Vijay movie. I am sure it is much easier in India.
What I do find irritating (not you, thankfully) is when some reviews say “kudumbathoda paaka vendiya padam”
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Anu Warrier
January 13, 2017
Laughed at Hippocrates muttering an oath. The poor chap must have dug his own grave so he could spin in it all these centuries.
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Heramba
January 13, 2017
Say a time travel movie ,which is technically illogical but sadly reviewed highly by the critics. I feel that masala movie is a genre by itself. PPl should just see whether a justice is made to that genre ,rather than looking into how it is made.
There r 2 set of audiences. 1. will match a movie only they are going to recieve what they want say a dish like biryani , aim is just to make the same biriyani as tasty as possible. Other set of audience ,want to get suprised every time. Critics have to empathise with the other world . I am not against the review , I hope ppl stop reviewing a movie from their own perspectives.
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Raj Balakrishnan
January 13, 2017
You are going to get trolled by Vijay fans, for sure.
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Rohit Sathish Nair
January 13, 2017
He is, already. Some of the dumbest reply tweets in history…
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brangan
January 13, 2017
Santosh Kumar T K: I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with you at all. I subscribe to the view that cinema is completely of its time. It may end up being timeless (for reasons of quality or whatever), but it is very much a product of the year it was made in, the political climate it was made in, the social climate of the time, the state of the actor’s fandom at that time, and a million other things. I don’t see how these things can be separated from the film.
Raj Balakrishnan: Oh, it’s happened already 🙂 I’ve been called everything from a bald guy to a Brahmin pig to an Ajith camper. I must say the last one hurts the most 😀
Also, this unbeatable logic happened: “How dare you bald guy speak about Vijay’s wig”?
I wanted to say, “Who’s more qualified to speak about wigs than a bald guy? If you had hair, you wouldn’t even be thinking about wigs.”
But couldn’t rouse myself to argue with them 🙂
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Filistine
January 13, 2017
What exactly is a “Brahmin Pig” – Empress of Blandness?
I am constantly amazed by the passionate reactions from readers and viewers to Tamil Cinema. Every opinion is a personal assault. Its like, you are either with me or #youshouldbesenttopakistan. I doubt if even someone like Amitabh Bachchan in his prime had such a passionate, near-fanatic fan following. Do you actually get threats of physical assault? Does the newspaper even tell you to go easy about certain films for such reasons?
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Vijay Nandakumar
January 13, 2017
Harish: What I do find irritating (not you, thankfully) is when some reviews say “kudumbathoda paaka vendiya padam”
Add one more irritating thing: “The only thing that works is Vijay’s Charisma”. Vijay, to me certainly, is not one of those naturally charismatic actors (Rajini & SK fit the bill for me). His characters make him charismatic- He was great in Thuppaki but unbearable in Kaththi.
Why cant people just say it is a bad movie, period?
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
January 13, 2017
I can now see the correlation between bhakts and these fanboys. Like, when you criticize BJP you must be a Congressi/AAPtard.
“How dare you bald guy speak about Vijay’s wig?”
Oops, this was unexpected. 😛
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
January 13, 2017
Vijay Nandakumar: By SK, you mean Sivakarthikeyan?
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Rahini David
January 13, 2017
The “I hope ppl stop reviewing a movie from their own perspectives” quote made my day.
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Vijay Nandakumar
January 13, 2017
Yes Honest Raj
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brangan
January 13, 2017
Filistine: What exactly is a “Brahmin Pig” – Empress of Blandness?
LOL.
Or maybe a Brahmin pig is someone who, in the month of Margazhi, goes,
“Oink-i ulagalandha uthaman paer paadi…” 🙂
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Sifter
January 13, 2017
What a riot of a review. Shh….soldiers are dying on the border. Goodness gracious 🙂
“How dare you bald guy speak about Vijay’s wig”? That fanatic comment was so serious that it made me laugh out loud!
During Margahzi, where I live the Brahmin Pig goes always goes…Chellatha, chella maariatha and Lalitha Sahasranaman 🙂 🙂
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Vishnu
January 13, 2017
@Rohith satish nair : “how fans forgot their own issues with cash, and swept to the defence of a man, who is hardly the most scrupulous taxpayer, I can empathise with Rangan sir, though I must admit I was a bit startled by his blunt approach
You know what’s worse than having to deal with a fan of a star who is no good at acting? Having to deal with one whose idol is more than good at the job.”
Really? If you had to deal with the fans of all the stars/celebs who supported the PM’s move of demonetisation, it indeed must have been a terrible job for you. For it is not an isolated case of one or two stars appreciating the move for whatever reasons, genuine or not.
From Rajinikanth to kamalhassan to nagarjuna, amitabh bachan to ranbir kapoor, aishwarya rai to kangana ranaut, surya, dhanush, the khan trios – Amir khan to sharukh khan to salman khan, karan johar to anurag kashyap, virat kohli to anil kumble – and many other major and minor stars were full of applause for the demonetisation move. Interestingly according to some reports, it is Vijay who had expressed some sort of reservation on the matter (i mean amongst major stars/celebs. There are also some others like chetan baghat who was highly critical).
I hope you didn’t have to deal with the fans of all these stars when (if) you were busy abusing them for having given a harmless opinion on a contemporary issue (demonetisation) in their own official platform in social media (or interviews). Good for you. 😀
https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/www.thequint.com/social-buzz/2016/11/08/rajinikanth-anushka-say-kudos-modi-after-rs-500-notes-scrapped-rishi-kapoor-indian-rupee-arjun-kapoor-suniel-shetty.amp
https://www.google.co.in/amp/indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/regional/director-ameer-questions-rajinikanth-integrity-for-supporting-pm-modi-demonetisation-4378347/lite/
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MANK
January 13, 2017
I think these sura, vettaikkaran, bhairava kind of movies are were Vijays heart soul and politics lie. The murugadoss phase was More a brief detour to regain his starpower after his stock has gone down too much in the late 00s. Once he got back his stardom, he was sure to go back to his patented brand of no story, six fights, six dances cinema. this is what we are seeing now with this film rather than an occasional misstep
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MV
January 13, 2017
Was Thuppakki such a classic, that its name keeps coming up in the list of sensible-slick-flicks? Dhool, Dhill, Ghilli – all by Dharani, had rightful tickets to the Masala Hall of Fame, but IMO, Thuppaki does not make the cut, though it could rank high in Vijay’s body of work.
Agreed – there were smart plot points, but they were sandwiched between unforgivably inane stuff (eg Kutti puli kootam song, Jayaram’s portions, Kaajal’s mana maatram). Compare this to Dhool – which never slackens its grip inspite of Reema, Vivek, Paravai Muniama, Paappa poatta thaappa etc.
Forget about the millennium masalas, think of Abavanan / Film Institute students / Manivannan’s movies – Pulan Visaranai, Oomai Vizhigal, Vazhkai Sakkaram, Jallikattu (picking the ones that can be compared to Thuppaki) – those were so taut in their execution.
Or maybe Im biased towards the 80s early 90s, but hey I liked Ghajini for all its problems. Therila.
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Iswarya
January 13, 2017
MANK: +1. It’s almost as if it is the choice of good films that were an accident! 🙂
BR: Very brave of you to be facing this army of troll/goons online. Why isn’t your life the subject of a masala film yet? (You even have a couple of ready-made posters already, the He-Man and the one fighting off arrows!)
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MV
January 13, 2017
Hippocrates oath-** aside, the saint-like AR Rahman himself would have let off a few cuss words, watching the picturisation of his songs in Azhagiya Tamizh Magan.
The choreography for Maduraikku Pogadhadi and Valaiapatti Thavil starkly contrasted the aesthetics conveyed through the music and/or lyrics. (Just watch the bit where there is this frenzied choreo for the swaram bit…)
ARR and Sa.Na for music for his dandanakka movies – nalla Director!
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Kay
January 13, 2017
I wish you had taken up the argument and actually said that bald guy-wig comment. Would have been interesting to see how the exchange progressed.
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Aman
January 13, 2017
Agree, the reviewer has to respect the film and the film maker, but if only the film maker put at least as much effort as the pirate guy who rips, encodes and uploads movies on the internet.
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blurb
January 13, 2017
You don’t know that Brahmin Pig? He is one who harbors hatred towards Madurai SOWmu, and reveres Aryiakudi. (TMK should see this, he will faint 😀 )
Jokes apart BR, have you considered getting your Twitter account verified? Gives you more privacy controls; can choose not to see any of this.
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blurb
January 13, 2017
Oh, there’s a gender technicality. Maybe I should have said SOWmya. 😀
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Anu Warrier
January 13, 2017
Oh, BR, BR, I can understand your angst at ‘Ajith fan’ but c’mon, ‘Brahmin pig’? Surely an oxymoron?
[Am I such a meanie for actually laughing out loud at those epithets? It’s the weirdest collection of insults ever. Oh, but how dare I laugh? ‘Soliders are dying on the border.’ 🙂 ]
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oneWithTheH
January 13, 2017
“Every opinion is a personal assault. Its like, you are either with me or #youshouldbesenttopakistan.”
I think this is an offshoot of the internet-anonymous-commenting age.
Earlier face-face discussions of movies often resulted in at best a vehement argument and then moving on to discussing something else. This whole internet comments spewing filth/threats is worrisome because the feeling of badness “lingers” as opposed to a preceding era conversations of similar kind.
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praneshp
January 14, 2017
@Anu Warrier: You’re not a meanie (I laughed at Brahmin Pig and the SOW-related retorts here). But please do remember how you enjoyed the joke the next time someone makes fun of women or something. Happy Pongal (or any other festival you celebrate today) !
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Deepan Chakravarthy
January 14, 2017
“What can you say about a multi-crore movie that cannot even buy its leading man a decent wig?”-This sums up How Buyrava is!!!
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Heramba
January 14, 2017
As far as masala movies are concerned this by far Vj’s worst movies . Which among the following is the Vijay’s worst ?
a. Sura
b. Bairavaa
c. Puli
d. Worst is yet to come
Ans: D
Very disappointing, this movie made me feel Kathi is a classic.
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Rohit Sathish Nair
January 14, 2017
VIshnu:
There’s being tongue-in-cheek, and then, being merely incomprehensible and saying the wrong things.
I have no issue with any actor supporting demonetisation, which they can certainly do. Mohanlal’s words were well-intentioned and graceful in the best scene. But these words coming from a man accused of tax evasion and possesion of elephant tusks (which may have eerily added up to the Pulimurugan experience for some) made me feel what Rangan sir felt about Woody Allen and Salman Khan. Not a hard feeling to get over.
What did upset me was that people who didn’t feel the same as him, were attacked non-stop by very flimsy, uncouth and illogical arguments, a lot of which went like this;’How dare you say a word against our Lieutenant Colonel, 2.5 time National Award + Padmasree winning Lalettan, you ‘Mammunni’ sycophant?’
Pulimurugan’s success, which made them this dominant in these times, was equally puzzling.
Moves that would have been laughed at by these same fans, when done in Tamil/Telugu by say, Balakrishna/Vijayakanth, were lapped up when Mohanlal was in sight (He does deserve some though, for doing them single-handedly at this age). Heck, I even had Telugu classmates asking me: ‘Indian junglee Spiderman is Kerala’s first 150 crore film?’
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Raj Balakrishnan
January 14, 2017
BR, that is sad. The fan (atic)s of these tamil (and maybe telugu too) stars take craziness to the next level. Take a pop at a Bollywood star’s movie, his fans may disagree. However dare criticise a Vijay/Ajith film, hordes of these fanatics descend on you and start abusing you, your parentage, caste, religion, what not. What can you say of these fuckwits who consider these clowns as their ‘thalaivars’.
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MANK
January 14, 2017
Rohit, you went to watch pulimurugan despite my dire warnings, ninaku kittanam😃
As for Lal fans gloating about 150 crores , well it’s natural. It’s after a long time lalettans film has succeeded. To tell you the truth, I am a little suspicious about these figures being thrown around. Well one good thing to come out of the pulimurugan success is that finally MTs randamoozham is going to get made. I only hope the film is worthy of the great novel and don’t end up like pazhassiraja.
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knittins
January 14, 2017
Also, this unbeatable logic happened: “How dare you bald guy speak about Vijay’s wig”?
I wanted to say, “Who’s more qualified to speak about wigs than a bald guy? If you had hair, you wouldn’t even be thinking about wigs.”
I died.
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Rohit Sathish Nair
January 15, 2017
MANK:
Malayala cinemayile aadyathe 100 kodi padam kaanaan oru moham thonni poyi. Vallaattha athimohamaayi poyi chettaa enthe!
Take away the not-bad sequence where the first tiger is killed, and one mass moment where he stabs a poison dart shot at him back into the attacker, those were the slowest 3 hours of my life. The one good thing about it must be that it doesn’t do much namedropping of old Mohanlal films. Even that would have been better than hollow mythmaking and a boring BGM.
Haven’t read Randamoozham. My father has and he did tell me about its central conceit. That said, we seem to have a good number of mythological and epics in line: Syamantakam, both Karnans, Chengazhi Nambiar, and so on.
Speaking about reinterpretations of myths, I watched The Last Temptation of Christ yesterday. Not Scorsese’s most cinematic film, yet a fine insight into Jesus’ life. We still don’t get to know better about God’s ways, yet opens up the possibility that Jesus himself had no idea. Could be of great interest to both the believer and the atheist
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Rohit Sathish Nair
January 15, 2017
knittins: You really should have posted it!
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Anu Warrier
January 15, 2017
Pranesh, you don’t see the difference between me laughing at a BR’s amusement at his trollers (and their stupid insults), and finding sexist remarks in films/this blog offensive?
That series of insults in the context that BR mentioned (and in the order in which he mentioned it) was amusing only because I know it amused BR. It was a light–hearted response to his amusement.
Being a brahmin, ‘brahmin pig’ tickled my funny bone.. I am allowed to laugh at myself. The other two ‘insults’ were ‘bald’ (which BR admits is true, and didn’t seem to hurt him any) and ‘Ajith fan’ (which, to BR was the greater insult – but is not an egregious comment by any means.) So I don’t know how or why I have to remember ‘enjoying the joke’, or that I shouldn’t call out misogynistic or sexist remarks because I enjoyed these remarks.
If that strikes you as double standards, well… that’s your opinion; you’re entitled to it.
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Balaji
January 15, 2017
Double standards – no.
But ask yourself a question – why did you have to put this comment about laughing at the “Brahmin Pig” comment & then had to get back saying you, being a Brahmin, can take such liberties. (So can I argue – does it imply a non-brahmin should not laugh at the comment? See, making such a pig comment – neither should do, but to laugh at it, does one need to establish creds? Plus did you think whether the comment would serve any purpose relevant to this current review?)
Why this tangential rant? Just so you do understand that being politically correct and purposeful aint possible all the time. Sometimes, just because they like this blog so much, people tend to participate on a light-hearted note. (And get called out !)
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Vishnu
January 15, 2017
Rohith satish Nair : If you found my previous comment as saying wrong things, well it’s fine, and for incomprehensible actually my intention itself was to make it a bit complicated toungue in cheek 😀
As for lal posting in favour of demonetisation, i brought up other stars names too just to show that a major star supporting the move was in no way an isolated case, instead it was an almost unanimous opinion among all major stars across sectors and languages then. But perhaps only in kerala there was a small yet dedicated group to openly abuse and throw filth at the actor just because he gracefully gave an opinion in support of demonetisation, a move that was against the agenda of the ruling state govt. (Later this happened to MT as well, but from the opposite spectrum)
Nobody has a problem if you agree with someone’s opinion or not, but only when the response gets abusive and dirty due to their own political motivations (and sometimes fanship) does the reaction too reaches that level. I earlier shared a link that talked about director ameer questening the integrity of rajnikanth, again just because he gave an opinion supporting modi’s move. Now the trolls against lal after he stated his opinion were far more hateful, but ofcourse it soon died out because he always had an overwhelming public support.
Now bringing in fanfight and mammooty too into this is childish and i don’t want to go there. But still i must say, you bringing in charges like unscrupulous tax payments are all bogus just because there was an IT raid 7 or 8 years back and the yellow media had a merry at it with frivolous news like he possessed elephant tusks (which was from his old collections), cases which the courts dismissed way back. Now if that’s the case, most other stars would have one or other major/minor cases filed or raised against them. Jfyi Mammooty too was raided on the same day as lal, and there are also other allegations against him which anyways i don’t want to get into. Similarly many stars including bachan, sharukh or amir has many allegations against them, financial and otherwise, which may or may not have any truth in it. (Raising that is not my point)
But it doesn’t mean they can’t say an opinion on whatever matter they want to (granted ofcourse that the said opinion is not-hateful) and if trolls abuse them, they might get it back in the same fashion (from fans or just public themselves), that’s all.
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Rohit Sathish Nair
January 15, 2017
Vishnu: Sorry again, those initial words were meant for my comment, which I admit was too vague
Mohanlal was still undergoing trial for that ivory case, as of Nov 2016. Just saying.
I repeat, them supporting demonetisation or voicing an opinion is secondary to their supporters building ‘great-wall-of-China’-esque flimsy counters
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Anu Warrier
January 15, 2017
Balaji, this is taking up more of my mindspace than necessary. Just to say, I have never called out a light-hearted comment on this blog, or elsewhere. [MANK can vouch for that.] My amusement at ‘brahmin pig’ was because in my mind that seemed like an oxymoron. Language tickles my funny bone, and this seemed a singularly inept coinage. It had nothing to do with either ‘brahmin’ or ‘pig’ other than the fact that, as I mentioned, being a Brahmin, it made me laugh to see ‘pig’ appended to it. I have no issues with non-brahmins laughing at that epithet either – in the context in which BR narrated it. [Not the context in which the person who called BR that said it – there’s a difference.]
Anyway… I think I’ll bow out now.
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Mani AJ
January 16, 2017
” This isn’t suspension of disbelief. This is suspension of 2000 years of medical knowledge. That sound you hear is Hippocrates muttering an oath”
“What a fun job for a masala-movie hero, who can now use his supernatural strength against scores of defaulters! Miss an instalment and he’ll send you flying into space.”
Woohoo … you’re on a roll here sir … Sides-splitting in harmony … 🙂
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Vishnu
January 18, 2017
Ok Rohith. As we know such frivolous cases are not minded by anybody (beyond gossip seekers). So let’s leave that.
All i’m saying that is though one can criticise any star or celebrity or a post of a blogger or a Facebook post of any individual , sometimes it becomes just abuse and trolls, due to their own political or other interests. When a fan or whoever gets provoked for just a counter opinion you’re right, but one can’t fault the fans (or say the friends of a person) who gives back to the trollers and abusers in the same coin.
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Vishnu
January 18, 2017
Also regarding Pulimurugan, though some may have not liked it at all, the vast majority seems to have taken it up as a celebration. And it’s not just in Kerala, the film had created new records at virtually every centre in rest of india and overseas for a malayalam film (and in many centres it’s collections are many times that of previous records!).
And the telugu dubbed version, Manyampuli, too has already been declared as a blockbuster by the telugu boxoffice. And generally the opinion about the movie in andhra-telangana is also highly positive if you are to go by social media (apart from some personal contacts also).
Actually having read many of BR reviews here for a long time, including mass masala kind movies, I’m reasonably sure he would enjoy pulimurugan (inspite of its few perceived drawbacks) as a pure mass movie, if he were to watch it.
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Odiyan Hater
November 29, 2018
We are all atoning for the collective sin of having panned bairavaa…Look at mersal and sarkar…Vijay’s next is with Atlee 😦
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