Spoilers ahead…
Read the full review on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/article/spyder-movie-review
The pre-interval stretch of Spyder may be the best thing AR Murugadoss wrote and directed. It has the resonance of myth. We witness the birth of the villain, the birth of Evil, in a graveyard — a cut whisks us from the wails of mourners to the infant’s ear. This single editing choice fills us in on the character’s psychology: he grows up around grief, he celebrates grief, and when there’s a lull in the death rate, he will kill, cause fresh bouts of grief and get off on it. As an adult, he wears an axe pendant, though he prefers a knife. Salivating over a prospective victim, he coos, “Ippo vettina raththam sooda varum.” (If I cut him up now, hot blood will bubble up.) He’s a glorious madman.
Continued at the link above.
Copyright ©2017 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Thupparivaalan
September 27, 2017
The flashback for SJ Suryah was glorious. Mythical evil stuff. Iraivi, Nenjam Marapadhillai ( I think he’ll be terrific), and this. He is making a grand comeback, with very good collaborations. +10 for SJS.
Murugadoss could have let some scenes breathe, cut out the flab. The hero introduction scene could have been longer and better without that song. With the amount of myth being built up for the villain, hero needed some too. All said, +10 to mahesh(cutie cutie) for holding his own against SJ Suryah.
Is this the first time a heroine has admitted to watching porn, like for four plus hours. +20 to murugadoss for that.
Not even one tune was catchy. What’s up with Harris? A biggie with Mahesh and Murugadoss and he comes up with this. Disappointed. -10 for Harris.
+40 for Rakul preet.
+100 to BR for giving out such a quick and good review.
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Ali
September 27, 2017
SJ Suryah has to be the most overrated actor in all of Internet. (It was Bobby Simha previously). Heck I could even tolerate him behind the camera for a minute or two.
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Pavan
September 27, 2017
The hero is Shiva. Villain is Sudalai. It’s a god vs devil fight. But in Telugu, things became slightly different. The villain’s name is Bhairavudu, which is the name of the deity who is the fierce aspect of the otherwise pleasant Shiva. Bhairava is known to induce fear just by mere use of his voice and is purely unrestrained. But, while Bhairava is the Guardian deity known to protect the weak in general, this Bhairavudu is great harm to the society. Strangely named pair of hero and villain, really.
I liked that the hero isn’t a superman though myth wise the god. I mean, he can’t help everyone being saved, letting few die. That was one of the humane touches, especially when the villain is more fantasy type. And man, he is purely evil, neither a Siddharth Abhimanyu nor a Vedha. There were times when he was single dimensional but the constraints were too much to operate within, unlike the recent brilliant villains we came across in Telugu and Tamil cinema.
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Bharath Vijayakumar
September 27, 2017
The film works perfectly well as long as it works in the Thuppakki mould. A hero who does not mouth punch dialogues. A hero whose brain does most of the work and a hero who gets the help of those around to achieve his means. It is definitely not perfect till now but is adequately entertaining. It is only when the director tries to scale up the movie and brings in those mass disaster scenes towards the end that the film starts to lose its grip over us. The extremely amateurish looking VFX for a film of this scale is a huge letdown. Sometimes a very good masala is fine. The need to thrust a message through dialogues when it cannot be felt on screen is what actually pulls back Spyder from what it could have been. The tension when only one life is in danger in the first half is not felt anywhere in the climax when thousands are at the mercy of the villain. Nevertheless Spyder once again proves that ARM wants to showcase his heroes as thinking personalities and Spyder is another effort in the right direction that is weighed down by the assumption that bigger the scale, more is the entertainment.
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Ravi K
September 28, 2017
Is the Telugu version preferable to the Tamil version, or does it not make a difference?
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Aditya (Gradwolf)
September 28, 2017
Just here to note that on bits from other films – the other person who used evil birthed in graveyard myth well was ARM’s former boss Shankar, in Endhiran.
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MANK
September 28, 2017
Ravi K, i have not seen the telugu version, but in this case i feel it works much better as a tamil film. I always try to watch the film in its original language as intended, say Bahubali the telugu version is superior to all other language versions, But Murugadoss is a tamil filmmaker and this one works really well in the tamil version,. And Mahesh has dubbed for himself, so that’s a plus. May be the songs sound much better in telugu than tamil. I am really concerned how telugu market will receive this film, i have already seen die hard mahesh fans complaining of lack of telugu nativity and giving preference to tamil over telugu
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Navneeth
September 28, 2017
Just back from this. Didn’t like it at all, and the audience were grumbling about some of the unrealistic actions. First half was middling; but the second half, much like the boulder, went downhill fast. Awful songs that, as noted, acted as speed-breakers, and is Mahesh Babu’s dancing usually this stiff?
(Mild Spoilers) The Spiderwomen housewives bit was ridiculous. (/Spoilers)
The only interesting thing for me was that this seemed a battle of turn-ons – one getting off on procreation-induced moaning, the other on destruction-driven wailing. 😀
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Pavan
September 28, 2017
MANK: The lyrics of the Telugu songs are really bad to be honest, especially that of Haali Haali. I really don’t know who to blame. Is it Harris’ penchant to use gibberish words all the time?
Ravi K: Not much difference between the versions. Mahesh dubbed for both, Suryah dubbed for Tamil. And Ravi Shankar dubbed for the antagonist in Telugu, and he too has a frightening voice (refer Anushka Shetty-starrer Arundhati).
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MANK
September 28, 2017
Brangan, i cant read the review, the film companion link is not opening, it just keep circling
Anyway, i thought this was a much better film than Kaththi , But the confusion continues in murugadoss in trying to make a serious masala film. the film has wild tonal changes and it almost feels like 3 or 4 mini movies existing in one. One mini movie is about the childhood and birth of the evil Sudalai, on its own its packs in so much raw power that i wish that was the tone and ambiance of the entire film , its almost like a Bala movie – it looks like a mix of Pitamagan and Naan Kadavul- made with a lot more technique and craft. But this movie does not belong in a film where mahesh and Rakul meet cute and have a friends with benefits relationship and both of these movies remain distant from the film in which Mahesh and Bharath fight it out on a roller coaster or a massive boulder runs amok.A film like Sholay works big time , in spite of it being a grand pastiche of disparate characters and events is because they all seem to exist in a cohesive world. Gabbar and Basanthi may be poles apart in their tone but at least on screen it feels that they could be inhabiting the same village.. That’s the trick of serious masala cinema that the contemporary film makers seems to be missing out on.
But at least on screen, he gets the elements together well,for which i will commend the brilliant editing and the presence \Performance of Mahesh Babu more than anything else. especially in the first half the, scenes segue in to one another seamlessly and it maintains a very good pace, not allowing the tonal shifts to effect the viewing pleasure. And Mahesh babu combines the disparate elements of his character very well. At last, Murugadoss has a star\actor who can pull of the varying tones of his movie. His face is that of a chocolate hero, but he is built like a giant at 6’2”. he has a very controlled , very intense acting style which allows him to balance out even the most over the top moments.I only wish that the character had a more extended build up . since the villian is so mythic, the hero pales in comparison. one agrees with his desire to tone down the heroism quotient – as murugadoss said in his interview- but if you are making a god vs devil movie , then the character deserves a certain amount of heroism. I feel it was a mistake to tone it down to this level and which is why it doesnt work well with the end portions where it gets too larger than life.And wish Mahesh had shown some extroverted style in some scenes, he can get a little too implosive a little too content in himself which sometimes make him come across as stiff and emotionless. Its only in Pokkiri and Businessman where i have seen him mix it up really well , he is very good at doing style when he chose to do it.that’s one missing dimension in his performance which i think would have benefited this film immensely.But still, a very solid performance and a flawed but still very satisfying viewing experience
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brangan
September 28, 2017
MANK: There was a server issue. The review is up now.
Sholay is a wrong example to take, because it’s the pinnacle of “organic” filmmaking. There are no dream songs. The people are dressed in ordinary/shabby clothes. There’s no attempt to be “hep.” The only attempt is to be true to this world.
I don’t know if that can be pulled off today, what with the requirement that everyone look good. The reason the villain’s birth is so fantastic is that it’s rooted. The characters look real. The sets/locations look real.
Once we come out of it, even the hero’s house looks like a mansion. I’m not blaming them, for this has become “expected” — but this does result in a certain inability to fully suspend disbelief.
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harish ram
September 28, 2017
@Aditya: But ARM didn’t work for Shankar. Did he?
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MANK
September 28, 2017
I don’t know if that can be pulled off today, what with the requirement that everyone look good
Bahubali pulled it off to an extend because it (physically) created a fantasy world of its own, so it was organic and everybody looked glamorous without breaking the illusion. its difficult making this kind of film in the contemporary social milieu. i wonder whether the birth of the villain needed to be this dark ,Murugadoss pushed it just too far for a film of this kind IMO. that would have worked well if he was making a dark genre piece. .
Brangan , what did you think of the VFX?, for a film that’s (advertised as) budgeted at a 125 crores, the VFX was rather average. in the post Bahubali world, it was unacceptable
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MANK
September 28, 2017
Yes the review is available now. you have pretty much covered everything and i particularly liked this
He carries the most serene aura since NTR — and what could be perceived as weaknesses
That’s a great observation, mainly because these days people do not observe this about NTR either, the image one has of him is all fire and brimstone and over the top dialogue delivery from the last phase of his career. but he was an actor with unmatched control and subtle shifts in emotion. the other day i was watching Narthanasala, where he played Arjuna turned Brahandala and i was stunned by his control, how he contrasts between the character of Arjuna – all masculine virility , the veera bhavam- with that of Brahandala- feminine lasya bhavam. more importanly he made brahandala into a real living breathing character rather than a caricature which probably what any actor would have done and more so in those days of highly thetrical acting.
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Amit Joki
September 28, 2017
Thupparivalan: I like how you gave Rakul Preet a +40 for being on screen 😀
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Pavan
September 28, 2017
MANK: Wasn’t that Brihannala? Or is it a variant in your mother tongue? Just curious.
Well yes, NTR was very balanced in his act in that film. Take the scene where he reveals who he actually is before Uttara Kumara before the tree. The way he reciprocates the hug was so gracefully faminine. I mean, it was not overdone. The very next scene, we get to see an authoritative, father-like figure there. And the contrast was handled so seamlessly. Having said that, I really find NTR ineffective playing a villain compared to the hero. More than a Ravana or Duryodhana (SVR would rock these), I found him at home playing an ambiguous Karna.
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Jupe
September 28, 2017
Link is down again
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MANK
September 28, 2017
Pavan, yes it’s a variant. At least that’s how I pronounce it – since I learned the virata parva stories – since I was a kid😃
BTW I am a great fan of his duryodhana, even though it was very over the top theatrical, I love it. That emantivi emantivi scene is one of the greatest masala scenes in Indian films
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brangan
September 28, 2017
One of the most bizarre questions I got from people was whether I was referring to NTR Jr. when I said “He carries the most serene aura since NTR.”
I’m saying “serene aura” and making a case for a godlike hero and you still have this question? 🙂
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Pavan
September 28, 2017
I’m saying “serene aura” and making a case for a godlike hero and you still have this question?
Don’t blame them for that, Rangan. The hyperlink provided for NTR is an article by Film Companion. And, Jai Lava Kusa had elements of theatre and mythology. It’s not what you wrote, but it’s what they got that mattered.
MANK: It definitely was one of the finest ones. Duryodhana builds rage silently as all talk, breathes fire at once with supreme authority over all except Krishna. And Krishna reacting simply saying something like “Good. So it be.” was a perfect reply by a hero to the villain, almost like using “Please desist” for “Fuck off”. It indeed was a different masala moment.
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Honest Raj (formerly Venkatesh)
September 28, 2017
Pavan: Sudalai is a folk deity which is believed to be the son of Shiva. I’ve seen people claim that it’s another form of Shiva himself – the name literally means somebody who dwells in the graveyard.
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Pavan
September 29, 2017
Honest Raj (formerly Venkatesh): Thank you so much for the info about Sudalai. So now that makes it a war within two extremes of the same power (Mahesh underplayed Shiva so much where as Suryah was purely unhinged in his portrayal). More in case of Bhairavudu if I take Sudalai as Shiva’s son (Bhairava means the one with a petrifying voice, and either way the act invoked the required terror).
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MANK
September 29, 2017
well i don’t agree with this, but Guys you got to hear this. this is hilarious, epic 🙂
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MANK
September 29, 2017
Pavan, its impossible to believe that NTR pulled of three roles – and that too with three completely different get ups and completely different basic emotions – and ended up writing, producing and directing DVSK. I think he managed to do all this in less than 2 months. he was some man
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Blasta
September 29, 2017
There is a certain motherliness to Ragul Preet Singh that forebodes good for her future offspring, and could be interesting to people of certain proclivities. In Spyder, (one of those “spyed” upon) she is an assiduous student, who becomes belatedly aware that medical schools and their labs are not as well equipped as advertised.
Brilliant girl she is, 96 going on 98, that is her (percent)age, she figures out that there is a way to eat his cake and have hers too, and in a brilliant moment of social commentary, the term FWB has been introduced to Tamil audiences, who have every right to be ignorant of it, and be shocked by it.
Gently folks!
This film does nothing for Mahesh Babu, as wannabe Tamil superstar. In quite the same equitable vein, it does nothing to us too. If this be a labor of love, the labor does show up.
Psycho is what Suryah is, and does, so no surprises there. Suffice it to say that he underplays it, some would say brilliantly, but that is only opinion. Bharath comes and goes, he is at that stage in his career, poor guy. Who next, Jeeva?
As for the others, they too come and go.
Add another ordinary outing for Harris, whose efforts are generally put down than it ought to be, much as ARR’s is in the other direction. Some reviews said that the songs are ordinary but the BGM is extraordinary, don’t believe it, it is just that it is much more muted than is warranted of a Tamil movie dealing with such a subject. Hip Hop, that is what this movie deserved.
Oh, there is Santosh Sivan, who is at his most ordinary self. Post production does show up, and quite well as long as it is indoors. That theme park ride scene, not bad, but not extraordinary too! It is clear that despite or including Bahubali, our CGI still looks amateur. Given that much Hollywood work is done in India, it points to a certain lack in taste, or education. That Spyder titling reminds one of ALIEN.
Story?
So much of it, that it even catches Mahesh Babu unawares!
So do the situations, (but for that ladies thing) which look extraordinarily put up rather than really extraordinary. Mass, that is the word for it, I suppose. That particular Murugadas fetish, for showing children in danger shows up here too, the falling rock makes its way to a school before it is stopped by our hero, with a container lorry.
Then there is that hospital rubble, a plot point that no right thinking hero or assistant director would have agreed to.Despite it forming a spectacular fight ground between the hero and the villain, it feels so lame that Mahesh Babu, facing the press at the end of it all, finds he has nothing to say. So does the director, and so some rather strange platitudes.
Murugadas has come to that stage where Rajini/Shanka are currently in, he has to make something, and people have to watch it. Even when you have the best technicians with you, there is that thing called story. If this film does not bomb like Shankar’s I did, it proves that Murugadas is a camel that can survive creative deserts.
Can you sit through it?
Yes, but be prepared to laugh when inappropriate.
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Arjun Dev M
September 29, 2017
Idea 1: ARM should make a movie abt seemingly normal looking aunties who come together every night to protect the neighborhood. They could even make it a Charlie’s Angels remake and have mahesh babu make a cameo as charlie.
Idea 2: A movie in which all ARM villains come together to form the villain-avengers
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Arjun Dev M
September 29, 2017
I wish ARM had given that sj suryah backstory portion to gowtham Menon — to be used in a vettaiyaadu villaiyaadu sequel.
Anyway, compared to vettaiyaadu vilaiyaadu which is also a movie abt psycho killers — spyder just wasn’t as absorbing.
In vv — I really wanted the hero to win at the end — I was so emotionally invested.
While in Spyder, I was detached observer to the proceedings on screen. I just wanted to know how the hero was gonna win at the end. Only the pre.interval stretch gave me an eerie feeling, but that was the high point of the movie. Had ARM kept up the tempo, this could have been another vv
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Sathyanarayanan N
September 29, 2017
@BR, I am pretty disappointed with the movie. Flashback and SJ Surya performance are the solace. Geography set in Hyderabad with all Tamil faces, even the idea of calling people to his house to save his mother where indication was sufficient but I felt he over did it. Saravanan Meenakshi in Hyderabad set up, not sure I am missing something.
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sanjana
September 29, 2017
From the comments, it looks like an underwhelming film with Mahesh Babu getting tongue in cheek appreciation for his presence! NTR and his progeny are hogging limelight. Tamil faces seem to be putting off telugu audience while Mahesh Babu and his dialogue delivery are doing the same for the tamil audience. The film seems to be neither here nor there.
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Jeyashree
September 29, 2017
The movie could have been a much better one …but I was glad the super spy did not have to smoke and choke us to prove he is a macho super human or rush to tasmac or its equivalent in andhrapradesh and dance among the lesser mortals….heck after all just brains should suffice sometimes..aacharya kuri!Poor guy was on no- milk tea….and the demon also did not have to be on drugs or be smothered by scantily clad lasses or surrounded by oily muscular sidekicks…that is a sea of improvement for me…
Baby steps with relationship portrayal…yes..and did he make tea while mom and gf were chatting over not the usual stuff? We have come a long way from when we we made movies on taming an entrepreneur woman into resigning and packing thookuchatti lunch…
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Dandy
September 29, 2017
Mahesh babu is a pretty limited actor but has great screen presence & a charming countenance in most of his films. Looks like Murugadoss has played to Mahesh’s strengths, but what’s fascinating is the Demon like villain, he’s created in SJ Surya’s character, who I think has sort of found his footing as an actor in the last couple of years.
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brangan
September 29, 2017
Was speaking to some industry types today. The things I liked — the underplayed ‘heroism’, the fact that the hero doesn’t get to save everyone — are apparently why hardcore fans are upset about this film. Also the fact that, unlike a Thuppakki, it’s only at the end that the hero really trumps the villain.
The other thing they said — and this I agree with — is that apart from the setting (Hyderabad), there’s very little Telugu nativity. It’s pretty much a Tamil film. This too, is apparently, working against the Telugu version.
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Thupparivaalan
September 29, 2017
I hope this catches on good with Telugu audience, so mahesh takes more risks in future, not resorting to the usual chore. He is one star who has always tried to do different stuff. He acts in family dramas, with co stars, he did khaleeja, one nenokkadine, athad, etc. I’m not saying these are great films, but I don’t see other stars of same magnitude take on such films.
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Thupparivaalan
September 29, 2017
Brangan: Regarding Telugu nativity, though I think murugadoss missed out on giving mahesh some well written punchlines, the muted heroism is not the problem as much as murugadoss’s tendency to settle for lesser juice from his scenes. Compare the scene when the farmers are killed systematically to acquire land in kathi to the murder scenes in Spyder; when we’re not even shown the murders taking place. Even the masala kicks such as Mahesh saving his mom and brother, Mahesh killing sjs’s brother were a bit muted; I’m not saying Telugu audience don’t consume such stuff, but this sort of restraint during those important moments in a masala like entertainer, will put them off, I think.
Had this been a pure thuppaki like thriller whose dubbed version was a big success with the Telugu audience, without the tonal shifts like MANK said, it would have worked better.
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Ashwin
September 29, 2017
I haven’t watched the movie yet but from the story template, I suspect this seems to be ARM’s version of “I Saw the Devil” ( Korean movie which had a bereaved National Intelligence Officer tracking a psychotic serial killer on a killing spree). Anyone else thinks so after watching the movie?
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hattorihanzo4784
September 29, 2017
I thought this was a decent movie for a boyish medium range star like Karthi, danush, simbhu or someone like that in Telugu like nani. ARM lacked ambition when he had Mahesh as primary lead in his project. It’s like driving a sleek Lamborghini at a very safe 60kmph speed on a national highway. “Underwhelming” is the word most of the Mahesh fans are using to describe this movie. They perhaps expected that ARM will gift them a Thuppaki which will help propel Mahesh all over south India like the way baahubali did for prabhas.
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Navneeth
September 29, 2017
Ashwin: No.
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pjarugula
September 30, 2017
I am a Mahesh Babu die-hard fan and I find myself agreeing with this review way more than I agree with co-fans. It makes me think that if Mahesh had done Thuppakki, it would not have done as well in Telugu as some people seem to think. That film shies away just as much from overt-heroism. However, what that film probably has working in its favor is that it didn’t have such a dominating villain. Anyway, it is disappointing to see the Telugu audiences not accepting this film especially after seeing the other Telugu film, Jai Lava Kusa, doing decently well. I found that movie to be a horrific mess. I hope it is better accepted in Tamil.
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Pavan
September 30, 2017
Ashwin: I Saw The Devil is something like Thani Oruvan-meets-Spyder if we see the conflict and usage of technology. But the antagonists in Thani Oruvan and Spyder seem to be products of myth. They don’t belong the ones which authors create to bring balance to their novels during the pre-climax. Their thoughts, persona, eccentricity… are more demonic, more mythological. Spyder has something additional, a hero out of myth again.
Bhairava (I saw the Telugu version, where the antagonist was named Bhairavudu) is a fierce aspect of Shiva, gaining that name for his petrifying voice. Now, in the film, Bhairavudu likes to scare. Bhairavudu wants to see people wail afraid of him, unable to bear the loss. Now the deity isn’t a sadist, but he is unrestrained and lacks constraints to bind him, which exactly fits with the villain. Same with the hero too; he is restrained, bound by constraints and tries to protect the needy, something the eponymous deity is known for.
Writing this, I am reminded of Chidambaram. The saner Shiva is made to stand inside the sanctum, motionless and in silence. The utsava idol of Bhikshatana (he turned into Bhairava later as per myth; I’m sure Tamilians are well aware of this story), the unrestrained one enjoys the procession, roams around, listens to loud instrumental sounds and chants from the public. But, at the end, the saner deity in the sanctum gets the higher preference from the devotees. Here too, the saner hero wins on the unhinged demon as the people wish for the latter’s death at the hospital (which metaphorically looks like a procession). But, is the film that aware? I don’t know.
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Ravi K
September 30, 2017
There were bits and pieces of a possibly good film that didn’t end up fulfilling their full potential.
The presentation of the high-tech call tapping stuff should have been a lot more visceral and exciting. Shiva sitting at a desk with headphones and a screen was fairly underwhelming. It could have used some Minority Report-style futuristic GUIs.
Shiva’s disappointment should have been greater when the cop and the girl were murdered. The emotion needed to hit harder when he faced two people he couldn’t save. He’s a little too calm and collected throughout most of the movie, and we needed to get the sense that when faced with Sudalai, he felt like he was pitted against an enemy like no other. We needed to get the sense that he not only understood, but FELT how important it was to defeat him.
A little too much information was spoonfed to us, and some bits, like the explanation of sadistic personality disorder, could have been completely cut. We have all the information about Sudalai we need from the flashback.
Rakul Preet Singh’s character was utterly pointless. She only served to thinly motivate the songs, which were speedbreakers I wanted to fast-forward and not even particularly enjoyable in their own right. Her character might as well have been cut entirely. Having her watch four hours of porn was set up in a way that rang false, as if she had never even heard of sex until some pop-ups came up on her computer. Why even bring up the concept of “friends with benefits” if she and Shiva don’t ever, um, benefit? Both of those things felt like botched attempts to seem edgy and hip by someone who couldn’t pull it off.
I liked Sudalai’s backstory and the idea that he gets off on grief. We needed to see more of his sadism and violence as an adult, though, and he could have had a more distinct visual appearance and been a little more over-the-top.
The scene with the housewives was brilliantly edited, though it was a pretty stupid idea. It’s one thing to somehow use them to gather information about Sudalai’s whereabouts, but having them do ridiculous physical feats like climbing up walls? Come on! BTW, does anyone know what song was used in the Telugu version of this scene?
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Dheeraj
September 30, 2017
B Rangan, You should seriously check out Mahesh Babu’s 1-Nenokkadine.
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Arun Annamalai
September 30, 2017
Overall entertained. Coming to the minuses, the hero intro and song were weak and kind of felt shoved in, guess it was a dilemma between when to show Mahesh explosively and a mandatory opening song for a superstar, it could have been a title song aka James Bond. The romance lacked the spark that Ghajini had but it is realistic (Mahesh’s geeky profession, heroine geeky look, courtship ritual flowed correctly), a reflection of current times. Mahesh killing Sudalai’s brother could have been more punchy, it felt restrained. Moving to the positives, SJ Suryah was terrific, he nailed the manic glee look, even the kid who portrayed him was awesome. The investigation methods were logical and interesting with a slight leap in imagination. The interval point where Mahesh mirrors Sudalai with a real gun was so cool, casual and so simple in thought, imagine how many movies have we asked it was so easy the hero could have shot him at this point and here it happens which is novel. The movie had many interesting knots which it straightens and is connected well in a smooth fashion, Does not have to be entirely logical to be interesting, people, suspend your disbelief for god’s sake!
There were different screenplay elements, the boulder killing, the roller coaster fight were slightly amateur but it still served it’s purpose of making the narrative flow. The scene shifts, Siva’s domain, graveyard, hospital, Siva’s injury in traffic and the auto food-boarding were well packed into the story. Just shows that even if you nail a good mix of this forgiving slightly faulty execution, you have a decent paisa vasool movie!
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MANK
October 1, 2017
The marketing of this film was all wrong, the trailers positioned this film as a slick sci fi international spy thriller- whatever happened to that robotic spider that appeared in first teaser. -, .The title and the Spiffily shot title song -which was out even before the trailers- gave the look and feel of a bond film.they did not give any hint of the toned down nature of heroism or the fact that film had nothing to do with International espionage I can understand the disappointment of the fans when they realised that mahesh plays a very ordinary cop who is chasing a serial killer. Sudalai might be the embodiment of all evil, but if we boil it down , he is just a local serial killer who operates all onto himself. After making villains out international terrorists with sleeper cells in Thuppakki and Evil MNC’s in Kaththi,this was a major step down. Telugu megastars do not chase down serial killers. that’s the work of malayalam superstars or – in the case of tamil\telugu – its done by up and coming actors or stars past their prime – like Arjun in recent Nibunan.
secondly they should have refrained from releasing this film in a crowded festival season when mass masala variety movies were more welcome.No wonder Jai lava kusa is having a field day at the BO inspite of it being a horrible film. this is something i dont understand at all, Mahesh is having a release after one and half years or so and they put so much money and time on making it, they cant even lock a reasonable date for the film so that it could have a solo release, especially when they know they have a different kind of film. Bahubali has already proven the falalcy of locking festival dates and if your film is good , it will work and this is a kind of film that needs the time for audience to warm up to it. it cannot do that when it is fast losing theaters to competing releases.
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Pavan
October 1, 2017
MANK: Bahubali has already proven the falalcy of locking festival dates and if your film is good , it will work and this is a kind of film that needs the time for audience to warm up to it.
If one calls Baahubali a rare film which needs such huge scale and release opportunities (and hence had a justified non-festival solo release), I have an answer: Kabali. Improper marketing was its bane too. That Nambiar dialogue, Neruppu Da and the stills… I still believe that had it been a story of an ageing don dealing with his mental health and personal loss. A drama to be honest. But, after time travelling really well beyond Rajini’s beginnings, Ranjith brought a MGR-clone protagonist. Sadly, he failed to bring that of Nambiar’s.
Ravi K: This song was used for the ‘women on mission’ scene:
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MANK
October 1, 2017
True about Kabali , that was promoted as a Baasha kind of movie.similar case with SRK starrer Raees earlier this year. It trailers gave the impression of a larger than life masala film with punch dialogues and action, but it was anything that
Its more to do with Producers and distributors greed, they are designing the trailers just to bring in the initial numbers without thinking about the long term success of the film
Mahesh is now in a very precarious position. if this one turns out to be a loss,then his 4 out of last 5 films have been disasters, if you are called a superstar and NO.1 star etc, this is not the result people expect from you.As somebody here said, he is the only big star in telugu who is trying to do something different with each film, but he is repeatedly being let down by his directors.As he himself said about his last film Brahmotsavam, what the director narrated to him and what ended up on screen was almost the opposite.
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Dheeraj
October 2, 2017
MANK: I don’t think Mahesh is in a precarious position in spite of his 4/5 fail record. He’s on a roll; he’s got 3 films signed up, one of them with Rajamouli and that might just give him the blockbuster he’s been waiting for. He’s gained respect for doing 1-Nenokkadine, even if it failed and everyone knows that Brahmotsavam was a good script on paper and the failed execution is entirely on the director. Agadu probably happened because of his frustration about 1 not having done well.
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Apu
October 2, 2017
BR: “I don’t know if that can be pulled off today, what with the requirement that everyone look good.”
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kaizokukeshav
October 3, 2017
There is a subtle difference in both the psycho killers. VV villians are rapists and targets women, so it’s natural to root for the hero. SJ Suryah made sure his career won’t be hit because of a rapist character. Safe game there
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Balu
October 3, 2017
@MANK: This a pet peeve of mine. Producers/Distributors have outsmarted the public completely by having extremely wide releases that requires movies to be run for a short period to be successful. When movies had to run 100s of days to be profitable, word of mouth really mattered. So, it was necessary for movie to be clearly liked by public. But if a movie needs to run only 2 weeks to break even and 3 weeks to be a super-hit, word of mouth is less relevant. So, positioning a movie in a manner that brings in the max audience initially is probably the right economic decision. I don’t really see how Kabali would have been a bigger hit if it was positioned as old man’s search for his wife.
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viswanadh
October 3, 2017
Not sure why there are negatives from fellow telugus. I felt the movie was good. The cringe inducing hero glorifying scenes are absent and that’s a relief. I somehow felt the villain character (adult) should’ve been done by someone else. Although Suryah acted very well, I think someone else would’ve done better justice to the backstory. The child actor aced every scene he was in. The BGM is top class for the scenes involving the villain. Action scenes are pretty well thought out and different (in a nice way) from regular stuff (e.g. the women rescuing the hostages). Biggest negatives for me are the songs and MB’s dance. It’s a torture to sit through these songs. Lyrics are pretty bad and because there are subtitles, I felt the cringe even more, as I hadn’t been able to get my eyes away from the subtitles. Except BGM and a couple of songs (Achcham Telugandham and ciciliya), Harris Jayaraj didn’t do justice to the film. He re-used his randaka tune in Haali Haali song.. Telugu cinema must get rid of songs in movies, especially in thriller movies such as this.
I’ve read from the comments that there is tamil nativity in this film and it’s offputting Telugu viewers, I can’t agree with that. Yes, there are some scenes in the villain’s backstory that appeared very Tamil (not sure of the word to use), but that only added positively to the movie. This movie is a good mix of Telugu and Tamil sensitivities. AR Murugadoss did the best he could do. I think the main reasons for the negative reviews from Telugu audience are lack of hero elevating scenes (there are many, but not the in your face punch dialogue scenes like in JLK) and competition with JLK (All kamma batch has joined Jr.NTR’s bandwagon now as Balayya became unpopular these days, for obvious and not so obvious reasons such as absuing his fans, and they are weighing their opinion against this movie). There are minor reasons from MB fans as well – that MB hasn’t really focused on promoting Telugu version and he reportedly said his fans will anyway watch the film without marketing and the lyrics of the songs are like dubbed from Tamil.
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hikicha
October 3, 2017
“Like a marvellous masala moment where a pretend gun is countered with a real one.” – which one do you refer ? I couldnt remember.
-MR
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Kay
October 3, 2017
hikicha: It’s the scene in which SJS pretends to shoot MB and then MB takes the revolver from the police nearby and shoots SJS for real.
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Uncouth Village Youth
October 3, 2017
ARM should have gone all in with either Tamil or Telugu audience. This balancing act is always very hard to achieve. He could have made this an out and out Telugu blockbuster, and released a dubbed version in Tamil – it would have still done well in both markets. The film didn’t have the X factor of Kathi/Thuppakki – coupled with the language connect problem, I expect it to be an average grosser at best.
I felt that Mahesh has really slowed down a step or two in the dance sequences. Is this the same guy who danced/floated effortlessly in Pokkiri, that had the better half viewing the songs on loop 😛
@MANK: We need to have more of these box office clashes regularly. The solo big releases are depriving the audience of choice and the feedback that a big budget washout provides the film industry, for course correction, is cut off. The directors and actors are getting away with mediocre movies, by out muscling smaller films on big weekends. Since the movies break even without much effort, we keep getting more of the same week after week..
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MANK
October 3, 2017
all kamma batch has joined Jr.NTR’s bandwagon
Isn’t Mahesh Babu a Kamma ?. does the fact that he has no political ambitions affecting his stardom then, with fans choosing to go with Jr.
Is this the same guy who danced/floated effortlessly in Pokkiri, that had the better half viewing the songs on loop
yeah, i wonder about that too. its still a pleasure seeing him dance in deva deva devuda number from pokiri . watching him here in ceciliya ceciliya was such a pain. the last dance sequence that he pulled off well was the sayonara number in 1 nennokadine
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MANK
October 3, 2017
We need to have more of these box office clashes regularly. The solo big releases are depriving the audience of choice
oh i agree completely in the case of regular masala fare. it always make my blood boil when Salman or thala has a whole festival week all for themselves and fans and the press bragging about record first days second day collections and so on.i was talking about non regular fare like this film, this is quite a different film. this cannot be released in a crowded market place, it not only does injustice to the said film , but also the to the whole film industry, because once it fails, nobody else will try out something different at least for a while.
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brangan
October 3, 2017
The other thing that’s frustrating about the reception to this film is how everyone’s saying the hero character is weak. Had Murugadoss made this a regular masala hero, they would have said “It’s the usual.” But this too is being criticised.
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Ravi K
October 3, 2017
Uncouth Village Youth wrote: “ARM should have gone all in with either Tamil or Telugu audience. This balancing act is always very hard to achieve. He could have made this an out and out Telugu blockbuster, and released a dubbed version in Tamil – it would have still done well in both markets. The film didn’t have the X factor of Kathi/Thuppakki – coupled with the language connect problem, I expect it to be an average grosser at best.”
The Tamil audience doesn’t have any baggage of expectations with Mahesh Babu, which might have given Murugadoss more flexibility in than if the film starred, say, Vijay. Plus the film suited MB anyways. The character is in his wheelhouse, though the film itself is not one that would normally be made in Telugu.
Are big song numbers still necessary for films like this for marketing and to attract audiences? “Spyder” would have been greatly improved by cutting all the songs. With some masala films they work, but “Spyder” was a hard-boiled thriller, so I felt like the songs were at best expensively produced bathroom breaks, and at worst a huge waste of time (both for the audience and for the production crew). I wonder if the average filmgoer feels the same way.
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viswanadh
October 3, 2017
“Isn’t Mahesh Babu a Kamma ?. does the fact that he has no political ambitions affecting his stardom then, with fans choosing to go with Jr.”
He is. But his father was a congress MP. It’s obvious that Kammas support the their own party (TDP). They ignored Jr.NTR earlier, because Jr.NTR was considered an outcast by the Nandamuri family. After Jr.NTR became successful, they couldn’t ignore him. After he campaigned for TDP in recent elections, they considered him as their own. Now that Balayya is no longer a crowd puller, they are joining the Jr.NTR bandwagon.
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viswanadh
October 3, 2017
“I felt that Mahesh has really slowed down a step or two in the dance sequences. Is this the same guy who danced/floated effortlessly in Pokkiri, that had the better half viewing the songs on loop 😛”
IMHO, He was never very good or flexible, just like his dad. His best effort from recent ones has to be from ‘You’re my love’ song in Nenokkadine
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Thupparivaalan
October 3, 2017
Waiting for Mahesh/SSR flick. It has been teased for a very long time. Wonder what kind of story it would be, a thriller or old fashioned masala.
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Pavan
October 4, 2017
brangan: This article by Hemanth (he interviewed Jr NTR for Film companion recently) might interest you and also might answer you about the reception that frustrated you. Do read it:
http://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/mahesh-babus-evolution-as-the-quintessential-action-hero-from-okkadu-to-spyder-4103773.html
PS: Can we expect another Southern Lights article soon?
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MANK
October 4, 2017
Are big song numbers still necessary for films like this for marketing and to attract audiences?
May be less so in other languages, but in telugu it seems a must, there is a significant audience who come to watch only the song and dance sequences. Chiranjeevi became a megastar primarily on account of that, so is the reason for the stardom of the likes of NTR Jr and Allu Arjun. for heroes who have a strong mass base , big song & dance numbers are necessary
MB’s stardom is rather unique one. you either have stars who have a strong mass appeal or you have star like Aamir or Kamal Haasan who have a strong base among the class audience. MB’s fan base is split right down the middle between class and mass, so if his films are to work big time , they have to appeal to both the sections of the audience, considering the cost at which his films are made. He doesn’t have a deep enough mass fan base like a Pawan Kalyan or an NTR jr whose films are going to succeed or at least break even if the film pleases the mass audience, he doesn’t have a class audience base like Aamir Khan whose films can become blockbusters catering to only that section. maintaining this balance is a very difficult one.Even if he makes a full on mass masala film like Aagadu, it still fails. His last blockbuster Srimanthudu managed this balance perfectly, but the problem with Spyder – as with his earlier film like One – is that it has been dubbed a class film, so the mass audience have pretty much abandoned it, that’s why the collections have gone down drastically
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MANK
October 4, 2017
I dont think the Mahesh/SSR flick is confirmed, Mahesh said in a recent interview that they are considering working together and it might happen soon enough.So i dont think the project is in a concrete form. I think SSR had announced a film called Samraat with MB some 5 or 6 years ago which looked like a typical masala film like chatrapathi
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harish ram
October 4, 2017
Watched the Telugu version and have to say hate the movie from scene 1. Only during the flashback and interval block, I was mildly interested in the film. Every scene seems to be calculative and it falls through as plain manipulative. As I see each scene unravel on the screen, my mind was doing a running commentary, ‘oh this is kept to please them’, ‘this is for that lot’, ‘this is because ARM has inertia’ and on and on. I recollect watching some interview of ARM recently where he says he didn’t do the Telugu remake of Ramana because of the compromises he had to make to his script. This film is exactly that. Compared to his previous films, this had a far better potential to be a great film. Is it fear of pleasing all types of audiences in two states, working after the biggest flop of his career (Akira), getting bored of doing formulaic masala films (something that Spielberg is facing too for some time), doing a character study film for the first time and hence bitting more than he could chew? I don’t know what is the issue.
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MANK
October 4, 2017
Pavan, loved that bit about MB’s running. his running is the most stylish not only in telugu cinema , but perhaps in world cinema . i would watch a film, if he was only running through the entire film 🙂
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sanjana
October 4, 2017
He should participate in marathons.
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raghavan0418
October 9, 2017
I saw it in Telugu and Tamil. There are weaknesses, but the acting is the mark of truly good film making.
I liked how the hero and villain had nothing to gain or lose from their actions. It made for an extremely good morality play.
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Vivek narain
October 9, 2017
The movie reminds me of the,’Spider’ series by Grant Stockbridge. Of ‘The death and the Spider’, Richard Wentworth, Mar-Lar-Delan
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Bee
October 9, 2017
Mank: Yeah. It isn’t confirmed. But, I think it might happen after his current project. SSR said somewhere he wanted to make a light comedy or something after bahubali. Maybe after that.
Mank and Pavan: I agree that MB runs well. I loved the earlier portions of athadu mainly because of MB’s running. Until the film goes really OTT on us making him jump from the top of the building to the train. Aside, MB’s dancing has always been hit and miss.
Most of his steps in this song is comedy gold.
Another actor who never ceases to amuse me while running is vijay.
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Kay
October 9, 2017
Bee: You mean Vijay, the sprinter, from Azhagiya Tamizh Magan? 😜
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Kay
October 9, 2017
Speaking of running, I loved Atharva’s running in Eeti. He looked very professional and I looked forward to the hurdles scenes.
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Aadhy
October 9, 2017
Mahesh babu might have aerodynamically optimized nose & limbs to enhance his running, but nothing can beat mah man Arjun’s run to meet his bae at the concert.
P.S. : Haters gonna say that the video is straight out of Bon Jovi’s hit, It’s my life , but that can’t even come close to the life-threatening situations our action king encounters in this video.
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Bee
October 9, 2017
Kay: Yeah, the same sprinter vijay ‘anna’. Compare the clips of vijay and MB running to meet their deceased fathers in pokkiri and you’ll get what I mean.
Aadhy: Believe me, I’m a fan of that clip. In spite of having watched it many times, it never fails to crack me up. Arjun’s running is only rivaled by his ability to give out golden expressions when he’s dancing.
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Kay
October 9, 2017
Aadhy: ROTFL! Did Arjun just complete a double marathon in 5 minutes?
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Aadhy
October 10, 2017
Bee : I believe you, there couldn’t be anyone who’s not a fan of that clip. This video is so dope that it’s at the top of our playlist during our “meditative” sessions. This is despite Shankar Mahadevan doing his darnedest to sober the song up.
Kay : Yes, he did. But not before shaking hands with a random minister and landing a few punches on some random thugs. This is Arjun’s own 5-minute decathlon.
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Purple Sky
December 6, 2017
The movie has an uncanny resemblance to “Dark Knight”. Shiva operates mostly at night. SJ Suryah infact has modelled his performance on the Joker. Even the scenes are similar, where Joker/sudalai first appears to the public in a televised recording asking to handover Batman/brother, Blowing up a bridge, the joker lips in the climax… I ended up spending my time playing spot the reference than enjoy the movie. 😥
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PJ Viking
April 21, 2018
Felt like sharing this one with you, esp. those who follow Film Companion Telugu cinema interviews:
https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/the-evolution-of-mahesh-babu-heres-why-bharath-ane-nenu-isnt-just-a-blip-on-the-radar-4440341.html
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