Spoilers ahead…
Arun Vijay swaggers a tad too much, as if always aware that a photo op is around the corner – but he has a smouldering presence, and he’s just right as Assistant Commissioner Vetrimaran in Kuttram 23. When we first see him, he’s waking up, stretching. Almost as if by reflex, he reaches for his gun, checks it. I laughed – it’s as though he’s making sure it’s waking up and stretching too, getting ready for the day.
Read the review on Film Companion, here:
Copyright ©2017 Film Companion.
Posted in: Cinema: Tamil
Baradwaj Rangan 
blurb
March 3, 2017
Hmm. This is less than desirable.
Can you not post the unedited version here like before? I suppose because FC is digital, they care about click through rate and stuff? So having another version here might deter their traffic?
I’m really worried I might loose out on the community. 😦
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Rohit Sathish Nair
March 3, 2017
The font is boring and barely visible, bits and pieces about other articles of the site keep creeping in, and worse, you’ve returned to star ratings! Now I feel betrayed!
I’ll get used to it, Sir, but somehow now it gives me the vibe that it’s not your own domain, our own domain anymore! But again, yeah, I’ll just have to get used to it
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
March 3, 2017
Share the same sentiment as blurb. 😦
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Rohit Sathish Nair
March 3, 2017
I didn’t mean to be this fussy on your first real working day. Sorry Sir!
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blurb
March 3, 2017
Definitely back Rohit Sathish Nair. It doesn’t feel like your space. It doesn’t feel like our space.
We will get used to it… I hope… 😥
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Sharan
March 3, 2017
BR, this is disheartening. can you post whatever else you wanted to write about the movie as first comment in the blog ? that way FC gets their clicks and we our full meals.
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Aadhy
March 3, 2017
Yeah, I also get the feeling that you wanted to write more about the movie and were constrained by some word limit. I might be completely wrong, maybe that’s all you had to talk about. But if that’s not the case, please find a solution for us to get access to your unhindered outpouring of thoughts, by either doing away with the word limit or expanding your thoughts into a non-review blog post like bitty ruminations, in case you can’t post the longer versions here.
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nadnivara (@rnadnivara)
March 3, 2017
FC is film review. BR wordpress is an emotion! 🙂
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sanjana
March 3, 2017
Atleast he can write long reviews of hindi movies here and without stars!
We must thank anupama for that!
There is one solution. MANK and others can write reviews in the comments section and BR can comment like one of us. For tamil movies.
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Anu Warrier
March 3, 2017
BR, glad to see I’m not the only one who feels that way about the new format. a) This doesn’t feel like our space anymore, and I’m with blurb and Rohit in mourning that loss. b) More importantly, your writing has lost its punch; the reviews don’t seem like yours at all. They are a standard, run-of-the-mill, very superficial take on these films. That’s a crying shame because I read you as much for your writing as for what you said.
So far, and perhaps it’s too soon to tell, this move’s been a disappointment all around.
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niresh
March 3, 2017
Good luck with the FC. The Star rating just seems to be a spoiler for the review. Felt like loosing the those moments as it unwinds while reading a well written piece.
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Srinivas R
March 3, 2017
Share the sentiment about losing a sense of community and the star rating, but i feel the review quality hasn’t changed. There’s the same evaluating the film for what it set out to do with some good observations.Just a question of getting used to the new space I guess.
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Vitethi
March 3, 2017
Long time lurker. I had to comment now because I 100% agree with the sentiments of others who have commented here. On a slightly positive note, your shorter reviews for the movies that didn’t work for you still retain your unique style.
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blurb
March 3, 2017
Maybe you are immune to such things, but for whatever it is worth, I wanted to come back here an leave an apology note, at least personally from me. I didn’t mean to be a dark cloud on your first day at FC. Sorry. It’s just that, for the past several years, I have worked up to your blog everyday. I haven’t met anyone from here, but feel like I’ve known them personally for a while. This blog has been an anchor to me in so many ways, that now the thought of losing it feels..
Actually, it seems to me that most of us here are like little kids who are sad about moving to a new neighborhood. Too many things are changing. The new house doesn’t have the “home” feel. The new school has some weird rules. Like, shorter rev.. err… periods and star rat… err all-or-nothing points on exams. Most importantly, we don’t know if we will make friends there. The kind we made in our old neighborhood. We were happy where we were. We are disappointed that parents just thrust this up on us one day and now we have to deal with it.
To end on a positive note, I am genuinely excited about seeing more videos of you. 🙂
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blurb
March 3, 2017
Feedback: The are just too many visuals. Each one of them humongous and far too stimulating when compared to the text. It is really distracting.
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KP
March 3, 2017
Can you atleast move that star to the bottom of your review so that we can peacefully enjoy the review.
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shaviswa
March 3, 2017
Hate that FC site. Sorry but I dont think I would want to read on that site. I came here to read your reviews. That site just does not feel like I am reading your reviews.
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praneshp
March 3, 2017
New blog’s good! I’ve seen several old reviews that were shorter than this one or Yaman. For example, Alex Pandian, and All in all .
I think being surrounded by new content is unusual for people used to the plain layout of this blog, but it’ll be all good. I’m not sure what I want sooner, an eloquent review or a sarcastic one.
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Enna koduka sir pera
March 4, 2017
I never realized how much of one’s reading could be affected by the aesthetics of its presentation. Subconsciously, I had always avoided reading your reviews on the Hindu site and would always read them here. Now, after reading your review on the FC site, I realize the reason could have been the extraneous clutter in these websites is quite disruptive. The presence of pictures and links to other reviews spread all over the page cuts the beautiful flow of your language, which might be why the other commentators feel your writing style itself has changed. But, you probably do not have much control over how the site looks.. And also, as a few others pointed, stars at the beginning are distracting.
I am excited about the video interviews and look forward to more of them 🙂
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Jyoti S Kumar
March 4, 2017
Yesterday I happened to watch “azhagan”, and I can’t help comparing ourselves (readers, commenters, including me) to those four kids, who crossed the line and tried to take decision for Azhagappan – why can’t you marry Swapna akka? Our rants seem very similar to this, questioning things where we don’t necessarily have the…. rights (for lack of a better word) to do so… Maybe we should just wait for the dust to settle down, because, I am sure moving from a reputable national newspaper to a nascent digital film magazine was a very bold career decision on BR sir’s side…
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Amit Joki
March 4, 2017
The experience I had while reading reviews is akin to The Hindu. FC feels like TOI. Don’t know if it’s just me, but I thought the reviews had become mechanical rather than having a life of its own when in here.
Here it was like indie art film, there it feels like commercial mainstream, for me the former worked better.
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sanjana
March 4, 2017
Well, we have expressed our frustrations but the decision cant be reversed. Grin and bear it!
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pato
March 4, 2017
Hi BR,I do felt the same oddness reading your reviews in FC but your video review of Kuttram23 was lot better than video reviews you did for hindu.
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theunusualsuspect
March 4, 2017
SELLOUT!!!! /s
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Akhilan
March 4, 2017
I’m with @pato here BR… I felt you were more at ease and were able to express how you felt about the movie with way more lucidity… It didn’t feel rushed like your video reviews for The Hindu…
Yet I still think you could loosen up a tad bit more… (I guess that’ll come as you do more of them…) It just seems like you’re holding back and thinking about what you’re going to say instead of just flowing with it… (Like you do so wonderfully with your written reviews…)
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r5arun
March 5, 2017
I did not like the review on Kuttram-23 (it oddly lacked power of persuasion and reminded me of your Rajini Padma Viboosham fete on Thread), but enjoyed the conversations with Vertrimaran. I think it is one of the first times I see you do an interview on video, and I like how you managed to strike a balance between probing Vetrimaran for more details during the initial parts of the review, and gave him leeway to drive the conversation forward once he was set. I think you will find a good balance to your reviews as well. All the best!
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r5arun
March 5, 2017
Sorry sir. I was talking about Mupparimaanam’s review. Kuttram-23’s review was good. I take back my comment. But I still hate seeing the clutter. It seems paragraphs are broken between pictures, especially for Mupparimaanam.
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Jyothsna
March 5, 2017
I find there is no depth in your reviews now.😢
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brangan
March 5, 2017
Jyothsna: Depth in a review is also a function of the deepness of a film, no? Why not wait a month or so before writing me off so sweepingly? 🙂
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Iswarya
March 5, 2017
Sad that the films that have released now are not of the kind that engage you completely and bring out the best in your writing. Add to it the disorientation of a new space and formatting, the chorus of moans is so understandable. Fingers crossed for a really great film to release in the near future. But the comments section? Does the whole community now need to switch to the new platform for the engaging back and forth? In terms of traffic, I suppose that would be preferable to you. But the comfort of this place is too much to sacrifice..
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brangan
March 5, 2017
Iswarya: I do understand that the blog hits will take a — well — hit. It’s one of first things I thought about while considering the job.
I know it’s a HUGE pain to go to another link and come back and comment here, when you can just as easily comment below the FC post. But I hoped that at least some would stay and continue to comment — if not in the Tamil film reviews, then at least in the Hindi ones and the other posts.
But at least one function of the blog won’t change. It will still remain a repository of everything I write (even if it’s just a link to the actual post). So readers will never miss out on a post.
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MANK
March 5, 2017
Brangan, but does that fact that you will be presenting the southern cinema to the north weigh heavily on you? you know, not to be too much sarcastic or condescending about them
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Jyothsna
March 5, 2017
I am definitely not writing you off. So used to your style all along and have been waiting to check out every review of yours. Missed it in the last few reviews. Adhaan ☺️
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brangan
March 5, 2017
MANK: I don’t know. IMO, the following line from the ‘Yaakkai’ review was a tad sarcastic:
“You’d have said Awww!, but it would be drowned out by the solo violin playing in the director’s head. He seems convinced he has an epic love story on his hands, while we twitch in our seats”
I haven’t consciously changed the way I write. But if people feel that way, I’m not sure if (a) I have unwittingly changed the way I write or (b) whether people think that way because they are disoriented with all the changes.
As they say in Tamil cinema: Kaalam badhil sollum 😁
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Iswarya
March 5, 2017
BR: Er.. I think I was suggesting the reverse of what you fear. Rather than assuming readers may leave this blog and migrate to FC, I thought it would be hard for everyone to comment there in a new platform simply because it is a more “exposed” space (since the readers coming there are not exclusively coming for you). It would be a good opening for new voices, of course, but the degree of civility we have established here as well as the personal connect with other commenters might be lost. Not sure if I am articulating my thoughts clearly. At least initially, we’re likely to have parallel conversations running on both sites as it happens here when two threads discuss the same movie.
Also, MANK is right. I think there certainly was an attempt at treading gingerly, the kind of don’t-let-down-yours-in-front-of-strangers feeling about the posts so far. Is that the fear of feeding into condescending stereotypes about the south?
Update: The cartoon still doesn’t appear but the livemint link works.
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Ramchander Krishna (@ramctheatheist)
March 5, 2017
Agree with others that it’s cumbersome to read ur review in FC. But, I think they are problems that can be fixed.
When I land on the article on my mobile, I need to scroll past the author name, the star ratings and the video in order to even read the first line of ur review. So technically, ur review starts only from the 2nd page onwards.
Links to other reviews in between the article are like “Ok I know there’s Yaakkai review also. I’m here to read Kuttram 23 review. Can you pls hold on?”
Blockquote text highlighting some line from the review in between the paragraphs. Mind voice: “Every line BR writes is like blockquote for us da. So why u are highlighting this?” The article isn’t even long enough that I’d first scroll through to read the blockquotes and this isn’t like a magazine that I’m flipping through the pages and the blockquote is going to help catch my attention. So what’s the blockquote doing there other than distract me when I’m reading?
The FC navigation bar and the social media sharing icons stick to the top and bottom of the browser all the time, thereby reducing the amount of reading space. Makes me feel like I’m peeking into a room while holding the blinds open with my fingers.
Random popups with some form I’m never going to fill that jump up when I open the link and it’s hard finding the close button to get rid of it and start reading the review.
These are all UI problems that can be fixed to make the reading experience better. (Assuming FC’s focus is the reading experience. If the focus is to make us click on random stuff, then it’s a different story altogether!) Eg: The social media icons don’t have to be visible all the time. Would any person in his sanest mind share an article mid-way while he’s reading it? Given that u were talking about stats that made you shift to video medium, I’d really be curious to know if these social media icons help. Would be great if u can question the FC tech team about it and get rid of them or at least move them to the bottom of the article. Doesn’t it make more sense that someone would share an article only once he/she has fully read it? Also, there are sites that automatically dismiss the footer as u’re scrolling down but bring them back when u scroll up. These are like mobile UI basics for providing a good reading experience.
Once again, assuming FC’s focus is the reading experience 🙂
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dinakaranonline
March 6, 2017
Congrats. Slight nervousness could be seen. Understand it is early days. As others suggested, loosening up a little could help. Am I the only one who felt like watching Rajeev Masand ?
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Mat
March 6, 2017
I share all the sentiments expressed here but guess its more to do with the flashy flashy UI of the site than anything else. How I wish Mysskin or Manikandan had a movie out right now..we need our fix saar..badly..ok..atleast M Rajesh can release one….anything to read the good stuff 🙂 🙂
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Vidhya
March 6, 2017
@dinakaranonline: Yes, I too saw shades of Rajeev Masand – not with the content, but the articulation.
Rajeev’s reviews follow a set-path, a format that he never deviates from. Eg. He would start with the third best character, move to the second and would finally reveal the star performance in any movie, with a flourish.
BR has not adhered to a template as such (ofcourse his punchlines are a given – but they are never run-of-the-mill).
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Blasta
March 10, 2017
Kutram23 is running rather well, guess that crime thrillers are the new black. Just like the horror theme went bad, and became the inanity that was “hello naan pey pesaren” the crime thriller will soon be bad seed. “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”
This story supposedly by Rajesh Kumar comes unstuck precisely at the moment when it shouldn’t have. As when you jack off and your mother walks in.
It is always difficult to translate story to screen, and particularly when the story runs inside the mind of the character.
Here according to the writer, it runs inside the villain’s mind, and the director, who seems accomplished till that moment when the villain’s motivation is to be revealed, does a Fosbury that knocks the bars off.
That does diminish the pleasure this movie gives, or attempts to. Something similar happened in Eeram too, all that blue grey tone imploded somewhere in the second half.
Arun Vijay, poor guy, his earlier solo hero movies failed because he strutted more than his due. While star progeny like Dhanush quickly backed off, some like Arun failed to learn, he did keep on, to falling revenues and zero markets.
Even now, every time Dhanush tries it that film flops. Poor Vijay Antony, in Yeman, he has been coerced to… time will tell. Strut, someone should tell these guys, is not given, it is earned.
Here we have Arun strut, but not that much, still it shows. The romance is minimal, urban, and though we are tired to death of overdone romances, we still yearn for some. This film denies you that.
Mahima, otherwise not a bad actress does looks ordinary, in fact everything except the hospital is rather commonplace. Was it the color grading, or was it my eyes, Yeman did look a little more accomplished!
The guy who plays Arun Vijay’s brother seems familiar, and he does a good job, in fact most of them do, except the villain, who is let down by the director in a climactic moment, so is the chap who plays the director of the fertility center.
But then there are impending signs of doom even earlier on, for instance when Arun’s anni is told she will be let go if she decides to keep the child. Her reasons for rejecting the child also sound inane, and so much 20th century sentiment. Because the build up to this is half done, the villain’s intent when it is revealed looks even more inane.
Contrast this with Thanioruvan, where the mental make up of both the protagonist and his better equipped antagonist are delineated in more detail than necessary. But that worked with audiences, and this could have, too.
These things require finesse, and finesse fails him when he needs it most. This gives us the feeling that here is a director good, but not good enough. But then, given his rather meager oeuvre, the director must have been praying for a hit, and he has been granted that.
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Anuja Chandramouli
March 14, 2017
Kuttram23 was bloody awful! I watched it because i thought portions of Arivazhagan’s Eeram were really good. But now i see him in an entirely new light. There is nothing more nauseating than having a ‘woman’s purity’ mansplained by clueless mcps. And the worst part is that this movie believes itself progressive and a champion of women’s rights.
Why on earth did the director feel the need to treat artificial insemination like rape? Sure I get that those doctors who prey on the yearning of parents for a baby like vultures are reprehensible and it is bloody unethical of them to deliberately mislead, but even so, how dare they make it a matter of abject shame for victims of medical malpractice? As if it is the equivalent of a married woman engaging in an affair or being raped!!!! (Case in point the back story for the media Baron’s wife who shelled out a fortune for a cricketer’s sperm and later confessing it was ‘paavam’ or the ugly bit with the political head honcho’s daughter-in-law killing herself when she finds out she has been impregnated with the man’s sperm!)
What about the scene where Abinaya’s character wants to abort her nearly full term foetus because she wants to remain ‘sutham’ for her husband? It made me want to projectile vomit! And speaking about abortion, according to the impassioned speech made by the hero of this dreadful movie people who don’t know the difference between love and lust and seek to wipe out the evidence of their perfidy with abortion are guilty of a medical crime!! Bite me!! Could they be more stinkingly judgement? And the vapid heroine casting aspersions on another woman because she somehow got access to sensitive medical info and feels free to judge on the basis of half-baked information? Double ugh!! The only crime was this hideous film got made.
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Srinivas R
March 14, 2017
@Anuja – Haven’t watched the movie, but loved the rant and knowing you from this blog’s comment section, I believe it would be a very valid rant. Tamil cinema is need of more female voices behind the camera. Bollywood seems more progressive simply because there are more women behind the camera, as DoPs, script writers etc.
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Anuja Chandramouli
March 14, 2017
Thanks Srinivas R. It kind of bothers me that not many women make sure that their voices are heard in Tamil cinema. In fact most seem content to pocket their cheques and not say a word of protest when asked to mouth patriarchal bs ( but then again most barely speak the language and don’t seem to care either way)
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Anu Warrier
March 14, 2017
Haven’t watched the film, probably won’t watch the film based on Anuja’s rant. 🙂 But I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Anu Warrier
March 14, 2017
(The rant, I mean; not the film.)
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Anuja Chandramouli
March 15, 2017
Anu Warrior: I recommend you give this abomination of a film a miss. It’s been a few days since the viewing and I am still frothing at the mouth and near apoplectic with rage. For some reason I can’t get over it. My near and dear ones are heartily sick of the raving plus ranting and are convinced I am going to bust a blood vessel if I carry on this way. Most folks feel it is a decent film and the BO collections are proof and say that I need to get over myself. Before I forget and start spewing bile all over again, thanks!
Btw does anyone wish the comments section came with an edit option after you hit ‘post comment’? I usually seem to be in some sort of frenzy when I type and the resultant typos are making me physically ill. There are some glaring errors in my comments across threads and it is killing me that I can’t fix it.
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Vidhya
March 15, 2017
I got to know the story of this movie only yesterday, till which time I was recommending it to friends based on the reviews.
While I believe it is the prerogative of the script writer to have his plot points as he likes – eg. woman committing suicide over tainted purity etc – apparently (from what I read in another scathing post on Facebook, by a doctor) the hero – a police officer – endorses the regressive thought.
A single line from the Protagonist that this type of assumed-guilt was meaningless would have redeemed the director a bit. Or atleast making him a simple arbiter of justice without commenting on the Moral Correctness of the issue.
The case of such medical institutions recommending artificial insemination for women where the husband has difficulty, is true – but it is not done with such blatant violation of privacy.
What the movie has done is cast aspersions on those opting for such treatments.
(I know it is just a movie – but if you observe the comments made my many youngsters on Facebook and other such places – their references are entirely movie based. That too, even little known movies get mentioned and myths perpetuated. Eg Thani Oruvan is invoked everytime people get suspicious of some event))
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Rahini David
March 15, 2017
Anuja,
I do understand your embarrassment of typos, but you see an edit button would enable people to give offense and then go back and delete it. It is not recommended at all.
I remember BR used to do small corrections himself when I forget to close Anchor tags or repeat words. But I guess he is much too busy these days.
Awesome comment, with or without the typos.
Some times a filmmaker can even get good word-of-mouth and if someone says something to the effect of “Arivalagan throws light on this big bad hospitals,” I would personally just believe it.
Eeram did show potential.
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Anuja Chandramouli
March 15, 2017
Rahini David: You make a very valid point as always. Guess I just need to type slower and edit before hitting post comment.
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Anu Warrier
March 15, 2017
Rahini, good point. But one of the other forums I frequent has an ‘edit’ feature that lasts for a few minutes after you post. That’s brilliant. :)Allows one to correct embarrassing typos and punctuation but doesn’t allow you to bowdlerise your post once written.
But I share Anuja’s angst. 🙂 My vishesh tippanis are usually when I’m frothing at the mouth, and my brain and fingers just don’t seem to work in tandem, then.
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Filistine
March 15, 2017
@Anuja – You’ve raised a point that I have always been wondering about. Why do even the leading ladies of Tamil Film Industry not protest at (their characters) being treated in an offensive manner? Even a two-film “hero” talks about his “image” and the “expectations of his fans”, but no “heroine” have ever rejected a role because it is conceived badly?
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Filistine
March 15, 2017
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170307-why-the-silence-of-the-lambs-is-a-feminist-fable
And while on the topic…
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blurb
March 17, 2017
I totally ROTFL-ed for this video review of Motta Shiva Ketta Shiva (from the guys at Fully Filmy). 🙂 Pretty sure this video has gotten more visibility than the movie itself.
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Uma
April 16, 2017
This movie had potential. Was a tad too long. What irritated me were the points alreadymade by Anuja. Instead of shaming the doctor/ medical professionals for not providing full disclosure, we get irritating dialogues about maintaining her Sutham. That dialogue about aborting a baby due to love/lust confusion was stupid.
Hope this movies brings some awareness in our general public about not pressuring couples to have babies or about acceptance for IVF.
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MANK
April 16, 2017
Finally watched this one. as Brangan points out, it has some terrific action scenes, the best i have seen recently in tamil cinema. usually in fight sequences, when the star lands the punch ,the goon catches escape velocity. but this one was gritty and jaw dropping. Arun Vijay looks great in the role.The investigation\procedural aspect of it was also riveting. Alas the reveal and the extended medical backstory was terrible as everybody has pointed out here. Arivazhagan has the the technical chops to be a really good director he just need to get his script sense and his ‘social conscience ‘ right.
btw the issue of medical malpractices has been on the rise in recent crime thrillers. this was also the subject of the recent Yaakkai which was a much inferior film than this one
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
August 20, 2017
Saw this a while ago. Initially, didn’t know that the film was based on Rajesh Kumar’s novel. I haven’t read him but as someone who regularly used to watch the TV adaptations of his novels (it’s still being aired on Kalaignar TV during the weekend), I thought the movie was a huge relief. The worst thing about the series is almost the entire cast is filled with non-actors. Add to it the OTT acting (even by Tamil chinnathirai standards), laughable fight scenes, predictable “twists”, hard-hitting zooms, et al. The film, for all its positives, still had a contrived ending. I wish the Vamsi Krishna character had a little more detailing (like in Ivan Veramathiri). His wife character is a “signature” kind in his novels, I think. Also, I laughed hard at cricketer “Vinod Mehra” and “I’m just not medically trained but also physically”.
About the “women’s purity” thing, I can confidently say that the idea is a part of the novel. Arivazhagan could’ve either totally avoided it or had it rewritten. But I wonder whether there’s any Tamil filmmaker among the current crop who is skilled at adapting a novel/short-fiction for the screen.
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