&#8220;Mersal&#8221;&#8230; Vijay lords over a movie that’s better than “Bairavaa”, but is that&nbsp;enough?

BR, ‘giganticise’ and ‘deflavourise’? I got… nothing. 🙂

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asdfgh

Wonderful Review! Just the one I was waiting for

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KV

Saw a Vijay movie first day after a long time and it reminded me why it’s probably not a good habit to cultivate.

What irks me is that inspite of all the positives that this movie had going – Thenandal films 50th year , ARR, SJS on a roll recently and Vijay (who as BR said) seems to be getting younger as the years go by – they came up with this unashamed pathetic “remake” of Aboorva Sagotharagal ?

Lazy lazy attempt by Atlee and his team

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SAN

As expected a total cliche Vijay film where he acts as a saviour to the people (Every movie of his has the same template)..and about his acting, dialogue delivery and modulation, It is better not comment..And coming to that GST Bashing.. He should have added another point saying “Crap films of mine (Vijay) comes under 18 or 28 % and gems like KURANGU BOMMAI,BAAHUBALI 2, VIKRAM VEDHA ALSO come under GST”

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harish ram

If there is a vote in this website for the best review of the year among the lot, my vote is for this write-up. The sheer brilliance with which the fundamentals of an Atlee showpiece is deconstructed and evaluated is benchmark worthy. I also sense the tone is more empathetic this time compared to Raja Rani and Theri. Is it because both the creator and the reviewer have come to peace that this is going to be nothing more than a smartly done PR movie?

PS: Atlee = Atleast better than the worst?

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San Kumar

Ouch! I was planning to drive 50 miles to watch this movie but I am not sure now. I might wait for the torrents!

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Pavan

Now I understand why Samantha said “Mersal is fun”. Get paid for the whole thing and work only for part of it. See Vikram, poor guy, he works hard enough to outsmart what he has actually gained. I like her. 🙂

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lalith

Long time lurker here. First time commenter. Bravo sir! Held nothing back. Most of the other reviews surfacing online are saccharine. It’s as if everyone wants to see Mersal succeed. Would have loved to know what you felt about Samantha, Vadivelu, Yogi Babu, Rajendran, Kaali Venkat and the plethora of talent used (wasted)?

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Bharath Vijayakumar

I do not remember seeing Moondru Mugam. But this is what the synopsis in IMDB reads

A sincere police officer is killed brutally by a liquor dealer. Years later, his twin son’s sets out to avenge their father’s death.

Was Moondru Mugan successful and when Aboorva Sagotharargal released were there talks about it being similar or inspired by Moonru Mugam?

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Vijay

Enjoyed each and every aspect of your review and I agreed on every word with you on this movie. However, what I’ve also been noticing is a bias being shown towards Ajith over Vijay in your reviews over a period of time. Is it because of the “aura” that you attribute with the former and the “fun” persona with the latter? Just curious to understand, since I’ve grown into understanding mass & masala type movies through your insight and have made peace with watching Ajith/Vijay movies.

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"Original" venkatesh

Crap…

First Mouna Raagam and now Apoorva Sahodargal… Take a well-loved, well-made, hit movie from the past. , water it down, idiotise it for the morons, cater to the lowest common denominator – success.

What a fucking shame.

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Vivek narain

If ever there was a face that launched thousand ships, it was Devanand’s and he never tried to be a political candidate. This affection with Tamil is a sign of versatility and a natural progression for BR.

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Sumesh

Oh, no Vijay isn’t playing a blind guy in the film? I thought they would run a scroll on the screen whenever blind Vijay character appears saying ” This character is blind, don’t go by the acting of the lead, he is trying as hard as he can”.

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shaviswa

I thought this movie was more along Moondru Mugam lines that Aboorva Sagodarargal.

But even in Moondru Mugam there were no loose ends like Kovai Sarala character in this film.

One question that I had – if Maaran resembles his father, how come Dr.Arjun does not notice that and instead tries to woo Maaran to his hospital?

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Honest Raj (formerly Venkatesh)

Actually, Shankar’s films are known for their “mini flashbacks”, no?

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Aman Saji Dominic

Great writing sir! In a scene sj suryah says that he has lost a honest and loyal friend and says its a great loss for him. But in the flashback when vijay points a scissors against harish perady.. he says its daniel who did it.. and daniel escapes in his car. And where is loyal friendship here!?!?!

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Gokul

“When Vijay performs some basic tricks, the reaction shots suggest things never before done in the history of magic”- This actually sums up about Atlee.

In Aboorva Sagodargal, the way in which dwarf kamal sets up each killing, the total maze set up, and it was done couple of decades ago, even when i guess people would’ve been awe struck if simple trick was shown, thats the mind of an auteur who wish to do so much, but atlee as any other normal director, sets up basic magical tricks, and the fact we have seen movies like now you see me series, makes it novice and finally the killing which is just killing with sword. And seriously? the reactions of people for those magic tricks. LOL. Actually they are not even magic tricks, they are just simple practices,

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KadaKumar

I have always wondered, why do charismatic stars like Vijay and Ajit persist with mediocre second-rate directors like Atlee or Siva?

Even if fan service mass masala is the sum of their ambitions, there are directors like Murugadoss, Shankar, KSRavikumar who have a feel for khichdis that work. Masala is a beautiful art form, and we do have innumerable delectable examples of their magic if done right- from Rajini classics to Dhool or Singam.

Atlee’s movies oscillate between tired derivative to cringe-worthy obnoxious. Unlike the person Atlee who comes across as uniformly obnoxious in his interviews. I still can’t get over that supposedly cute but downright irritating “baby…thei baby…” bullshit. His movies are juvenile compilations of cliches and failed attempts at “punch” scenes.

Splurging 70-80 crores on such drivel is just…sad. That too when there are so many promising young directors with sparkling new ideas who don’t get a fraction of that budget for much better projects.

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karthick

Thank you sir for the only honest review of the movie. I religiously avoid vijay & ajith “mass” films. All d fake reviews & hype around this movie made me watch this one. The biggest problem with the movie is it’s purpose is neither entertainment or creating good cinema but propaganda for vijay’s future political career. So I hereby nominate Atlee as vijay’s “kolgai parappu seyalalar” (propaganda secretary) of vijay.

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srktugga

Mersal reminded me a little of Dhoom 2 in the way the twin aspect was revealed. Mersal could have been much much better had the makers included a couple of scenes detailing how the 2 sons were brought up. It was a great idea to use the Moondru Mugam/Aboorva Sagodharargal template and give it a Shankar-like treatment.

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ahpproj

Paid 18$ to watch the first show of this movie here in US. Not a bad movie per se but thoroughly underwhelming considering the hype.

Had lots of questions in my head at the end: (SPOILERS)

1) Why does Atlee have to rope in the likes of Vadivelu, Sathyaraj and Kovai Sarala and give them such under written roles? I felt bad especially for Vadivelu since the director was so confused between giving him a comic relief role or a more serious role.

2) For a movie of this scale, why does SJS’s makeup in the flashback portions looked so horrible?

3) What exactly happens to Maaran at the end of the flashback and how does Kovai Sarala chance upon him and adopt him?

4) Kajal at least had a minor part to play in the Paris portion but why was Samantha there in the movie in a more redundant role than what she had in Kaththi?

I really really wished it had been a much better film than what it is. But then what else do you expect from Atlee.

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sanjana

So that he can have 3 heroines.

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sanjay2706

The biggest magic trick would be to provide “Free” Universal Health Care without any increases in Taxation. Intellectuals and Economists should learn from Dr. Vijay on balancing the budget (On your face Marx,Keynes) Do these guys even know that there is nothing “free”, either the state pays or the individual pays.

The way I see it, this movie is an allegory to a truth. Cinema gave everything to 2 brothers who arrived at the same time (you could almost say they are twins). One is a good dancer, other is a good “walker”. Both of them perform tricks and fool/entertain the public.

Both of them are actually destroying the very thing that they gave them what they have.

Film makers are making private profit while lecturing about “free” services.

I have an idea. Let the Censor board (or any state body), after having seen a movie, decide to give an option to the film makers. Would you wish to donate 5% (or any small number) of the proceeds to the cause that you are talking about in the movie? (Like the donations that Amazon or any other company asks/forces us to do before we shop for something).

The decision made by the producers (to opt in or opt out) should be made public before the movie is screened.
Let the audience know if the film makers indeed believe in what they say.

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praneshp

@KadaKumar: If you don’t mind me asking, what did Atlee do to come across as uniformly obnoxious in his interviews? Each of his movies so far has been drivel (save for maybe the Jai-Nayanthara portion in raja-rani), but he is quite nice in interviews.

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nilfbosh

When you said how he switches from wearing the veshti to the faded jeans, you have to note how it was Vetri (the magician) romancing Kajal and not Maaran (who was wearing the veshti) 🙂

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harish ram

Saw the film last night. I Salute you BR for controlling your temper in this write-up. I couldn’t. And this is what came out of my mind.

Script from Vijay-Atlee next film:
Father Vijay is a script writer who couldn’t find success in cinema because producers are interested only in stories and not scripts. Villain Lee is a big director who chances upon an emotional script by father Vijay and promises to give him chance in his new production company. But little did he know that Lee is making the film himself with that script. The movie becomes an industry hit with offers to remake in all languages. Father Vijay is shocked. Not because Lee stole his script, that has happened to him many times. But because he took only his story and got success with a shitty script. He is not able to digest that when Lee gave primary importance to random songs, boring fights, clichéd political speeches, and pickle heroines, people lapped up the product. The poor writer’s confidence on the art of cinema is shattered and goes to meet Lee. He gives him a tip that make a political film that gives a stamp of approval to all tea shop rumors. He asked him to feed on the audience’s confirmation bias. Appalled by this, father Vijay commits suicide. In his suicide letter to Lee he says one day my twin sons will show you how the evil addiction you are sowing in people’s mind will kill you.
25 years later, one son is Internet piracy guy and another is online legal platform guy who gives free unlimited movies for a year at a fee of just 2 movie tickets. Once piracy son kill Lee, online legal platform son attracts script writers and real directors to make movies for the joy of making it. A cinematic world which treats project managers as directors comes to an end.

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JalabulaJugs

Plotline: aboorva sagodharargal+any other double-action revenge movies of yore

Kali Venkat Hospital scenes – Ramana

SJ Suryah seeing Vijay’s interview on TV and getting shocked – Ramana

2nd half flashback portion – too many to list down

bottle attack on father begets bottle attack on villain – Aboorva sagodharargal

Inspite of all this we get a title card which says ‘Story – Atlee’

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Srinivas R

One of the comments refer to BR’s “bias” towards Ajith. Bias sounds too heavy a word, but I do sense a preference for Ajith’s drivel to Vijay’s in BR’s reviews. The way I read it is that Ajith has set the bar too low for himself. There is no expectation of coherence or plot or movie, all that is required is Ajith strutting about and mouthing “inspirational” lines. The trailers, the promos and the fans themselves are under no illusion about what to expect. Vijay’s films, or rather their promotions always hype it up as if it’s a brilliant masala movie and the reality turns out to be far from the expectation, so this kind of reaction is inevitable I guess. Also there is potential to make better movies with the premise he works on, somehow everything is watered down at the altar of Vijay’s political messaging.

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shaviswa

@nilfbosh But even Maaran is never again seen in a veshti. He goes all the way to Europe in a veshti. But not to a TV interview in town. That veshti aspect was such pure hypocrisy.

The screenplay had too many loose ends. characterization was lacking consistency. Maaran who till then was shown as the soft doctor, suddenly becomes a Karate fighting expert in the climax.

This movie had more potholes than Bangalore roads.

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Siva

@sanjay2706

Quote: “ Both of them are actually destroying the very thing that they gave them what they have. “

And now there’s 2 of us, brother. I believe though that this vicious circle of unfair boasting, gloating, excessive bragging and exaggerated self-praise (yes, more than one of these words are synonyms. Aren’t we dealing with redundant stuff anyway? 😀 ) does not end with just these two humble human beings, but extends to all of the REAL mass heroes since the past decade and a half. I mean the ones akin to these two in question, meaning, the ones who literally transformed (rather pronounced) themselves from being mere mortals(solid masala male leads who are in their 3rd or 4th movie) into becoming the ultimate onscreen super-humans(any and all lines they spurt out in any movie starting from their 4th or 5th movie are confined ONLY to the realm of self-praising punchy dialaaaaks) they are today. And oh yeah, you aren’t a REAL mass(acre!? 😀 ) hero unless you give yourself an equally self-praising ‘prefix’ a.k.a ‘title’ that appears onscreen along with your name in the opening titles. You just have to remember to indifferently (preferably with poker-face) explain during the movie promo tv shows, that you had absolutely no idea that this ‘title’ was going to debut in the movie opening titles, and it was ONLY your ‘rasigargall’ who forcibly gave you this name, even after you most humbly refused to be sworn in with said precious ‘prefix’.

P.S: The key to MASS success is on-screen self-praise and off-screen ‘indha poonayum paal kudikkumaa’ humbleness 😀

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Sathyanarayanan N

Watched BR’s dissection of Devar Magan in the morning and then Mersal in the night. One on how to write a screenplay and the other how not to. First there should be one line, then a irony and how the protagonist solves the irony and this should be found in most of the movies. The key is how you structure the one line with intelligent screenplay. If its a social message movie, the one line should be easy and for a star like Vijay, the mass scenes should fall in place. It’s how you keep the screenplay that will keep the audience engaged. Mersal failed miserably!!

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Reuben

Actually as soon as I saw the trailer of this movie, I was not expecting anything short of this review

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KV

And another thing that struck me about this film in light of the recent interview of BR by Behindwoods

One of the question they asked amidst all the talk of good cinema was “Have you ever been paid by a producer or a film production company to write positive reviews “

Now,not one week later, looking at their(Behindwoods) review they seem to be gushing about how good this film is. Unless they saw a different version of the film I’m not sure where they get such positive things to say about the film

Is it a case of “Do as I say ; not as I do ?”

Would like to hear your thoughts on this BR and others as well.

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Bharath Vijayakumar

Coming to the Vijay and Ajith comparsion. I personally prefer Vijay and I did not like Mersal. But that apart with Mersal it is almost completely clear on what Vijay is aspiring to be in a few years from now. So irrespective of whether you like his films or not you can atleast make some sense on why he is doing these films. But with Ajith it is quite baffling and beyond any reason that I can fathom. He has dismantled his fan clubs and time and again he seems to have reiterated that he is only an actor and is doing his job. I suppose an actor’s job is to act and a star’s job is to entertain. He has not been doing either of these consistently in the recent past!!!

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Vijay

@Srinivas R: So the “preference” has gone towards someone who struts around mouthing wisdom without a vision as compared to someone with a political vision? Gone are the Rajini vs. Kamal days when the contest was between vision for cinematic excellence vs. a political vision (which has zig-zagged quite a lot recently), but won’t you prefer a vision vs. no vision? I would also like BR to pitch in with his views on this.

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I’m very much disappointed with the lyrics. ARR has done a good job but the lyrics have ruined the songs.

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dani976

To Mr. Bharath Vijaykumar’s comment on Moondru Mugam and Aboorva Sagodhargal – AS at least had a novel idea where a dwarf used his experience in circus industry to take revenge. Every scene in AS was unique. the storyline was common, but idea/execution was different.

Atlee’s movies are “heavily” inspired (meaning, he copies a scene and just adds gloss to it. It’s not his original idea, but a copied one). There’s a difference.

To the actors who want to jump into politics:

Actors should stop using Cinema medium as their campaign platform! It’s selfish and to be honest, exploiting people’s emotions through this veil of illusion that cinema creates. Cinema is not your path to politics. Jumping into social service and building your political legacy is.

Why can’t the actor, Vijay, talk about these issues boldly as himself instead of hiding behind a character? Reason is very simple – Cinema is a one way dialogue where the actor preaches to his fans/audience. He doesn’t have to provide practical solutions and answer tough questions.

I really wish Tamil Cinema will evolve to discourage actors who use it as a platform to progress their political aspirations and instead focus on folks who want to take the industry forward. Spend the money not on the actor, but the technology and story to make it world class!

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dani976

And to Reviewers: Be bold and stop encouraging mediocre movies that has A list stars names attached to it. Give respect to the cinema that’s made and review it just for its merit! I am fed up of seeing reviews which says “Only for <plug in actor’s name> fans” and the first line says “What a charisma….”

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boredguys

And sometimes Atlee copies just for the heck of it (maybe), for example the hospital bill paying scene in Raja Rani was directly lifted from Kanda naal mudhal. In the original , the character had a genuine reason to be angry but whereas in RR the emotional arc of that scene was jarring. Atleast he could’ve changed the character’s mood.

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nilfbosh

@dani976 he does talk about these issues off screen as well. The jallikattu issue for one and the plight of the TN farmers recently.

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Vidhya M

The one scene in Power Pandi where Rajkiran thrashes on the local rowdies had more “mass” than most of these popular heroes’ force-fed punch scenes / dialogues (in recent times).

Maybe Dhanush could try his hand at directing Vijay or Ajith.

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doctorhari

As a film, I felt this was a trashy, derivative yet tolerable masala. (I think Atlee can be renamed as ‘nethu sutta idly’ from here on. 🙂 ) But where I found it very problematic was the blanket portrayal of doctors, barring the great Dr. Maran, as some kind of scheming, money-obsessed 80’s type villains. The way an orthopaedician talks with the hospital manager about milking money from a the accident victim, he telling his assistant to put a suture on the scalp to make it look like a surgery has been done etc.,…I’m not denying that such morally degraded souls don’t exist in the profession or that these things never happen. But there is something very off-putting, and also dangerous, when a mass commercial movie like this, with the sole purpose of whipping up the audience’s emotions, portrays them in a way that suggests these things are quite common place. I have come across good-natured people in this profession who have faced violence from the patient’s relatives for no mistake of their own. I feel such happenings are only going to rise thanks to such irresponsible, commercial-minded portrayals.

Moreover, the actor Vijay, after getting a paycheck in tens of crores, after making his fans pay at least 200-300 rs in B n C centers to compensate for that, advising doctors that they shud get 5 rs for consultation and do their work as service…Forget the triple act. It is this real life, hypocritical double act, and his fans too buying it, that makes us real mersal.

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Srinivas R

“the actor Vijay, after getting a paycheck in tens of crores, after making his fans pay at least 200-300 rs in B n C centers to compensate for that, advising doctors that they shud get 5 rs for consultation and do their work as service…” well said sir + the rumor doing the rounds on social media is that Vijay has actually evaded tax for last 5 years….. we as a society love hypocrites no?

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Vidya

Doctorhari I haven’t seen the movie..I don’t want to also now! An orthopaedician friend of mine who has spent a good part of his life doing 4 fellowship s abroad for very little money went to watch the movie with ten of his family members and was positively disgusted and disturbed..when people are already beating up doctors in government hospitals this kind of negativity is just the pits. Educated professional s are soft targets because they don’t have a vote bank or a voice. Don’t film makers have any moral responsibility towards the truth? Or is it just fashionable to bash doctors nowadays?

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Anantha Krishnan

can anyone help me with moondru mugham-apoorva saghotharangal connection. The basic stories are similar but isn’t apoorva sagotharangal inspired by a 1949 film of same name.That 1949 film was an adaptation of The Corsican Brothers novel.so the father murder- twin’s revenge idea came to tamil cinema due to Alexander Dumas. Kamala hassan didn’t try to hide the fact that his film was kind-of-inspired by an old film. Isn’t it unfair to say that AS is inspired/copied from moondru mugham? (as the former is a more well written entertainer than the later)

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doctorhari : ‘nethu sutta idly’ LOL. well said.

My heart bleeds for these bullshit self proclaimed messiahs of the poor who grow rich on the very people they claim to protect.

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Anantha Krishnan

can anyone help me with moondru mugham-apoorva saghotharangal connection. The basic stories are similar but isn’t apoorva sagotharangal inspired by a 1949 film of same name.That 1949 film was an adaptation of The Corsican Brothers novel. so the father murder-twin’s revenge idea came to tamil cinema due to Alexander Dumas. Kamala hassan didn’t try to hide the fact that his film was kind-of-inspired by an old film. Isn’t it unfair to say that AS is inspired/copied from moondru mugham?(as the former is a more well written entertainer than the later)
+
Your ratings are a bit confusing and sometimes ‘cruel’.This lazy derivative masala movie gets 2 stars. But a very well made movie like parava also got 2 stars. I agree(and i rarely do) with you that the conflicting narratives pulled down that film from great to good but it is just unacceptable that this lazy movie is as good(or bad) as that lovely movie made with lots of heart.

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dani1976 : I appreciate where you’re coming from but I’m not in agreement with your views

Its a given that most movies are trash – then why bother reviewing movies ?

Many times the joy experienced reading the review of a trashy movie is inversely proportional to the trashiness of the movie.

It’s a given that most hotel food is trash but then why have food blogs or restaurant reviews ?

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Sanjana : “So that he can have 3 heroines.” ROFL

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Balasubramanian Ramakrishnan

Sir, I’ve found a few comments on your twitter post which were hilarious.

Dinesh M : Wht it doesn’t say? U also hav mentioned tht he’s the director. How can this output come without him? I don’t know wht u r expecting in the movie. Just tell how a movie shd be? Always don’t be complaining.

Aditya Phoenix (xD) : I would love if Mr Baradwaj rangan directs movies. Easy to Write Reviews, More easy to Run your mouth, Tough to actually direct! #Peace https://t.co/m7DWTy0iYX

Thalapathy : Just take a message what he want to convey. #medical corruption. no need to talk about formulas . #mersal

Subrahmanyan : @Atlee_dir has proved once again that he can give a BB movie without any big intriguing story line. This is one big point to clap for!!

Slow claps!

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harish ram

@BR: there is a lot of criticism about how this film is a political propaganda in disguise and nothing else. Intuitively and also to a certain extent cinematically I agree to it because of the lack of coherence in the character sketch. Academically, why can’t these characters get the benefit-of-doubt for their inconsistencies? As an example, I could be a pant-shirt Tamil guy who for receiving a global award could want to go in veshti. When someone suggests that the harassment I face is because of my attire, I could go on a sermon. Why can’t the post-climax speech be also treated as a sermon of a person who wants to justify his wrongdoings? You may say that the director is not giving any hints for this interpretation to hold water. But the director hasn’t tried to justify most of the events in the films, from how the children grew up, how vadivelu decided to be the Krishna of this intended revenge drama, etc.

From this movie and based on my understanding on how current mass masala potboilers are being set up, the intent is to create a familiar world with enough references to news headlines and in that world, pick out the areas where the (wannabe) stars can perform their sermons that satiates today’s pop culture and make a collage. Some like Vijay could be using this template for the campaign, others might use it to make ventures less risky. Collectively, most of them are hedging on the confirmation bias the current generation has and the appetite for pop-culture. Yes, the life of these films is in single digits unlike the mass masala films of the yore whichever is standing the test of time mostly because the world building was on the screen. Yet, I am not sure whether by dismissing this template as lackadaisical, I am going to lose out on what the current generation likes.

PS: if the above understanding is correct, it only reiterates the point that no movie made today are meant for kids of an impressionable age.

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pady

I truly hope this is the last of the trash actors. Siva karthikeyan seems to be leaning to become another “mass” hero – hopefully the audience will put him in his place. I still feel this “mass” factor is created by the stars by pumping in enough money at the beginning of their careers to reap in the profits later ( like vijay ). Else having been in the industry for 20+ years, doesnt vijay know the difference between “trash” and “good” ? And how can reviewers stoop down to such a level – to praise one or two scenes of a ” mass” movie ? Just call it TRASH. Single word review. ( maybe a few words with some choice expletives added in ).

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Anu Warrier

@Balasubramaniam – That was an actual comment?! @Atlee_dir has proved once again that he can give a BB movie without any big intriguing story line. This is one big point to clap for!!

ROFL. The mind boggles. 🙂

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Amit Joki

This is what my friend had to say after he watched it:

Machan Aalaporaan tamizhan paaatula Bharathiyar kaati mass pantaanga!
GST a thaarumaara kilichitaanga (before venturing to ask me what GST means)
Modi a vechu senjaanga
Neduvaasal sceneslam kaati mass pantaanga

Sigh

Pavan: Even Samantha comes in for only for a song then huh? 😦

Fun fact: None of the promos showed Nitya Menon largely. The trailer had Vijay, the promos had Kajal and Samantha. You can guess who they’re trying to attract.

harish ram: Internet is a scary thing, you probably might register it as well 😀

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sachita

Not planning to catch this movie (usually do avoid most masala/ajith/vijay movies unless i hear really good WOM), but i am getting tired of some of these comments.

a) To people, who are commenting, “Aboorva sagothagargal was copied from moondru mugam so why are you complaining about mersal being a copy. ”

For the Nth time, the issue is never the same story, it is the execution and screen play. For example, in case of thalapathy and mahabharatham, the viewing experience was extremely different. It didnt really matter that the story arcs are something we were extremely familiar with.

The comment is especially unjustified for your review considering it clearly covers how this movie works nowhere as well as AS did.

b) about review not nobly noting ‘the noble prize worthy noble’ cause of the movie – something related doctors in this case – from organ transplant to jallikattu – you could replace one with another in a masala movie and it wouldnt matter. To talk about the cause in these movies is moot. On even the fee aspect of physicians,the comment from doctorhari above nailed it.

I really wish the movie had disappointed you more, because your sarcastic reviews of these trashy movies are really the best.

Agree with you on vijay not ageing. He is literally on some time capsule. they could do a continuity shot with him today for a scene shot 15 years ago. That said I want to say to every rabid vijay/ajith fan, I dislike them both for their movies. their fan’s online behavior only pushes the dislike further.

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sanjana

Well, boxoffice is kind to this film. Doctors asking people to boycott this movie will not work. Though people run to doctors for cures, they hate them too. Taking potshots at the so called privileged, politicians and police gets some applause from the disgruntled. The formula works.

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GODZ

@ Dr.Hari..But there is something very off-putting, and also dangerous,

Can you please tell what is dangerous and off-putting here? Vijay is just an Actor. He is just an actor. The very fact he is JUST an actor is enough to not take him seriously. If a Butcher speaks About Human rights, Although its a hypocrisy, If there is a fact in what the butcher says we should accept it. Have you ever visited a government hospital and how people are treated there by the doctors? How many Doctors are practicing just for the sake of money and how many doctors in Private hospitals are selling their souls? I am not saying good doctors don’t exist. Again its like Portrayal of policemen in movies. Good policemen do exist. But there is no denying of a fact about the commercialization of Healthcare in our country and how many of the doctors are driving it. Its a broader topic and cannot be confined in this space. Unfortunately, We cannot collect data on things like this where how doctors treat people in government hospitals. But anyone with a compassion and heart can see whats going on their.

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Deepa

If your review had come ’10 minutes’ before we booked the tickets, we could have saved the entire family from this merciless torture.

Does Mersal in any way mean ‘indigestion”?

PS: BR for each mokka movie you review, keep in mind, two more will come up for review !!!

(Only msg we could take home )

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dani

@nilfbosh Even when Vijay speaks out as himself, does he speak with the same authority as how to he does in the movie? He hides behind is “silent nature” and just says it meekly becasue he knows it’s going to affect his bottomline. The guy is just exploiting the emotional nature of his fans so he can attain his goal! What has he done to build a political resume? These things I say applies to all actors who want to become politicians. You can become one if you rise from the bottom of the ladder, not use Cinema medium to profress your agenda! You are doing disservice to the industry and the art you claim is your livelihood.

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dani976

@sravishanker1401: I am not saying you shouldn’t review trash movies.. review them for what it is… Don’t mince words for these A star movies saying “It’s only for their fans”. Call it out, say the movie is bad! The reviews of these trash movies are always like “Start A has excellent charisma and carries the movie”, which tells me 1) they use a diff standard to grade star movies 2) they really don’t want to offend the stars and call out that their acting is actually mediocre and Stale
When was the last time you had a reviewer (other than Mr. Rangan and a couple of Bollywood reviewers) say Vijay’s acting is as repetitive as it can get and he’s actually a C grade actor who has limited acting abilities

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Vivek narain

The comments are reminiscent of Bond listening in to the chatter in, Quantum of Solace, and telling Mr Greene and others to cut the crap. The movie rightly raises the mercenary attitude of doctors and the half baked dish of GST, and that’s all there is to it.

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Anantha Krishnan

@dani976 When did rangan call vijay’s acting repetitive and as his abilities as c grade? He too have not dared to. I think all critics know the limitations of stars as actors but they usually tend to praise their skills. Rangan brilliantly has mentioned the abilities of vijay(dance movements, the performance in lighter scenes) in all his reviews and has not criticised him too much. I think the ‘star carrying the movie by his charisma’ dialogues in reviews are sometimes right. I think Vijay has got presence so do ajith. They are not that good as performers but they are fine as stars. the screen presence and charisma do matter in some cases. I would be very happy if they choose scripts with care. I thoroughly enjoyed Yennai arindhaal and Thuppaki.

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praneshp

The most irritating outcomeof Jayalalitha passing away is that idiots who can’t make five watchable films in a row fancy themselves as CM now. At least Vijay is still making movies, versus acting inn serials/reality shows.

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Bala

@GODZ you ask
Have you ever visited a government hospital and how people are treated there by the doctors?

The guys name doctorhari has a doctor prefix so I presume he has atleast visited a govt hospital. What makes you assume patients are treated poorly in a govt hospital? What can be practically done with the available doctors and resources is being done. Is it the doctors fault that there are not enough beds, toilets or enough ventilators for the patients in our hospitals? Inspite is this we are known to have one of the best primary health care systems in the country. Have you seen how over worked the Nurses and junior doctors are in these govt hospitals. Do 10 to 15 years of college and 48hr shifts mean nothing to you guys. I will present to you a situation, answer it to the best of your knowledge. Tomorrow you go to a tahsildar office, a police station and a govt hospital. . Which is the place you are most likely to pay a bribe to get your work done? Society is rotten my friend, don’t expect doctors to be angels they are only humans.

After reading these comments section I am sort of comforted there are a lot of reasonable people out here who see beyond the empty slogans like “free” health care (it is already free for the needy) , 5 rupee surgeries and what not.

I would suggest that the movie makers go to their fav alternate medicine consultants for their health problems and leave us alone.

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praneshp

@Deepa: Sounds to me like your family was rushing to watch the movie anyway, given how quick BR’s review came out. It wasn’t that hard to figure out how this one was going to be….

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Siva

@doctorhari Amen!

@sachita Now you have nailed it too!

@Deepa Quote: ” Does Mersal in any way mean ‘indigestion”? ”
😀 😀 😀 😀

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Going to watch this movie today with my mum, who is a retired government doctor and my dad, who is one of those angry, Tamil-en-thaai speakers who fight on vivadha medais in TV. I hope I return in one piece.

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Pavan

Stating that Mersal shows the doctors in poor light, the doctors association in TN are sharing the film’s piracy links as a sign of protest instead of going to court or approaching police. I am not into right or wrong here, but it reminds me of the silent protest scene in Kaththi where water supply for Chennai is blocked, forcing the media to come and cover.

Amit Joki: It indeed is fun, right? See Raju Gari Gadhi 2, her previous release. Despite being an extended cameo, she had to carry the film’s weight, get it promoted as a Samantha starrer, the climax really worked because of her. Keeping ‘how the film is’ aside, if a supporting role/extended cameo is exhausting and a female lead role relegates her to very less work (and more remuneration too), it is surely fun.

Take the other actress Kajal’s case. She had four releases this year. First was Chiranjeevi’s 150th film Khaidi no 150. What she can do, considering that it was Kaththi’s remake? Next was Nene Raju Nene Mantri, her 50th film. She really had something to do, it was Rana Daggubati there and the film’s drama kickstarts with her accidental miscarriage. Next, Vivegam and Mersal. I would opt for Mersal where she is at least comfortable when compared to Vivegam where she was, uh, leave it. Her Dhool act in the climax shall explain you better.

And yes, I feel sad that Nithya Menen isn’t promoted well. Considering that she and S J Suryah had something to do along with Vijay. Vadivelu too had some, of course.

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Jeyashree

People should have enough common sense to treat a movie for what it is- a work of art..you can like it, trash it, appreciate it, be moved by it or just critique it…as for those who want to draw lessons for life out of (such) movies, I think they probably deserve it…

@bala: I echo your thoughts too…the educated, doctors here, are an easy target..but dr.hari and Bala aren’t we too busy alleviating suffering to respond to all this mudslinging….

Our people are so used to relating to the downtrodden and the vulnerable sections..they refuse to look at any sense that the privileged possess… What to do when we have subjected ourselves to decades of good Vs bad in white and black ( oh not skin tone ..if so it would be the reverse- dark good guy Vs fair bad guy) and that has always been underprivileged Vs privileged.. would reference to brangan’s rant in the vazhakku enn review….

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Jeyashree

A parallel thought…I wonder if so many people rose in disgust whenever there was a movie that showed women in bad light, which is probably every other movie….I think strangely even the common woman (not all) roots for the hero in a Tamil movie no matter what he is up to and against..

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sanjay2706

http://www.thehinducentre.com/resources/article9890075.ece

@Godz – It is good to educate audiences on issues that concern them, but it is dangerous to make generalizations and offer simplistic solutions to complex problems. This seems to be a chronic problem of Tamil Cinema. It uses it’s power (no other film industry has so much political weight) and misleads the masses.
Let’s look at the so called issue of “medical corruption” portrayed in the movie. I am not going to go into the bad film making and caricature characters for now. 🙂 Just the ideas that it spreads.

First of all, it solely blames the “Doctors” for the problem, whereas they fail to even recognize that Doctors are a mere part of the large Medical Industrial Complex which features Drug Companies, Medical Device companies, Insurance organizations, Real estate ( People who build hospitals)

Assuming that Doctors would not expect even a small profit margin and work as not for profit, the prices of drugs,devices,salaries of support staff, other overhead costs would make sure that healthcare costs increase as time goes by. That is just the reality.

Please note that in order to improve health care outcomes in terms of effectiveness and safety, more R&D needs to be done, regulation and safety precautions need to be added which in turn will drive up costs.Not to forget that better talent is required who might need better salaries ( Doesn’t this thalaivar charge exorbitant fee for his “Acting”?)

While I agree with having “Universal” health care, we simply cannot compromise quality and safety (it will affect the very “masses” that these “thalaivars” care for”

Healthcare is not just giving 2 “maathrai” and one “Oosi”. ( I think I have said this before in this blog)
What seems more ridiculous is expecting GST to immediately produce results like Universal Healthcare. Make no mistake, I am not a BJP supporter or a fan. They messed up Demonetization first, and then they did the same with GST,ineffective and incompetent execution. However the last thing we need is to have hacks who can’t act talk about these things.
There are some aspects of healthcare costs which can be controlled, but there are some which we cannot and we should not ( in order to save more lives)

Below is a draft I found on Hindu. Let people give ideas and improve things. It’s much more effective than criticizing and thumbing our noses on certain people while munching on popcorn.

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Deepa

@praneshp… Whatever i have said is from the movie , a bit tweaked to suit the situation. Do not take it literally.

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Friends Many Many Thanks for saving me Rs.200 plus GST plus 3 hours plus absence of indigestion (@Deepa ).

I got a weekend s worth of entertainment reading the comments section here.

I was about to say Jeyashree ROFL as usual but I read the others again and found it as rollickingly funny.

That Jayalalitha bit was simply out of the park.

GRAZIA MILLE !

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doctorhari

Bala, Sanjay and Jayashree: thanks for chipping in.

Godz: ‘Have I visited a govt hospital?’ More than visited. I’ve spent a good six years in a govt hospital, before I moved to private. The blanket statements you have made about govt doctors seem to belong to the Atlee-mode of thinking. If you like to have a balanced view that’s closer to truth, please enquire where the extension OP is in the nearest govt hospital and take a look at what’s going on. You’ll find a doctor seated amid a sea of patients, akin to the ticket counter in the fdfs of one of these thalaivar movies, answering at the top of his/her lungs to every question the patients ask.

Visit the nearest PHC and question the doctor there on what all constitutes her daily work. You will be surprised and saddened at the state of affairs, I assure.

What is dangerous about such portrayals? Imagine this scenario. A hard core vijay fan on whom this film has made a deep impression goes to a gynecologist tomorrow for his wife’s delivery. The gynecologist, a conscientious lady, notices in the scan that the fetus is in a faulty position and the situation really demands a Cesarean section. Imagine the guy, when the doctor suggests him that, flashing a derisive smile at her and taking the patient out of her clinic to somewhere else. And imagine the consequences the delay would have on the mother and the child. Trust me, such situations are getting more and more common in our practice.

Ultimately it’s the patients who end up as sufferers thanks to such irresponsible portrayals.

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Uma

My doctor friend who is trying to have a low paced, honest practice is being harassed by a patient with the support of Karai veshti katchikarargal and they want to be paid 5 laksh because a surgery he performed did not go well. All these stars and the public who expect doctors to do service- why don’t they do the same, work for minimum wage for a year or two in abominable working conditions, how about atleast honestly paying taxes?

I happened to watch a few lines of fully frank interview with Atlee and he mentioned something to the effect of 5000 per Kai thatna 5 kalladi vizha than Seyium… I was like how this pathetic director get to this level with barely any talent. Part of it had to do it with reviewers and over promotion by anchors like DD who stupidly praised Raja Rani.

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I loved Nithya Menen in the movie. She looks gorgeous with her curvy figure. I don’t know if it was a conscious decision to put on weight for the movie or she’s just confident enough to pull her natural self off. Wish she had had a bigger part.

The movie itself was very forgettable. I found myself browsing my phone for new comments in this thread. Some of the scenes were plain annoying, especially the hospital scenes where it was clear the director was trying to make people cry. Cheap tricks I would say and very common in Atlee movies.

Now the question is, why do we put ourselves through this self-flagellation, especially when tickets cost 200 per head?

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Adithyan

@Baradwaj rangan will you review meyaadha maan

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Please delete my previous comment, BR.

There is a dude called Paari saalan who’s an internet sensation, one of those illuminati conspiracy theorists. Watching Mersal was like watching his interviews. Random extrapolations, rank one hypocrisy, jingoisticTamil pride, ridiculously simplistic solutions-everything in place.

I wonder if Vijay found it hard to suppress his laugh when he says the dialogue “Nothing personal, just service”, while taking home a 25-crore paycheck after the shoot. It’s all fair to use a capitalist system like Tamil cine industry to drive home socialist thoughts. But to strip the debate of any nuance, offering shankar-like simplistic solutions, making this an ‘us vs them’ thing, distorting facts, manipulating the audience emotionally by creating scenes just for shock value, are all dangerous and detrimental to the pro-poor cause only. You can’t ask doctors to take 5 rupees for consultation or work for a meagre govt. salary, when they’ve spent truckloads on their education. It’s a complex ideology, social welfare schemes like healthcare and education go hand in hand, and that’s possible only through taxes. And it’s also not that easy to implement in a country like India with a population of over a billion, with diverse ethnicities that has varying stages of social development.

I pity those people who take the movie’s ‘messages’ seriously, and slow claps for those BJP dolts who are doing a better job than Mersal’s PROs at giving this movie unlimited coverage and publicity. What would have remained a crappy atlee-vijay movie is now a national eye-opener.

I also wonder if Atlee watched with a straight face when the credits rolled, with his name (only his) appearing under the ‘Story’ section. If this movie were a thesis, which I think it is because of how seriously it takes itself, the bibliography section only should be like 5 pages long. Someone asked why people think his interviews are repulsive. Just watch one of his post-release interviews where,in response to the deja vu feel he says things like there are only 7 ragams in the whole wide world of music. No wonder Rahman seemed least interested to work in this project, something that atleast explains the mediocre music.

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Aadhy: A question to you. I’m no great fan of Mersal (as you know), but what is this film doing that our politicians aren’t? All that you say… “But to strip the debate of any nuance, offering shankar-like simplistic solutions, making this an ‘us vs them’ thing, distorting facts, manipulating the audience emotionally by creating scenes just for shock value” — it’s the same in politics. For instance, who cares about building good roads when you can bash the Taj Mahal and get more air time? Isn’t this the same thing?

Again, I am not saying this is good. Just that I am wondering why people should expect anything different in a nation where being hoodwinked (and inflamed) by easy/cheap rhetoric is a given.

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praneshp : “irritating outcomeof Jayalalitha passing away” Couldnt stop laughing

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Dhanda Soru

http://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/mersal-is-many-things-but-it-isnt-a-family-entertainer-no-matter-what-the-reviews-say-4162907.html

Haven’t watched the film, but this is a hilarious takedown of the film’s “family entertainer” tag:

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“‘giganticise’ and ‘deflavourise’?” – The TL DR version of saying they just blow it up into a mega event of a film but without emotional resonance that will make you remember the film. I watched Katthi and though that was Murugadoss, those words would fit pretty well for that film also. Not that there were no emotions in Katthi, but it was so manipulative that I didn’t buy it at all. A good film presents a scene and lets the audience make of it what they will rather than telling them to laugh or cry, the way comedy sitcoms have laugh prompts.

Speaking of which, there is an incredible scene in Aboorva Sagotharargal which comes just as the circus owner is berating his daughter for marrying outside caste and also Appu for being an unwitting accomplice. When Appu’s mother unfavourably compares Appu’s physical appearance to the lover in an attempt to pacify the owner, he just turns towards her with a look of utter shock (as if she had betrayed him), jaw agape, and walks away from her, looking incredulous all the while. Seeing him alone, his fellow dwarf friends empathise and comfort him but he angrily spurns them because they remind him of why he will always be a social outcast and his own mother seemingly dubbing him second rate for something that is not his fault is the last straw (culminating in the suicide attempt). There is no dialogue in this passage though it is punctuated by music..and the wonderful acting of Kamal and the underrated supporting cast which conveys very poignant emotions without anything having to be articulated.

I am just mentioning all this because this was our cinema nearly 30 years back. You know, a big blockbuster that kids in my age group in Bombay had also seen because it was dubbed in Hindi and not an art film by any stretch of imagination. I am tired of hearing how it is impossible to make a good film living up to ‘elitist’ ‘libtard’ expectations in today’s times. Just in case, not directed at you, just a general rant.

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Purple Sky

Pls check the vidoe of Dr. Guru of Madurai Meenakshi hospital in collaboration with put chutney. I guess he was trying to respond to this movie looking at the timing of its release.

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GODZ

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/03/ai-versus-md
https://latest.13d.com/artificial-intelligence-is-on-the-precipice-of-revolutionizing-medical-diagnosis-be6427239f58

Ok. First of all, Although I am not myself a doctor, I come from a family of doctors and I have frequently visited government hospital. So i know what I am writing here. First of all @Bala. Let me ask you a question back. Given a choice to take treatment, Which one you prefer Private or government hospital? Or How many people here have taken a single treatment at a government hospital? The majority would be a No.

Doctors are no Angels. You are right. You ask any person including myself. At the time of pain and suffering, everyone sees them as God. That’s the precise reason they cannot compare themselves to actors or to anybody else. All I am saying is not that Doctors should do free service. But: Let them see others with some heart. You go to any GH and you could see atleast one instance, where they treat the patients specifically those from lower strata of society bad . IF you could not see then you lie. In all GH, would see a long queue of people who are waiting for a turn and the way some of the doctors behave is more than atrocious. You should see to believe this.

@Dr.Hari. Your imagination is too far-fetched. Even In Indian movie, we see that Kamal kills a doctor who took a bribe. That does not mean, A hard code kamal fan will indulge in a killing when he sees a doctor. I am honestly not defending this movie and I am no fan of movies like this. But You should not turn a blind eye towards some of the people in your profession, who operates under profit mode. Are you saying that all the scans, tests that are ordered in private hospitals are legitimate? Are you saying that all doctors in all GH are treating the patients with respect and concern? Are you saying that all government doctors strictly work in Government hospital and don’t have a private clinic and earn money? I agree that doctor people ratio is terribly low (0.2) in India for every 1000 people). So is that a reason to yell and abuse their patients? Especially in rural areas where the conditions are far poor, what actions are being taken to improve the quality of treatment? Are you saying that no bribe exist in GH and all the staff there are operating with 100% honesty? Also, Does all doctors happily accept and even longing for Rural postings? People who stand in Queue in a government hospital and i mean most of them see Doctors as some demigod. But the sad truth, there are Doctors who treat them as if they live at their mercy. You can say there are exceptions always. But you can always reverse damages caused in any field NOT In health care, once it’s lost, it’s LOST. And who is responsible for the Gorakhpur tragedy where we lost 60 children due to lack of oxygen(Govt admitted it). Is it just the Company who supplied oxygen and not any Doctors(Dr.Mishra and Dr.Khan are responsible based on investigation by DM). Will it bring the lives of those children? Have you ever heard incidents like this ever in any other country(with exception of African countries)? The fact is reality is more horrible than movies.

@Jeyashree..Honestly I don’t care if anyone replies me or not. But I want people who read these comments to see the other side too. And it’s because of this Elitist mentality, there is a sense of allergy and backlash against the educated all over the world and you already see those effects in electoral results. Whether you like it or not, these backlashes no matter whether justified or not, the far right forces are going to take advantage of it. I guess that too me is a real danger.

@Sanjay. Thanks for the detailed reply and As I said its a very broad topic. You post already gave a solution for this problem and that is AI. Although an AI can never replace a doctor and it always works hand in hand, It’s going to help in basic diagnosis and their by address shortage of doctors. We need diagnostic machines like this in our country. Guess what these AI doctors by working along with Real doctors will change the face of medical diagnosis for ever and Its coming fast. We need AI in our country specifically in areas where their is huge shortage of qualified people.Imagine a AI doctor does basic diagnosis and Gives it recommendation to a human doctor, then all that human doctor needs is give recommendation based on that diagnisos and its going to revolutatinize the industry . Although this may sound like a SCI-FI movie, all the current happenings are SC-FI scenarios 20 years back but now a reality.

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sanjana

Even some private doctors who take lots of money behave rudely with their patients and their relatives. Thanks to internet, many of us know about medical practices. The other staff follow the doctors in behaviour patterns.

If an aware patient asks questions, doctors are irritated.

Exceptions dont wash off the sins.

They love their white coats and the prestige attached to it than really service minded. They should develop patience especially if they are taking loads of money from their patients. I just cant imagine what happens with poor patients who are treated worse than dogs in most government hospitals. Stray dogs and rats roam free and try to attack and eat helpless patients and doctors dont care. They only start agitating when they are depicted badly in films.

Doctors and police. People try to avoid them as much as possible. It is better to go to quacks and die than face humiliations and indifference.

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@ sanjana: Suffice it to say that mostly everyone here can come up with a set of horror stories about private doctors. Fine, the system puts pressure on them to maximise revenue for hospitals through tests and surgical procedures. But somehow the same system doesn’t seem to affect the working style of good doctors. Besides, if doctors feel they are getting too much of the blame, maybe they should push back against the hospitals instead of lashing out at patients.

My father had knee replacement surgery recently and while being operated for the knees, a complication in his bladder was found so the urologist attached to the hospital was engaged to perform a cystoscopy. Post that, my father had a urinary infection which was taking time to subside so the urologist prescribed very strong medication and even said he would have to take it for the rest of his life more or less. Fortunately, one of my aunts is a pathologist and we always double check suspicious prescriptions with her. She said that medicine would screw his kidneys long term and asked him to stop it ASAP. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. I could go on mentioning such incidents, down to the nearby physiotherapist who said I have classic spondylitis (got a stiff neck from the impact of banging it against the headrest in the car when some idiot braked too late and hit us from behind). Hmm, I play tennis and wouldn’t be able to look up and raise the racquet to serve if that was the case and it’s now three years since she had come up with this diagnosis.

Bonafide mistakes can be tolerated within reason (not the ophthalmologist who botched my grandfather’s cataract procedure and damaged his cornea in the process) but there are clear cut cases of doctors running rackets with labs or hospitals to get them business and not only fleecing patients (which is bad enough) but misleading them (which is dangerous). I know of a Ramana movie like case first hand, no kidding. I have not watched Mersal and maybe the solutions presented in it are misleading too but we do have a problem of integrity when it comes to healthcare in India. And with doctors smartly inserting clauses to protect themselves while taking the patient’s consent to operate (as the ophthalmologist did), it’s caveat emptor. We the patients have to scout for a doctor who is not just capable but is at least somewhat trustworthy.

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AK

I don’t think doctorhari s comments are far fetched at all. As a society we constantly underestimate the influence of movies, movie stars and their actions on us. The other side of the coin would mean that we overestimate our ability to sift through a movie’s message and analyse its meaning. An emotional moment like that caesarian section scene a few decades ago would have definitely made hardcore vijay fans, permanently impressioned by the scene, to reject such a surgery. I say a few decades ago hoping that the public are more aware of when and why c sections are done today. Moreover the interview scene where Maaran says that medical check ups are a way for hospitals to convert normal people to patients was terribly misleading and irresponsible and dangerous. Yearly medical check ups after a certain age are very important to make early life saving diagnosis of cancer, cardiovascular and neurological diseases. I can only sincerely hope that the general public do not take such “punchlines” at face value and really curse Attlee for a callous portrayal of the medical profession.

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Vivek narain

If doctor bashing is a pertinent point, i should add some relevant facts.Doctors are the most contingent avenues for big money expense, and when the leaders were harking to go cashless, the doctors were mercilessly demanding cash even at the height of demonetisation and that too in thousands and lakhs and no politician ever dared to punish them. People with difficult diseases like, autoimmune disease or cancer or neurological disorder, are often experimented upon at the cost of patient’s money and life. It,s as well that people of india, at least north india, are stoic and accept death rather than surrender to diabolical mercenaries. But time is not far when doctors will be thrashed gaddafi style or blown away by Al Capone technique.

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Raj Balakrishnan

In India, doctors may be skilled and experienced but generally (not all of course) do not bother to explain to their patients, about their conditions and the way forward etc., or counsel them. I have been living outside India since 2003 and it is quite different here. Doctors are expected to take the patients through their diagnosis and offer options on the possible treatment. Things may have changed now, but our doctors have to work on this aspect.

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Ganesh

http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/opinion-entertainment/vijay-mersal-kamal-haasan-aboorva-sagotharargal-baahubali-thevar-magan-4899620/

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BR :

” it’s the same in politics. For instance, who cares about building good roads when you can bash the Taj Mahal and get more air time? Isn’t this the same thing?

Again, I am not saying this is good. Just that I am wondering why people should expect anything different in a nation where being hoodwinked (and inflamed) by easy/cheap rhetoric is a given.”

Of course Politicians are doing the same, to which we are strongly voicing our criticisms, as we always should. My problem is with the super self-righteous tone of the movie, as if what’s been said in the movie is totally noble, new-age and almost revolutionary, while it’s actually no different from what it’s claiming to oppose. These so-called ‘punches’ are nothing more than a collection of whatsapp forwards and SJWs’ facebook posts.

As you might have been following, the biggest talking point of the town, even before the whole BJP thing happened, was the movie’s ‘gutsy’ political dialogues. Every single person who watched the movie, even hardcore Vijay fans, uninamously agree that the movie is just the same old done-to-death story, told in a done-to-death way. The sole argument fans of Mersal seem to be making is ”but the message was good”. You might have come across these arguments from Film companion’s comment section as well.

I normally don’t care for the so-called messages in a movie, but when the whole industry, fans and even the reviewing community (excluding you) is going gaga over the “political messages”, it’s important to call out the problems inside these messages. In fact, there indeed were people pointing it out and even making memes about it. But what BJP tried to do, attempting to silence any kind of criticism on its policies, was ridiculous on a whole other level, that too taking offense at an Atlee movie. What it ended up doing was nothing but wiping off all valid criticisms on the movie, and in a way validating those “messages”. The movie is turning out to be one of the biggest blockbusters of the year, not because of good making or solid writing, but for its “bold, eye-opening, hardhitting, political messages”. Anyone who’s criticising these messages is now automatically a BJP supporter. Messages like, C-section is a medical conspiracy and medical check-ups are unnecessary, in a country that’s called the Diabetic capital of the world.

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"Original" venkatesh

Kill me Kill me now…..

This is not a movie., this is a fucking travesty of everyone’s time, money and energy.

OMFG. Saw this in a hall in London full of Sri Lankans and Tamilians , with the attendant slightly hard of hearing grandma, grandpa, crying babies, the overly madeup middle-age ladies who are there to see “Vijay thambi dancing”…

People are clapping at Vadivelu’s “comedy” ., nodding sagely when the Thalavali starts spouting nonsense about Medical malpractice. , talking about how beautiful Kajal Agarwal looks…… fucking hell.

If there is hell , it must look, smell and sound like this.

Never again.

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Arun Annamalai

Agree with the review, Vijay’s performance was excellent but Atlee failed in everything except making the frames look pretty and projection of Vijay. It is like Atlee thought about the individual getups, scenarios and then decided to form a story tying all this together rather than the other way around. If there is a mass star with pretty frames and music, we are never going to see the end of these kind of movies as they rake in the money due to folks who are easily satisfied and whose intelligence matches the intelligence of the scripts/screen play in these movies. Plain dumb and just an excuse for the fanboys to dance on seeing their idol on screen in various getups. The problem is average or below average gets rewarded due to stars which has to change. When there is no sense of anticipation as to how things are going to pan out, at the script level these issues have to be addressed or even with a dumb script at least the screenplay like in Kamal’s movie should have been novel like in how the baddies are disposed.

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Dhanda Soru

Saw the film yesterday. While I didn’t exactly hate it, I did find that there was a ton of unintentional hilarity in the film:

SPOILERS AHEAD

1.) I’m amazed as to how a film that costs some 130-odd crores can’t even afford to cast good foreign actors. That whole France episode had me smiling and shaking my head in disbelief. The film makes it seem as if every single Frenchman has an English/Australian accent, which is especially hilarious given the historical enmity between France and England. This is especially egregious given how, in a song sequence, the name of the song is painted onto the seats of an empty stadium. Pretty much tells you that Atlee’s more interested in cinematic bling than authenticity. Then again, that’s not too surprising. He is, after all, Shankar’s disciple.

2.) I know, I know. I’m not supposed to expect logic from these films. But how the hell do Vetri and Maaran evade the French authorities with such ease? And how are they not apprehended at Chennai when they land?

3.) Nithya Menen takes the cake for being the least convincing Punjabi in recent times. I just couldn’t get past her accent when she spoke Hindi. Also, why was she Punjabi to begin with? It hardly added anything to the film. On the upside, we did get a mass hero who’s half-Tamil, half-Punjabi, so yay for North-South relations(?)

4.) How does Arjun Zachariah not get a sense of deja vu when he sets eyes on Maaran for the first time? Or was the good doctor’s eyesight failing him?

5.) When I heard that doctors in TN were upset with film’s portrayal of doctors, I wondered if they were making mountains out of molehills. But I can see why they’re upset. The film makes it seem as if there’s not one honest, conscientious soul working in private hospitals. Is a little bit of nuance too much to ask for?

6.) Even by mass-movie standards, Mersal’s two heroines are saddled with roles that can only be described as thankless. Why shoehorn heroines into a script where they’re hardly needed?

7.) Can someone please start a change.org petition to ban the overuse of slo-mo in these films? They’d at least be shorter.

Despite my issues, I was riveted by the odd mass moment every now and then. Maybe it had something to do with the populist premise. Also, I found myself having developed a newfound respect for Kodi. For all its problems, it made no bones about what it was. And, as such, was much more enjoyable.

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New Tamil Fan

Hey, anybody here can tell me the old Tamil song which is played in the opening scenes of Vadivelu ? In the subtitle they mentioned movie name also, I forgotten. Random guess is it is Illayaraj’s music… Not mgr’s Vijay intro song …

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Jeyashree

Hail (almost) Democracy!

I left the movie with just one nagging question- Is that “vadi rasathi” targeted at Jo who had supposedly turned down Nithya Menen’s role? I couldn’t sleep…

Answers to all other questions were yelled, repeated, written on our faces, skyped, punched and sculpted on our silly looking faces (at the thought of having made the choice to watch this one)..

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ba;aji

I don’t think Vijay is using his movies for enhancing his political prospects. It is the exact opposite. He is just giving an impression that he might enter politics, which will keep his core fan base strong. This is exact copy of what Rajni has been doing for years. I feel Rajni doesn’t have any idea of entering politics, but he never clearly says that. He always keeps an option open. Rajni fooled his fans for decades. Now it’s vijay’s turn. The stars are not stupid, the fans are the stupid ones for believing that their star will save them in real life.

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The Vadivelu song is Putham pudhu kaalai… (Alaigal Oyvadhillai).

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sanjana

If Atlee or Vijay or the other writer Vijayendra Prasad fall ill, will they be treated by allopathic doctors without a smirk and some righteous rage? Can the doctors have an option of refusing treatment to them? They can sue them for crores of rupees for damaging reputations en masse.

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sanjana

If tamilnadu doctors have some fear due to fan factor, the doctors from other states can do so because this film will be remade in telugu, Kannada, hindi.

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Pavan

sanjana: They might eventually find a doctor willing to treat when ill, and pay him/her five rupees as fees. That is what they told (read preached) as ideal. 😉

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Pavan

The ferocity with which Vijay delivers speeches on screen, especially in this film and the real-life meek talk on stage… this contrast is interesting. If SRK’s Fan was made in South focusing on an actor like this, a scene on how the star prepares himself before addressing the unassuming audience on and off screen would be a great one, on paper at least.

With everybody having frustrating things to say, I tried my luck at Prasads IMAX, Hyderabad. Subtitles helped me, as I didn’t knew the language. After the show, I started wondering about three particular aspects.

Mersal had one of Kamal’s masala films Apoorva Sagodharargal as base. Do you think Vijay would do a film if it resembled a Mahanadhi?

Why was Nithya cast as a Punjabi? This is ironic because an actress of Punjabi ethnicity is made to play a Tamilian.

Heard Vijay’s next is with ARM. Another sermon session on cards?

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Uncouth Village Youth

Saw the movie over the weekend – the same Vijay fare which we have been seeing since forever, except for a small Sura phase. But boy oh boy, what should have been a above average movie, has been turned into a blockbuster by some imbecilic utterances. Whats more, thanks to the all out attack,some of my relatives who havent seen a movie in decades, for religious reason, have watched the relevant clips on their mobiles

Why are the doctors so thin skinned ? They bring out the big guns( IMA,Doctors association) for the really serious issues – defending doctors portrayal in movies. The last time I heard from them before Mersal, was in a Lizol ad or something. The same dudes who bristle at the simplest,most innocuous questions are now explaining why C-Section is required in lengthy Whatsapp forwards and FB posts – had you done this when ur patients asked a couple of questions, your patients would have jumped to your defense by now. There is no need for giving text book gyaan, but polite,simple answers will get the job done.Imagine all professions start protesting their portrayal in movies. Movies are generally a reliable barometer of public perception and mood. So instead of taking this as an opportunity for introspection, they have proved that as with politicians absolute power absolutely corrupts.

Suddenly, folks who accepted every utterance of their leaders(both left & right) as the gospel are asking for nuance and insights from a two hour pot boiler. Whenever I overload the RFP that I prepare with in-depth technical stuff, I will always be asked to dumb it down to the ‘thought leadership’ level. Similarly, it is not the duty of the movie to clarify the whys,hows and whats of GST. This is exactly why we have a elected government with its own PR machinery. But how dare we expect these guys who release a commercial in pure Hindi explaining GST, in inner TN FM channels, to do a better job ?

Did we really ask our leaders to explain how the Indian republic will be, during our independence struggle? Independence was a larger abstraction that hid the complexities of democracy and self rule. Leaders(and common people) with conflicting view points, were willing to overlook the nuances and converged on the idea of independence-had we waited for every finer detail to be explained & discussed, we would not have gone live even on Aug,2050. The movie provided a starting point for a conversation- thats the power of mass media. Anecdotally, a few of my friends googled communism only after that clumsy Kathi scene and we had some vibrant lunch hour discussions on various economic & political systems.A lot of educated elites, including me think that common people cannot comprehend complex topics – trust me people ain’t that stupid.

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sanjay2706

Regardless of what we believe in, single payer system vs regulated health care,Free market vs state control, can we all just agree to the fact that this movie is garbage. 😛

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Original Venkatesh : “Kill me Kill me now”

Oh Please Please Dont do it ! Its the darkest hour before dawn….and there are more Vijay-Attlee movies to be seen….

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On a lighter note, UVY, are we now calling ourselves the educated elite? 😜

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bart

With so many atrocities in the name of “magic”, we can as well wrap-up the logic loopholes with the same wrapper.
As some wise one said, “arisi maavum, ulundhu maavum araichu sutta idli; irukkara ella maavaiyum araichu sutta adhu Atlee” (Aboorva Sa.., Ramana, Moondru Mugam, Kabali (bottle scene),
Though the GST dialogues were the talk of the town, demonetization (Yogi Babu), Digital India (Vadivelu) also were touched upon making it’s target clear.

All said and done, the movie seems to be having a positive response in general. Wrong audience in this group 🙂

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“Nithya Menen takes the cake for being the least convincing Punjabi in recent times. I just couldn’t get past her accent when she spoke Hindi. Also, why was she Punjabi to begin with? It hardly added anything to the film. On the upside, we did get a mass hero who’s half-Tamil, half-Punjabi, so yay for North-South relations(?)”

About her accent, probably someone dubbed for her, so their accent is bad? Assuming she is a proper Punjabi, she’s the most south Indianised Punjabi I have come across. The lack of explanation of how Kovai Sarala comes across Maaran leaves a huge gap in the story. She even swears that he is her son when asked. Doesn’t she owe an explanation when she’s proved wrong?

Also, dad Vijay is Vetrimaaran or Thalapathy? Come to a conclusion guys. And Vijay no. 1 is Chinna Thalapathy, so what is Vijay no. 2?

Thanks to the unnecessary hue and cry raised by BJP, many celebrities have thrown their weight behind the movie and Atlee sir is well on his way to becoming a superstar director.

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Uncouth Village Youth

@Kay : I might be uncouth, but that doesn’t take away my education. So when it comes to education, I’m an elite – its a complex Venn diagram, let me tell ya :D.

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AK

The question of how Kovai Sarala came across Maran has really troubled me. Also the C section scene and the Thalapathy and SJ Suryah fight was heavily edited (here in Singapore) and there was a loss in continuity. What I understood was that the baby was discarded thereafter and must have been picked up by Kovai Sarala. The fact that the character does not respond to such life shaking revelations is bewildering! An entire emotional arc for Maaran is thus lightly discarded and could have added some value to the movie. But I guess asking for these nuanced portrayals of characters is seemingly too much, especially in such a movie where the lyric writing is so lazy that an entire song consists of repetitions of yathe and yaale.

Also I wondered whether the inclusion of a Punjabi character is in someway influenced by Kamal Hassan’s penchant for characters from other states in an effort to be pan Indian- such as in Anbe Sivam or Thevar Magan (I just watched BR’s video essay on Thevar Magan, such a delight). Don’t think its working though, this was highly inorganic to the plot and added nothing of value at all.

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Kay : “Atlee SIR” LOL

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Pavan Shetty

http://fullpicture.in/interview-detail/110/the-critic%E2%80%99s-world.html

Thanks Baradwaj Rangan for letting me know The Vadivelu song is Putham pudhu kaalai… (Alaigal Oyvadhillai), only thing i can now think of when i hear Mersal! Atlee at-least reminded me of this gem.

Your interview with FullyFilmy and Behindwoods are diwali cracker for your fans! Right now i can think of only your reviews for which i can pay GST without second thought!!

You are inspirational for lot lot lot of peoples around the world. You are god’s own gift, spreading like virus!!

Like following there are tons of peoples here in Karnataka also who follows you like their religion.

http://fullpicture.in/interview-detail/111/the-film-critic%E2%80%99s-.html

Thanks for exist and mesmerising us every week irrespective of films on board!!!

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Dhanda Soru

@Kay:

“About her accent, probably someone dubbed for her, so their accent is bad? Assuming she is a proper Punjabi, she’s the most south Indianised Punjabi I have come across.”

Perhaps. Even so, would it have killed Atlee to try and justify that accent? Maybe she grew up in the South. And as a result, she’s got an accent. When Velraj cast Amy Jackson in Thanga Magan, he had the good sense to make her an Anglo-Indian. Atlee doesn’t even try.

“The lack of explanation of how Kovai Sarala comes across Maaran leaves a huge gap in the story. She even swears that he is her son when asked. Doesn’t she owe an explanation when she’s proved wrong?”

Sir/Madam, if you’ve made it that far into the film, and if you’re still expecting logic and coherence, the joke’s on you. I pretty much gave up on logic after the almost comical ease with which the brothers escape France.

“Also, dad Vijay is Vetrimaaran or Thalapathy?”

Dad Vijay is Vetrimaaran a.k.a Thalapathy. Not that it matters. He could’ve been named “Flashback Vijay”, and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference.

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Kay :Nitya Menen mostly dubs for herself, it’s her own voice here (also in OK Kanmani). But the accented Hindi apart, I think she’s one of those actors (Kaali Venkat, Sj Surya) who tried their best to give the movie some genuine gravitas.

Dhandasoru : I believe they made Nitya menen Punjabi purely to give Vijay some sequences to bolster the ‘Tamizhan daww” pride by flinging Punjabi wrestlers who were twice as big to the ground. I had a mega ROFL moment (among many others) when these wrestlers still try to fight Vijay even as his wife is delivering a baby at the venue. They wouldn’t even allow him to get to his wife.

“The film makes it seem as if every single Frenchman has an English/Australian accent, which is especially hilarious given the historical enmity between France and England.”

The entire sequence was ludicrous. The French security communicating to each other in English, and also how the apparently racist security officials let him operate on the choking woman, as soon as he announces that he’s a doctor. They even do a salute at the end, a mirror moment of Singam 3’s “universal cop” scene.

“But how the hell do Vetri and Maaran evade the French authorities with such ease? ”

Forget about the escape, I still can’t my head around how the magician Vijay managed to impersonate someone named David Blake by raising neither the audience’s nor the assistants’ suspicion. Was it because of his mask? It didn’t even cover half his face. Or maybe everyone except Dr. Arjun knows and recognized him because he is a popular magician himself. Then why impersonate David Blake in the first place?

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Jeyashree

“I had a mega ROFL moment (among many others) when these wrestlers still try to fight Vijay even as his wife is delivering a baby at the venue. They wouldn’t even allow him to get to his wife.”

Don’t forget the stunned look on nitya menen’s mom or that Punjabi woman next to her when menen mouths the dialogue about vaadivasal and all…thankfully si.su.chellappa is not around….what a tortuous pathway it has taken to have a malayali play a Punjabi in a Tamil movie to speak that word…a first time in the history of Tamil cinema…come on sravishanker ji we have to give it to Atlee sir..

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Jeyashree : Great ROFL insight ….as always.

The name Atlee reminds me…the guy who comes to service my kitchen chimney is called Kennedy.

I’m hoping there’ll be a Lyndon B Johnson or a Churchill lurking somewhere in the back alleys of Kodambakkam

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Dhanda Soru

@Aadhy:

“I believe they made Nitya menen Punjabi purely to give Vijay some sequences to bolster the ‘Tamizhan daww” pride by flinging Punjabi wrestlers who were twice as big to the ground.”

Maybe. But did she need to be Punjabi for that to happen? She could have been a Tamizhachi, and the two of them could have been in Punjab on some sort of business. The scene would have rung true (relatively speaking). Also, and maybe this is because I have OCD, but I just couldn’t get past how she speaks that heavily-accented Hindi to her fellow Punjabis, instead of, well, Punjabi.

“I had a mega ROFL moment (among many others) when these wrestlers still try to fight Vijay even as his wife is delivering a baby at the venue. They wouldn’t even allow him to get to his wife.”

Yeah, that bit had me rolling my eyes. But even better was the shot where they show the child for the first time. Again, I’m probably nitpicking, but I’ve never seen a cleaner baby that’s just been delivered. There’s not a smidgen of blood on that baby.

“The entire sequence was ludicrous. The French security communicating to each other in English, and also how the apparently racist security officials let him operate on the choking woman, as soon as he announces that he’s a doctor. They even do a salute at the end, a mirror moment of Singam 3’s “universal cop” scene.”

I pretty much knew what I was in for the moment they started speaking English. Also, do filmmakers not read the news? What gives them the right to point fingers at the French w.r.t racism, especially when we ourselves are amongst the most racist societies on the planet? And nowhere is this more evident than in the casting of our heroines. Even if they can’t speak Tamil to save their lives, they’ll be cast so long as they’ve got the skin tone of milk.

“Forget about the escape, I still can’t my head around how the magician Vijay managed to impersonate someone named David Blake by raising neither the audience’s nor the assistants’ suspicion. Was it because of his mask? It didn’t even cover half his face. Or maybe everyone except Dr. Arjun knows and recognized him because he is a popular magician himself. Then why impersonate David Blake in the first place?”

Lol, I didn’t even think about this. I was so baffled by how Anu falls in love with Vetri, that I was hoping for something moderately exciting to take my mind off it. In any case, the commenters here have given the plot points more thought than Atlee ever did.

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Bharath Vijayakumar

The movie is collecting big and I think it is on the way to be an Industry hit. We can go on and on about how bad it is but it has achieved what it had set out far. Discussing about its demerits is fine. But BR has given such a positive review for Meyaadha Maan and I see 8 comments there against 117 here at this moment. Most of the people here seem to have seen Mersal and also have a dislike towards Atlee based on the comments. You have contributed to the Box Office of a movie which had very little probability of impressing you in the first place and you are now trying to mock at it. All fine till now. But why not try to catch Meyaadha Maan in theatres and increase the probability of having more such films in the future.

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Vijay Nandakumar

Totally agree with BR’s review and the commentary here. This is much less a movie and more a propaganda film- a bad one even at that. My biggest gripe is this: How come a mediocre filmmaker like Atlee is hailed by all these so-called reviewers as the greatest thing next to a slice of bread. There was no shred of originality either in the story or in the scenes- some of which are blatantly lifted from recently released Hollywood movies. God save Tamil Cinema from Mediocrity.

I had to re-read BR’s review of Maanagaram, Aandavan Kattalai, D16 etc. to reassure myself about the future of our wonderful medium.

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Jeyashree

“how she speaks that heavily-accented Hindi to her fellow Punjabis, instead of, well, Punjabi.”

Retribution time I guess…they gave us alia and deepika as tamilachis, we give them nitya menen as a Punjabi kuddi…they give us rascala and ‘r’ laden accent as avar (our) English, we give them ‘hai’ (like we tug at it)…. But appreciate the efficiency …In ten minutes of mersal atlee had had the revenge for three hours of chennai express…

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Ragenikanth

you can forgive atlee for making a malayalee play a punjabi , it’s not worst than a brit playing a malayalee in his previous movie

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Dhanda Soru: Let me add some more points to the logical loopholes topic

1) How does a baby which appears to be still born and doesn’t cry within 30 seconds, which is a major thing coz it denotes that baby started breathing normally, suddenly cries after an hour or so and also grows up to be a normal avenging angel?

2) It seems like Doctor Vijay was not involved in the initial gruesome murder of doctors. It was Vetri who did it. But then how does administer the right dose of anaesthesia to one of the villains? (There is a discussion between Sathyaraj and SJS that this was done by a magician with a good knowledge of medicine)

3) In the airport scene, the lady drinks coffee, chokes and then falls down. Later Vijay makes a cut and uses a straw to draw some…. blood? Just what happened there exactly?

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Kay: “How does a baby which appears to be still born and doesn’t cry within 30 seconds”

But this is a mythical construct. It fits well with the “emotional logic” of this universe. We shouldn’t be looking at this with “logical” logic.

The problem isn’t this plot development but rather that it hasn’t been imbued with enough mythic resonance. It’s tempting to imagine what a Rajkumar Santoshi would have done with this scene!

Bharath: That’s usually my gripe. Why go to a film you know is going to disappoint you, given your response to the filmmaker’s earlier work? Why not pick another film? 😀

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Vivek narain

It is a fact that impossible things happen sometimes, mocking the smug pedants whose will is to smother all surprise. The world is not a stagnant morass of immutable laws. Being in medical profession myself and born to a doctor who served in armed forces, i should know the happenings of teleological nature.

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Vidhya

@Kay , 2) It seems like Doctor Vijay was not involved in the initial gruesome murder of doctors. It was Vetri who did it. But then how does administer the right dose of anaesthesia to one of the villains? (There is a discussion between Sathyaraj and SJS that this was done by a magician with a good knowledge of medicine)

The possible explanation is Vadivel who also assists Doctor Vijay and the younger brother

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"Original" venkatesh

@BR : @Bharat: I went to this movie in London for precisely 2 reasons :

I wanted to see a Tamil movie and none of the good ones are running here. , literally there is no other tamil movie you can watch in a theatre.

I considered it a Safari expedition , i wanted to meet the Vijay watching audience in the Wild.

I am now suitably chastened.

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BR, Bharat : For some of us not based in TN, watching smaller films like Meyadha maan during its theatrical release is impossible, as the release is limited to TN.

We have to wait till a Herotalkies or another streaming platform laps it up. By the time I watched Kurangubommai, the buzz had totally died, and I had no one to even discuss about the movie with, except a few friends of mine.

Regarding why watch any mass hero movie in theatre, speaking for myself, the number of Tamil movies I get to watch in a theatre is like 2 or 3 in a year. Having grown up in a movie-watching culture like that of TN, I really don’t want to miss out on the odd release I get here. So even if the initial promos and previous track record of the director promise what we’ll be getting, I always still hope there’ll be a few well-written, well-directed scenes that’ll give me a momentary high, or atleast will make the movie watchable. When it’s dead bottom pathetic, I really feel the need to vent it out somewhere.

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Raj Balakrishnan

I can’t believe this, 127 comments (so far) for a shitty Vijay film. I haven’t seen this nor will I ever. In fact, I never see Vijay films. Reading the posts, looks like most have hated the film. Cinema lovers should not encourage these mindless crapfests and contribute to its profits. This will encourage Vijay and Atlee to continue delivering such turds.

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Ragenikanth

it was over 175 comments for another crap vivegam few weeks back,

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CARTOON : https://thezolazone.wordpress.com/2017/10/25/cartoon-average-marks/

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That was brilliant, Zola ji. Am sharing on twitter.

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Thanks a ton BR ! Much appreciated !

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shaviswa

By the way – I saw your heading just now. If THIS movie is better than Bairavaa………..shudder

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Masala Movie Fan

This movie follows Bahubali logic, 50% Mass Action + 50% intense sentiments… This is successfull formula for masala movies in the past. Here everything synced perfectly well.

The Box office collections are proof.

The movie review intellectuals can review and discuss in forums, but they wont help in box office collections

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https://www.ndtv.com/tamil-nadu-news/mersal-cuts-gst-talk-in-telugu-version-but-release-is-delayed-1767816?pfrom=home-lateststories

October 26, 2017

Aadhy: I totally get what you say. It goes even beyond “I always still hope there’ll be a few well-written, well-directed scenes that’ll give me a momentary high” — for there’s the feeling of seeing an FDFS at Albert theatre that you crave when outside Madras. I used to watch all kinds of crap when I was in the US 🙂

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Jayaram Balasubramanian

October 27, 2017

I read this review while watching the movie in cinemas, to be exact when Vijay was busy doing the supernatural magic tricks on stage. My problem is with the director, first two movies Mani Ratnam script… and now… it’s like watching your favorite scene in Youtube followed by Recommended for you! Its surprising to see plagiarism celebrated like this, Same happened for Kathi. So called director AR Murugadoss, does it every single time… and these directors emotionally blackmail the audience showing blood splatters, physically challenged, surgery procedures… and most of all, Educated and Rich are bad! This theory has worked very well in Tamil Cinema… pity it’s still does. Being a creator of any art form, is a unique opportunity not many gets… still it is misused. As a director of the film if one cannot write one scene on their own. you are insulting the audience. Problem with Tamil cinema is we have only Heroes and not Actors, they have to find scripts like this. Though there is no script for this movie… all they had was an iPad and Youtube app with good internet connection. Filmmakers all over the world, do everything possible to ensure there is a logic for everything in their movie… right here… first thing not to look for is LOGIC! Stand by Mass movie fans! People like commercial movie but such movies only help the cast and crew, commercially! With Tamil cinema, biggest problem is good films hardly get the recognition, recognized bad films get everything.!

.JB.
Forever Mani Ratnam and Speilberg fan!

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sanjana

October 27, 2017

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chandra Prakash

October 29, 2017

Have more fun watching the clown’s dad arguing in Kelvikku Enna Badhil program,

what a shame , and the movie is supposedly super hit , the two overrated actors patronised by his fans worse than accepting the different ADMK clowns as CMs in the recent past

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KayKay

October 31, 2017

El Crapola! A star I dislike paired with a director I can’t stand. Double Pass! Not a single minute of the dreadful Raaja Raani didn’t have me thinking of the far superior Nenjathai Killathe and Mouna Raagam. And now a movie that’s not gonna stop you thinking of one of the most righteously entertaining Kamal Masala movie of all time? Triple Pass!

And BTW, there’s a tiny prick in my heart when people lump Moondru Mugam together with Apoorva Sahotarargal in a conversation. Apart from the similarity of 2 HUGE stars essaying triple roles of father and twin boys……

AS is a well crafted, superbly written, smartly paced commercial entertainer with an effortless Kamal performance, Gauthami at her sexiest (the “Vaazhavaikkum Kathalukku Jai” scene had me wishing I could pop my cherry on a bale of hay atop a moving lorry) and a rocking Raaja score.

MM is generic B-Grade Rajini fare you could shelve alongside his other “muscular” titles like Paayum Puli, Thidikkum Karangal and Sivappu Sooriyan that’s entered pop culture SOLELY on the basis of a kick-ass 30 minute flashback that sees Rajini at his cocky, arrogant, scenery chewing best as Alpha Male Alex Pandian. It doesn’t quite make up for the fact that this movie’s first 30 minutes had a Foreign Returned Rajini who’d become a “Swamiji” and ends with Radhika locking herself in the bathroom with him in an effort to get him to ditch the saffron (which she successfully accomplishes by ditching her pants) and culminates in a song staged in some hippie commune with this sublime chorus:

“Disco Rama! Disco Krishna! Disco Deewana!”

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MANK

October 31, 2017

Pop open the champagne bottles guys and gals, Lord kaykay is back with a vengeance 😂

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October 31, 2017

KayKay: AS is a well crafted, superbly written, smartly paced commercial entertainer with an effortless Kamal performance, Gauthami at her sexiest (the “Vaazhavaikkum Kathalukku Jai” scene had me wishing I could pop my cherry on a bale of hay atop a moving lorry) and a rocking Raaja score.

I am a huge fan of your fundas as you know and remember this comes from a place of love but what the hell man!! AS is nowhere as great as you claim it to be but compared to the kind of drivel churned out in the name of masala nowadays, I get why one may be tempted to look back on it fondly. Still there is plenty to grouse about in AS.

An effortless performance from Kamal Haasan? Are you kidding me? Appu is one of the most laboured performances from an actor who specializes in laboured performances. And sure MM has it’s superfluous, bloody annoying moments but that goes double for AS. Remember that lousy track with Roobini? IMO that was some seriously shameful and manipulative filmmaking to induce pity for a dwarf. It made me flinch even as a child (Ok, I was kinda on the precocious side) and the entire sequence was highly galling. Also Sri Vidya’s hurtful comments on his lack of stature was sooo annoyingly KH at his most wannabe tearjerkerish. And Janagaraj’s hideous, bumbling cop act felt like a saw being applied assiduously to my nerves. Well Crafted and superbly written? Most certainly not!

Finally don’t even get me started on the “vazhavaikum kathalikkum” song. I find KH has done one too many songs like this where he is frighteningly, sex predatorishly creepy and I am so mortified and concerned on behalf of the hapless heroines, I wanna call the cops. Blerrghhh…

Plus it is ridiculous to compare it with MM and excoriate the latter over that hippie crap and Radhika’s conical bra. I agree with you that only the flashback is merit worthy but Rajini as the incomparable and legendary Alex Pandian is worth a gazillion viewings. That was an effortlessly brilliant performance btw. Ekambaram was far more effective as a villain than Nagesh who I felt was miscast. And no, even when Rajini is turning up the heat with Silk Smitha, I am not concerned for her safety as he is nowhere near as alarming as KH in these numbers (Even as the lusty, dirty old man/rapist in Netrikan, he kept things classy). So there!!

PS: My apologies to the hardcore KH fans whose sentiments I may have hurt.

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Anu Warrier

Anuja, really? 😦 Don’t get me wrong – Kamal may have been ‘frighteningly, sex predatorishly creepy’ in other songs in other films (haven’t watched those, so can’t comment), and the standing joke when I was a teen was you don’t get to act with Kamal without having to kiss him, but ‘Vazhavaikum kathalikkum jai? Heck, that was Gouthami having just as much fun as Kamal!

I haven’t watched MM, so no comments about that either, but I too found AS extremely well-crafted, well-written, smartly paced entertainer. And I found Kamal’s performance effortless as well.

(Thereby proving that one can never have a consensus on how good/bad a movie is, and one man’s meat being another’s poison and all that sort of stuff. 🙂 )

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“Appu is one of the most laboured performances from an actor who specializes in laboured performances” – On the contrary, I think his avenging angel turn (i.e. post suicide attempt) is one of his best performances, if not the best. That role liberated him from his usual sandpaper mumbling which I hate (sorry) and at times he was even speaking at Nagesh’s pitch (especially when confronting the villains). And he used his eyes so, so effectively in that role. There is no visible change in Apu, yet the difference is plain to see in his eyes and body language. That is very difficult to enact and in this case, the transformation was seamless. Honestly would have loved to see the tall Bombay star play this role and bet he would have struggled. Not a knock on him but I think Kamal doesn’t get his due for Apu just because the role didn’t feature in a ‘serious’/’weighty’ film but a family entertainer shot mostly in a circus.

” Also Sri Vidya’s hurtful comments on his lack of stature was sooo annoyingly KH at his most wannabe tearjerkerish. ” – But this is what happens, this is how clowns are/were treated (I mean circuses are almost dead now). That first act brings out the paradox between the clown being expected to entertain people and make them laugh whilst also facing tragedy in their own lives. Even his mother can’t help referring to his position way down in the pecking order, albeit inadvertently.

“And Janagaraj’s hideous, bumbling cop act felt like a saw being applied assiduously to my nerves. ” – Very obvious reference to Pink Panther (complete with the signature BGM track) which I loved, so I am sorry that nothing seemed to have worked for you in the film. But I don’t think it’s about being or not being a hardcore KH fan. I was not a KH fan per se when I watched the film. It just won me over.

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MANK

What i find great about the AS is that its both a great masala film and at the same time its a film that gently mocks or keep winking at the masala tropes. its an almost impossible thing to pull off. But Kamal pulls this off with style. Another film that tried to do this but failed was Tashan. there is a heightened sense of absurdism in the entire film, right from casting the comedian Nagesh as the chief villain- what a delightful performance, to the circus thuppakki that fires from both sides. Kamal builds a fully functioning masala world- the father who is killed by the villains and the sons separated at birth out to avenge the father, but right there the winking begins, its not the physically abled son who does avenging , but the physically disabled. He does it with the skills that he learned as a circus performer, the only profession that he is fit for.

I agree with Anuja on the manipulator aspect of the early part of Apu’s character, that’s up to the point when he becomes an avenging angel. All those registrar office scenes, with roopini pulling the ring out of the finger , those sad glances that Kamal gives, its really Kamal begging the audience please hug me , kiss me, love me and IR’s music in those portions doesn’t do much good too, amplifying the maudlin mushiness of the scenes.

But beyond that i stand solidly with Kaykay on AS. :). As Madan put it,After Apu takes on the avenging angel avatar, it turn in to a delightful performance. to see that twinkle in his eye every time he dispatches one of his killers is awesome. Kamal is super fun as the mechanic, one of his most loose-limbed, effortless performances.The screenplay of the film is a work of art. The film move from scene to scene with a clockwork precision.

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MANK

Regarding the sex predatorishly creepy tone in Kamal’s wooing and contrasting it with Rajni’s, Well that’s par for the course for Kamal,that’s his trademark. you could see that in most of his romantic song sequences .Hell, Thyagarajan kumararaja’s Aranyakandam is fully built on this contrast. ungalkku kamal pudikkuma rajni pudikkuma, Kamal na Kadhal mannan, the film is kind of a discourse on that.

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@ MANK Agreed, it was a brilliant subversion of masala while retaining the must haves of the genre. But that is where I feel the heartbeat track is necessary even if manipulative. Maybe there is a meta convo there between Kamal and his audience. But be that as it may, it helps prepare the ground for the revenge track which we know is coming down the line right from the moment inspector sethupathi is brutally murdered. Apu doesn’t just magically come to know and abandon his jolly if penniless circus life to avenge the death of his father whom he never met. No, society pushes him to despair and extreme self loathing for something which is not his fault at all so when the look in his eye transforms to a frighteningly steely one, we know it’s coming from a place of mad fury. In that sense, there is very little pandering by masala film standards. The back story may be quintessential Tamil commercial cinema but it’s required in this case to make us believe that this dwarf can get the better of his physically stringer opponents. The full social or should I say human nature implications of being a dwarf are well explored in the film without pointing a finger at the audience to deliver a sermon Shankar style.

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Uncouth Village Youth

Nostalgia plays a huge role in elevating normal masala fare to classic status. Would love to know the views of people, who were in their 40s/50s , when AS was released. My dad and his friends referred to these movies(not AS per se,I dont remember),which I used to lap up, as visiladichan kunjugal movies. AS too had cringe worthy,unwatchable portions, which have been highlighted in the comments above.IMHO, AS is not the classic it is being projected as,to put down Mersal. This is not me defending Mersal – which is certainly not a great movie by any measure.

Have we started judging, even movie performances as creepy? Wow.

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Sorry, heartbreak not heartbeat. Correcting auto correct is a task in itself.

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Anuja : My sentiments exactly !

But I enjoyed the film 🙂 Just as I enjoyed reading your counter view.

I agree that KH was “sex predatorishly creepy” (nice term) but just in case I didnt think so one of my close friend’ younger brother executed a step from the song to ensure that I remember he was sex predatorishly creepy.

Wonder how they go about doing this during choreography sessions….hmmm

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Agree with MANK on the creepy KH performance. It’s his style. Another song is the one with silk in Moondram Pirai and another one with Ambika. So I didn’t find anything different in AS performance either. I really didn’t mind the emotional manipulation too. It all worked well with storyline. Kamal’s Appu seemed like a labourer performance because the character is meant to be one. Someone who really struggles with who he is and how people perceive him.

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MANK

Madan, yeah agree. it was something along those meta lines. but it did not come across as smoothly as the rest of the subversive elements.I cant imagine what Shankar would do with this. oh wait he already did, with ‘I’, that was again a kind of a bad copy or inspired remake of AS

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I wrote some kind of anniversary piece for a Kamal web site (allthingskamal?) focusing on AS. On the Appu character. Will try and dig it out.

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Honest Raj (formerly Venkatesh)

I’ve never liked MM, and my hate for Shankar-Ganesh started with the film (thanks to “Disco Rama! Disco Krishna! Disco Deewana!”). Looking at the song now, seems it was probably meant to be Tamil cinema’s answer to “Dum Maro Dum”?

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Anu Warrior: Thereby proving that one can never have a consensus on how good/bad a movie is, and one man’s meat being another’s poison and all that sort of stuff. 🙂 )

Word.

The thing is despite my scathing comments, many parts of AS worked for me too. In total agreement with Madan and MANK that once the avenging angel took over from loser in love things really looked up. And the scene where Appu tries to hang himself with the clown mask on gave me the chills . Then there was a well executed murder scene where he laughs with childish glee as his victim is in his death throes. And the flashback was edgy and bloody brilliant. It’s a masterclass and Shankar and his ilk could learn a thing or two from KH. The climax also really worked for me, especially Sri Vidya’s tacit approval of her son’s savage vengeance.

Hence as far as I am concerned, the parts of AS that worked really worked and the parts that didn’t really didn’t. Ditto for MM which has some epic masala moments and epic fails. Which is why I got on KayKay’s case (a tad over enthusiastically) for glorifying one and pissing on the other.

As for KH’s creepiness, signature style or no to this day, it freaks me out. Kay mentioned the number with Ambika and I am still traumatized by the blatantly exploitative choreography. And I am one of those ppl who isn’t exactly puritanical and has always supported people’s right to watch porn. But KH’s onscreen lovemaking makes me wanna gouge my eyeballs out (one man’s meat is another man’s poison etc.) So peace out folks!

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Venky

https://web.archive.org/web/20091204020038/http://www.allthingskamal.info/blog/2009/11/30/kamal-haasan-a-life-on-screen/

@BR: I dug it out for you. The server is down. Could only find a copy in the Wayback machine. I remembered this post because it was one of my favourite pieces of yours. Ah those days! Your writing was far more unfettered, if you know what I mean 🙂

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Venky: Thanks so much. I really have the best, kindest readers 🙂

Fetteredly yours.

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https://silverscreen.in/tamil/features/interviews/singeetam-srinivasa-rao-interview-golden-rule-cinema-no-golden-rule/

@ Venky: Thanks a lot for ferreting out this great write up. It’s also a sort of validation of my argument here that the melodrama aspect of the first half is necessary for the dwarf’s transformation to make sense.

Re the last para in the article, Sangeetham stated in an interview that Kamal did indeed want to blow up the dwarf cameo of Punnagai Mannan into a film. But they didn’t quite know what to do with it and it was Panju Arunachalam who suggested the double role. I also read elsewhere that Kamal wanted to use more violence but Panju Arunachalam and Ilayaraja advised him against it. So if Aboorva Sagotharargal had ultra masala moments and turned out a different film than what Anuja wanted, perhaps we should blame Panju for it but it was probably also his trusty instincts for the box office that helped it succeed. What a shame it would have been if Kamal’s experiment had gone unrequited, just like the dwarf’s love affair.

Here’s the interview:

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Madan: Yes, that’s the story, parts of it possibly apocryphal – that Kamal had a revenge drama in mind alright but it was a different story and he even shot most of it. And an extremely violent movie at that. And Panju Arunachalam saw the rushes and said no way I am going to release this and Kamal ended up making AS – which I must say is a pretty solid film for a “compromise”. This song is from that “unmade” film and you’ll see there are different actors and other AS actors playing different characters. But I am told the song was included in the cassette

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And here’s where I discovered that song and we all talked about it 🙂

Between Reviews: That Touch… That Director’s Touch

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And I am seeing this video 7-8 years after first discovering it but now only noticing the lyrics! Hahaha has everything we would associate with a Kamal oeuvre in the years that would follow AS. In fact more explicitly so. No wonder Panju Arunachalam stood his ground and did not want to release anything in THAT version.

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@Rangan: Hahaha I remember this. But March 08 I was pretty much lurker, inactive in the comments space.

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Aditya: Thanks, have heard this song before, came up on some youtube search. Wonder if Anatha Aduran replaced it in the eventual film. Didn’t investigate the lyrics but had it made it to the final film, it would have been the weakest song in the soundtrack. So it’s all good either way.

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Siva

Anuja & Kay:

Quote: “On-screen exploitation”

Mr.Prabhu Deva, anyone?

I am not sure if it has just been me, but I have always found Mr.Deva guilty of ‘thoroughly’ smooching the female lead in more than a few duet/dance numbers of his. Well, even in some melodious numbers 😛

Example that comes to mind right away:
Kannukullae Unnai Vaithaen Kannama (female lead = Jaya Seal)

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Honest Raj

“Mr.Prabhu Deva, anyone?”

+1 🙂

He was a habitual offender – “Thannirai Kaadhalikkum” and “Minnal Oru Kodi” to name a few.

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KayKay

Anuja, Deja Vu! I recall having this friendly spat with someone many moons ago on exactly this topic, and it must have been you, you MM Groupie!

Ok, so AS didn’t exactly ring a whole lot of bells in your cathedral. Having said that:

“Appu is one of the most laboured performances from an actor who specializes in laboured performances”

Errr….NO! Naturally gifted actors rarely deliver “labored” performances. What they are usually guilty of, when not reigned in by a strong director, is over-emoting(a common fault of the late Nadigar Thilagam as well) . Ajith or Arjun, to name but 2 actors, have given labored performances because they come from a limited range to begin with, and when asked to stretch beyond that, the artificiality in the performance shows. Madan has elaborated quite nicely in his comments above why Apu is ANYTHING BUT a labored performance.

“And sure MM has it’s superfluous, bloody annoying moments”
Actually I don’t find MM annoying at all, just generically bland (more on this later) and undeserving to be spoken of in a conversation involving not just AS, but ANY well-made Masala movie that attempts to transcend it’s dog-eared origins into something a little smarter than its antecedents.

“but that goes double for AS”- Nope. AS does have it’s share of absurd scenes, but double that of MM? Is this comment spurred by your love of MM or hatred for AS? Methinks it’s the latter.

“Remember that lousy track with Roobini?” I’ll give you that. Seen today with my jaded and cynical eyes, this scene would come across as far more blatantly manipulative.(agree that a smart guy like Appu wouldn’t jump to such an outlandish conclusion after one request to be present at the Registrar Office)

“Also Sri Vidya’s hurtful comments on his lack of stature was sooo annoyingly KH at his most wannabe tearjerkerish”

Ah! But you see, that’s one of the things that helps elevate AS’s writing a notch above masala fare of this kind. The “generic template” approach would have been to have Appu attempt suicide as a DIRECT result of his rejection by the girl. But in the film it’s triggered by a hurtful comment he never would have expected from the ONE woman who loves him unconditionally. The ONE woman who’d never looked at him as anything but a normal man. But to hear her say at least Roobini didn’t marry a dwarf was the straw that broke the camel’s back (plus it’s a classic moment that drives home the point that parents can be real assholes at times).

“I find KH has done one too many songs like this where he is frighteningly, sex predatorishly creepy and I am so mortified and concerned on behalf of the hapless heroines, I wanna call the cops”

Oh, COME ON!!!! A Kamal doing a scene like that TODAY (he’s what 63?) would be creepy as hell, I agree. But the Kamal of AS? 35 years old, young, virile, slim and handsome as fuck? (That’s subjective I know , but I’ve always found him to be a very handsome man). What’s predatory about that? He and Gauthami were playing lovers and when you’re that into someone, you simply can’t keep your hands off them.

“Heck, that was Gouthami having just as much fun as Kamal!” Thank you , Warrior!

Truly in this case, “Raja Kayya Vecha, Athu Wrong-a Ponnathillai” 🙂

So we’re gonna rake Kamal over the coals for throwing himself into love scenes with as much energy and enthusiasm he does pretty much anything else? And he comes across as creepy contrasted against what exactly? Rajini’s more “hands-off” approach that’s just a ruse to score brownie points off the more conservative “Thaikkulam” segments in the audience (can you hear the Aunties going “oooo, look at that Rajini, see how respectful he is of the girl. Ewwww look at that Kamal, going all Doctor Octopus on the poor lassl) is at odds with that slightly hooded, leery glint he has in his eyes and a mouth that’s caught halfway between a smirk and a lascivious grin most of the time. Not to mention the misogynistic put downs he’s famous for (covered more in depth in another thread).

And coming back to your beloved MM, didn’t the Alex Pandian scene have him coming to his house, seeing his wife in a towel, getting all amorous only to be told off that “she just had a bath and is oiled up” to which he retorts “Well, that’s convenient” and proceeds to say something the censors thought was so racy they cut that bit of dialogue! Nothing wrong there, as it’s banter between a husband and wife, just like there’s nothing wrong with Kamal going all Picasso on Gauthami’s canvas. They are playing lovers after all.

That easy, laid back, well read, sophisticated lover boy charm that comes naturally to Kamal is an ill-fit on Rajini for whom brash arrogance, cocky swagger and dignified nobility is a more natural state of being. Which explains why Rajini doesn’t turn on the heat,not just with Silk but with most heroines.

Look, as other commenters have pointed out, I’m probably giving AS more credit than it deserves, seeing it through the hazy tint of nostalgia, and truth is, it’s been more than a decade since I’ve seen either MM or AS fully. I don’t hate MM, just don’t think it worthy to be discussed along with AS as Masala fare which, while not breaking any new ground, tweaked the formula sufficiently to elevate it above its contemporaries. If we’re gonna wax lyrical about MM, we might as well write encomiums about Kali, Pollathavan, Ranga, Thanga Magan, Adutha Varisu etc etc, which are all EXACTLY like MM minus the Alex Pandian portions, fan-pandering tailor-made stuff off the Rajini Assembly line (so easy to forget he wasn’t always the “Make 1 Movie in 4 years which Becomes a Pop Culture Phenomenon” Star), the cinematic equivalent of junk food, addictive as hell, but eminently forgettable afterwards.

Can’t remember a single thing about MM in terms of it’s cinematic craft (photography-forgettable, shots-generic, Shankar Ganesh’s music-abysmal) but so much of AS lingers (Father Kamal’s brutal murder,and the camera’s slow motion panning across an open field as the villains peer down at Kamal’s bloody corpse, the languid early morning routines in a slum shattered as a car crashes through a hut, the inventive revenge killings etc etc).

Cite a Dharma Dhurai, tinged with a sombre, melancholic air of fatalistic tragedy throughout or a Naan Sigappu Manithan, which channels 70’s exploitation vigilante fare like Death Wish and Exterminator for examples of some Rajini masalas which tweaked the recipe, and I’ll cede some ground.

But…Moondru Mugam???? Seriously????

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” The ONE woman who’d never looked at him as anything but a normal man. But to hear her say at least Roobini didn’t marry a dwarf was the straw that broke the camel’s back ” – Absolutely, I had mentioned this in one of the earliest posts in this thread, wondering whether Mersal would have a scene like that. Kamal has no dialogue in that passage, just a look of utter shock that the one woman he trusted most betrayed him (not the lover).

“I’m probably giving AS more credit than it deserves” – Perhaps you are but more likely you aren’t because it does have unusually brilliant moments where Kamal/Sangeetham went well beyond the constraints and norms of masala. In the second interlude of Unnai Ninachen, the dream sequence of Puthu Maapillaikku is reprised but with a tragic ending. That’s pretty much what the Roobini track was about. The dwarf’s happy equilibrium was disturbed by somebody whom he wrongly took to be offering him her hand and when she did not, the circus life which he so enjoyed earlier was now disgusting to him. And that is why I said the Roopini track is necessary for the revenge track to make sense, for us to buy Apu being such an effective assassin in spite of his physical limitations. So…the short point is are there really tons of Tamil films in the 80s which convey so much in just a few scenes? I would love to see them if so. I think the deeper meaning of Apu Raja is lost simply because a circus film feels outdated today while we can still relate to gangsters or terrorism or bigamy. But that can’t be held against the makers because kids did used to go to the circus at the time the film was made. Rather than using the film as a platform to espouse a social stance, Kamal/Sangeetham simply get us to relate to a very unique character.

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@Kaykay: I saw Naan Sigappu Manithan a few years back and the vigilante idea was more interesting than the execution. With the non action roles for Rajni dwindling after Puthu Kavithai, the only space in which I found him interesting was action comedy like Guru Sishyan, first half of Dharmathin Thalaivan, the comedy tracks in Velaikaaran or Pandian. Rajni films then and now were/are more about his presence than the films.

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The circus point Madan makes is interesting (though I don’t understand what is outdated about it, it still has immense rewatch value especially because it is an age old story reworked) because I think during the marketing of the film the children aspect of it was stressed quite a bit. But you peel the layers, the film is incredibly dark. And Apu, maybe due to his limitations and also his methods, becomes one of the evilest, Machiavellian characters. It’s all fun to look at the rube goldberg machine but what it accomplishes and what a tiger or a lion does that is offscreen is not something a traditional tamil or Indian masala film intended to reach a large audience, usually dishes up. The dialog ‘alatchiya paduthittiye Anbarasu” acquires layers of meaning then, as Madan/Rangan (and Zero, dagalti from way back when) have established in why Apu has to be a midget, has to suffer that humiliation from his own mother. The revenge is after all not for his dad, it is for Apu’s life and the way it’s turned out.

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MANK

AS is undoubtedly a great achievement, but i am quite baffled that Brangan thinks it is Kamal’s greatest achievement. What about Hey Ram and Virumandi. he was the director of those films as well. AS is great product in its own right . it is a supreme achievement within the confines of mainstream commercial cinema . it has become a pop culture phenomenon . But beyond that it doesnt have have a socio political relevance or worldview , Neither is it a form breaking cinematic experience. On that score both Hey Ram and Virumandi are extraordinary cinematic achievements, especially Virumandi, which even when staying within the confines of a mass movie transcends it, by both experimenting with cinematic form and tackling some serious socio political issues that are universal .I consider both Hey Ram and Virumandi to be 2 of the most important films to be made in this country irrespective of divisions like mainstream and non mainstream

Secondly AS looks like a more collaborative effort than most of his films with Panchu arunachalam and Singeetham bringing a lot to the film. HR and Virumandi feels like as if they came out fully formed from his head. On that score , i would call them his greatest original screenplays.

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@ Aditya: I don’t know that the circus aspect makes it outdated, just speculating. I just feel that, not counting BR, critics don’t seem to give this film much appreciation or that they have engaged with the motives of the dwarf. Your last line is bang on, the revenge drive has almost nothing to do with his father but with who he is. But these things are not expounded so that’s perhaps why they are missed and the film is taken to be typical masala.

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hidnana

Thanks to Atlee, AS moments are being re-lived here. 🙂

Such is the impact of the intelligent screenplay, brilliant cinematography and memorable music in what would have been a typical revenge movie if it were not Kamal, Singeetham and Panchu Arunachalalm.

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As for critics don’t seem to give this film much appreciation – I think it’s just that traditionally masala/mainstream films not being taken seriously such that they are sort of othered as cinema that’s not supposed to be analysed all that much.

MANK: I do think Hey Ram/Virumaandi are bigger achievements as cinema and screenplays but I too – assuming as with BR – tend to have a soft spot for a mainstream film done well – in a way that it works as a mainstream film, entertainment, can be enjoyed at a surface level alone and also works as cinema, as something deeper and something thought through and layered. Sometimes I feel that is the more difficult film to make.

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@ Aditya Agreed that mainstream films are not taken seriously/analysed. Even so, films like Chupke Chupke, Sholay, Deewar have been canonized, so too Agni Natchathiram. So maybe it depends on the director too. Singeetham collaborated with Kamal on a bunch of interesting films but doesn’t enjoy the lofty stature of directors like MR or KB (which they richly deserved) and so the layers in an Appu Raja aren’t analysed much… except in places like this thread. 🙂

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Venkat

Kissing is not exploitation.

Exploitation, thy name is Rajini

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Arjun

@Mank: But isn’t Virumandi at least partially inspired by Roshomon in its narration? Hey Ram OTOH is a sui generis masterpiece.

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Arjun

Btw, agree with all the positive things said about AS here. The transformation of Apu is one of Kamal’s finest moments as an actor. The evil glint in his eyes…

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35 years old, young, virile, slim and handsome as fuck? (That’s subjective I know , but I’ve always found him to be a very handsome man). What’s predatory about that? He and Gauthami were playing lovers and when you’re that into someone, you simply can’t keep your hands off them.

“Heck, that was Gouthami having just as much fun as Kamal!” Thank you , Warrior!

Truly in this case, “Raja Kayya Vecha, Athu Wrong-a Ponnathillai” 🙂

So we’re gonna rake Kamal over the coals for throwing himself into love scenes with as much energy and enthusiasm he does pretty much anything else? And he comes across as creepy contrasted against what exactly?

KayKay: Normally as the reigning King of Kink I would defer to your judgement on all things deemed puerile or perverse but here, let me go out on a limb and explain my stand. I think for me the creepiness quotient crept in not because an actor of KH’s stature throws himself into love/sex scenes with gusto but the uneasy reaction of the heroines (let’s leave Gauthami out of this argument for a moment). They seem to be ill at ease and are clearly uncomfortable though the scenes call for them to respond with equal fervor. As the Warrior pointed out ‘the standing joke when I was a teen was you don’t get to act with Kamal without having to kiss him,’ There have been many instances of heroines complaining that they were pressured into doing these steamy scenes with him.

Off the top of my head, I remember a Filmfare interview with Meena where she described her Avvai Shanmughi experience. Apparently she was told that she had to choose between a ‘liplock’ scene and a topless scene and since she was uncomfortable with onscreen kissing, the decision was made to do the topless scene wearing a bra and petticoat. Between giggles, she said that it was a choice she had to make because she had bitterly regretted losing out on Revathy’s character in Thevar Magan (HAD to?). There were others like Renuka Shahane who also complained about how KH had tried to coerce her into doing stuff she wasn’t okay with which prompted her to walk out of the Hindi remake of Avvai Shanmughi.

However, I’ll admit that I am totally biased and KH IMO remains one of the most overrated actors ever. At best I can concede that he knocks it out of the ballpark once in a while (the suicide scene in Punnagai Mannan comes to mind) and I think very fondly of him every time a KH wannabe shows up but mostly his affectations, props, obsession with the grotesque, exaggerated mannerisms and his annoying tendency to show off his mastery over accents (Chandrababu owned the accent thing btw without overdoing it to death) get in the way too much and I find I really can’t enjoy his performances. That said as mentioned in an earlier comment, there is a lot that is awesome about AS and I love love love Michael Madan Kamraj, Sivappu Rojakkal and Oru Kaidhiyin Diary (Wish Rajini had films like these in his repertoire 😦 )

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Rahini David

So we are having a huge discussion about AS without mentioning Crazy Mohan? I did not think it could be done.

AS is definitely a movie that I enjoy listening to repeatedly as audio. Some 8 years back I ripped some prominent Crazy Mohan tracks and converted them to MP3. MMKR is the most favorite of course but I am definitely partial to AS too.

There are several parts of comic brilliance in his dialogues. I loved the line of thirukural being shorter than Appu @ 1.5 adi/feet but packing a lot of content in it. I love Manorama cursing Janakaraj. And I totally love the “Sir neenga engayo poiteenga” line. BTW, what is the name of that actor?

Gautami thinks that Kamal is a) A rich man, b) A potential lover, c) A liar, d) An axe murderer all in quick succession and very little persuasion and the brainlessness of it does annoy me.

And my most favourite line is Kamal’s comeback when Gautami cheerfully points at her “L” board.

“Moonja paathaalea theriyuthula L board nu”

😛

I have often wished Moulee had a bigger role in the movie.

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Arjun

I feel Crazy Mohan is somewhat overrated and he was always more dependent on KH than vice versa. I mean why is it that most of his comic writing falls flat when KH is not there to deliver the lines. The few dramas of his that I’ve tried watching, I also find rather insipid with only a handful of funny moments.

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Ajay

Anuja-^I am totally biased and KH ^ kudumi kudumi.

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Ajay

MM HAS predator song

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Madhu

@Rahini: Gauthami’s role in AS is one of those early days loosu ponnu ones. Her dialog when she hits his car first – ‘200 rooba dhaan kudupaaru, veetla romba kashtam sir’ and her actually believing he is stinking rich (as opposed to her believing he is a murderer, which makes more sense in that context) had me rolling my eyes back when I didn’t even categorize loosu ponnus. I love the Manorama cursing scene too, especially the ‘un pondaati andha constable’oda odi poidum’, for which both the constable and Janakaraj reactions are (even today) rib tickling funny. The dialog in the film is thoroughly enjoyable, as also the physical comic portions.

Kabada naadaga veshadhaari, mudhalaali neenga.
Kavithalya Krishnan’s whole scene with Janakaraj, espcially him humming ‘vaazhavaikkum kadhalukku’
Ayoo ayyiyyo of Manorama
Janakaraj’s theory on arrow shot by Raja
lots and lots more.

Janakaraj’s sidekick, the one who says the ‘engeyo poiteenga’ dialog, is R.S.Shivaji. He used to be one of those ever present feature of 80s-90s Kamal’s movies, with usually a repetitive dialog: ‘technology has improved so much’ in Magalir Mattum, ‘andha sotha pallan’ in MMKR, etc.

I like Kamal’s standard people: S.N.Lakshmi, Delhi Ganesh, Urvashi, Yugi Sethu and recently M.S.Baskar. I love their performances and roles in his movies much more than his. Not that it is less, just that, with Kamal, you expect certain things and he may or may not rise above. But these people, always will. 🙂

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anon

@Madhu I love S.N.Lakshmi! She is so so good. I generally feel trepidation the minute I see her in a Kamal movie – something’s gonna happen to her and it is going to hurt me. She makes me really feel whatever she’s feeling in every scene. Is she still alive?

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The other thing that astounds me about the Kamal-SN Lakshmi connection is just how far it goes back, to the 70s. I remember her as the puritanical TamBrahm aunt thanks to whose influence Sumitra won’t have sex with (husband) Kamal in Moham Muppadhu Varusham. 😀

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Cherry Popper

Quote “AS is a well crafted, superbly written, smartly paced commercial entertainer with an effortless Kamal performance, Gauthami at her sexiest (the “Vaazhavaikkum Kathalukku Jai” scene had me wishing I could pop my cherry on a bale of hay atop a moving lorry) and a rocking Raaja score”.

What’s wrong in popping one’s cherry on a lorry, but did Kamal really do that, just curious… I am just kidding, I never knew songs like that always convey such essence, are we missing some thing, a duet at random sequence in as good a movie like the recent “Kuarangu Bommai” is a cliche’ in every other darn tamil movie we have been seeing for ages and in AS atleast, they were moving the script with a dead body ( also trying to pop someone’s cherry in your language) in between the hero and heroine.

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MANK

Loosu ponnu is an abnormally cute, abnormally idiotic empty headed character in a serious (normal) film or film that pretends to be normal and self serious . AS is a self referential, self winking film intentionally populated with broad caricatures like the bumbling cop or the evil villain. Gauthami’s character is a caricature of the empty headed spoilt rich girl or a Desi version of the dumb blonde concept . In short, not a loosu ponnu

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Vidhya M

#Jussaying. Meena went on to do, not one, but two films with Prabhudeva – Naam Iruvar Namakku Iruvar (1998) and Doubles (2000) – that kinda damaged her image as a kudumba-kuthuvilakku and spelt the end of her career as a heroine. Just watch the songs Ailasa Ailasa (bikini act), Indha sirippinai engu paathen, Adi kaadhal oru kannil – and the negligee scene from Avvai (from 1996) shall become a negligible exhibit.

About Rajnikanth – well, there were rumours galore about his shenanigans as well. But leaving all that aside, he too has done creepy stuff onscreen – not so much in his songs (as he obviously needed to put more effort on the choreography side), as in the dialogues (kadavule kadavule) / scenes (veera with meena, uzhaippali with roja).

“All were equal offenders in the ’80s/’90s and some more equal than the others”. 🙂

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“Meena went on to do, not one, but two films with Prabhudeva ” – Who is a legendary womaniser by all accounts. I did not want to say this but I wonder if Anuja is a hardcore Rajni fan (going by the number of times she said Kamal is heavily overrated etc). Time to go grab a popcorn. 😛

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Honest Raj

“I think for me the creepiness quotient crept in not because an actor of KH’s stature throws himself into love/sex scenes with gusto but the uneasy reaction of the heroines (let’s leave Gauthami out of this argument for a moment). They seem to be ill at ease and are clearly uncomfortable though the scenes call for them to respond with equal fervor.”

True! I remember an interview of Rekha (his Punnagai Mannan co-star) in which she said that she – a teenager who’d just written her tenth exams – wasn’t aware of the “lip-lock” until it was filmed. Suresh Krishna and Vasanth – both of whom were KB’s assistants in the film – explained that it was done without her knowledge in order to attain “perfection”. Further, she was told that a newcomer must be fortunate enough to be kissed by Kamal. The whole incident kinda reminds me of the dialogue between Jaishankar and Goundamani in Singaravelan: “Kala[i] mela aasanu vandhruchuna … Kola kuda pannalama?” Luckily, all four men – Kamal, KB and his two assistants – got away without facing any lawsuits for the act.

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Honest Raj: Of course veracity of such stories is usually questionable but what you described is pretty much same to same as repeatedly verified Maria Schneider-Last Tango in Paris scene account.

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Ajay

No evidence . Another kudumi. Seems they are unaware how technically difficult it is to kiss without damaging the nose. Haven’t worked on a film set and going by gossips

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Ajay

Going by gossips. Amala was once given less costumes and Rajini was wearing woolen clothes. So between takes Amala was forced to hug rajini to feel warm.

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Chumma… eriyira neruppula petrol oothifying 🙂

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Ajay

Gossip. Silk Smitha had done many films with Rajini mistreating and exploiting her. Dirty picture the film came out of this experience where N Shah plays rajini caricature . She did not face such experience with Chiranjeevi or Kamal.

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Ajay

Thanks Baradwaj for that troll video. Lol

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Ajay

https://m.timesofindia.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Rajinikanth-fans-miffed-with-The-Dirty-Picture/articleshow/9980354.cms

Idiots

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Karthik

Loosu ponnu is an abnormally cute, abnormally idiotic empty headed character in a serious (normal) film or film that pretends to be normal and self serious

This feels like a very convenient definition to absolve the film of a misogynistic trope that ought not to have been a staple in any kind of film. It also does great disservice to many non serious movies (going back to Sridhar) that treated their women with much better writing.

Aboorva Sagotharargal has plenty going for it but neither of the two romantic tracks has aged well.

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Ganesh

Gautami character is empty headed? What nonsense. If anything Raju is even more dumb.

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Ganesh

Loosu ponnu will fall for hero like the heroine in Katru veliyadai.

Here neither roopani nor gautami are going to fall for the hero.

Basic difference.

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I did not want to say this but I wonder if Anuja is a hardcore Rajni fan (going by the number of times she said Kamal is heavily overrated etc). Time to go grab a popcorn. 😛

Madan, I am a lapsed Rajini fan 😋

However, I do believe I have been extremely objective 😋😋😋

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Honest Raj

Aditya: But in her case, she sounded more like Urvashi (at the ‘Kamal 50’ event).

My reaction (to the “rational” fan’s “rebuttal”) 😛

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Ajay

November 5, 2017

Urvashi joke copied and changed to Rekha

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November 5, 2017

Roopini does not look like a loosu ponnu type and if anything she tricked him into keeping the ring safe for her. Gauthami is closer to the loosu ponnu stereotype but less so than Amala in Agni Natchatiram. More importantly, in both cases, they are not pursued/stalked against their wishes by the hero. You can’t say showing a kind of dumb female character is misogynist by itself for then the Raja and Janakaraj characters must be misandry,

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November 5, 2017

There is however something I find misogynist about AS and that is the second charanam of Raja Kaiya Vachcha. Equating cars and girls per se is tired but more so in this case, it takes on the paternalistic “a good man will look after his car and wife till death” approach. Not like taking care is a bad thing but the tone that suggests a woman can’t take care of herself left to her own devices is what is grating. In non Kamal productions I may have condoned it but this was his own production and totally unnecessary.

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Arjun

One line in one stanza of one song from an 80s movie saying the hero prizes a car like a girl ( NOT vice versa like you suggest) and at that point in the movie, the song is more about Raja and cars than any particular girl….and the hero is a car mechanic..and we are talking about the 80s when owning a car was a real uxury for all but the very rich… Desperate deconstruction.

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@ Arjun It’s not one line. The entire stanza is written like that. And no, I am not saying that it makes the entire film misogynist so if I am desperately deconstructing then you are desperately over simplifying what I said. Precisely because it was one stanza in one super duper hit song, it was unnecessary pandering in an otherwise uncompromising film.

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Arjun

Again, the lyrics simply reflect the worldview of a modestly educated car mechanic in the 80s. And to reiterate, the song is about cars, not about women…spoken by someone who dearly loves cars. It may be a crude analogy, but it is completely in line with the character, so a misogyny allegation makes no sense. Was the character Raja misogynistic? That can well be up for debate. But to fault the filmmakers for misogyny citing that one stanza is unfair.

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ThouShaltNot

Thottum thodaamal, pattum padaamal, kaadhalipadhu kaadhalaa ? Thirayil, rasiththu kaadhaliththal thavaraa ? I only speak of the early stages of love and not the un-kannil-neer-vazhindhaal-en-nenjil-udhiram-kottudhadi kind of seasoned love (Sivaji is the master of that genre). Otherwise, when it comes to romancing a heroine on screen, Kamal smashes the competition to smithereens (I can’t speak to the veracity of the backstories, and if true, I don’t endorse such). On screen, Kamal could romance a stone and make it look like there is chemistry between the two (although odd). The songs that I consider the most romantically exquisite, lyrically rich and visually appealing all involve Kamal (not including yesteryear black/white songs). “Idhu Iravaa Pagalaa…” with Sridevi, “Azhage Azhagu Devathai…” with Madhavi and “Idhazhil Kadhai Ezhudhum Neram Idhu…” with Seetha, to name a few. Given the Kamal slamming on this count, here is the counter-programming 🙂

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“And to reiterate, the song is about cars, not about women” – To reiterate, the second charanam clearly equates women and cars. Which also I would not object to if used strictly in the way drivers romance their cars/bikes. But there is a lot more to the lyrics here. First:

“Kattinavan Veralthan Maela Padanum
Kandavanga Èdutha Kaettupøyidum”

Then,

“Oar Idathil Uruvaagi, Vaer Idathil Vilai Pøgum
Car’galaipøl Pen Ènamum, Kødavanai Pøi Šaerum”

It’s clear that he’s not merely describing cars in girl-like terms but equating car ownership to marrying and living with a girl. THAT I do find problematic.

“it is completely in line with the character” – It is not completely in line with the character because he does not take the initiative in romancing Gauthami in spite of his friends egging him to and it is she who pursues him as a way to escape compensation. His dealings with Gauthami are pretty much urbane for all that he may be a simpleton. Basically, had the stanza been omitted, no part of his character development would have been compromised and it is only there to pander to a certain constituency.

“Was the character Raja misogynistic?” – No and that is why I find that stanza problematic because it is out of character as compared to the rest of the film.

“But to fault the filmmakers for misogyny citing that one stanza is unfair.” – Having earlier praised the film to the skies, I am allowed to point out the one thing that I did not like about it. Have I called for Kamal or Singeetham films to be banned for misogyny or for a twitter campaign against them? No. So where’s the issue? There is a misogynist tone in that stanza which is not keeping with the rest of the film and smacks of pandering and thus a disappointing note in an otherwise superlative film. Same as if I was disappointed with a lengthy climax or noisy BGM, neither of which are problems that this film has imo.

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Arjun

November 10, 2017

In view of the Louis CK story that broke today, earlier ones about Kevin Spacey and several other Hollywood biggies, can’t help but wonder what sordid tales would emerge and how many skeletons would begin to tumble out of the closet if women in Bolly/Kolly start coming forward. I suspect earlier times would have been even worse than now. what with little media scrutiny and all. I mean even I have heard stories about certain famous directors and actors (who I will not name) from someone who is involved in the industry in a technicial capacity, so given India’s general culture of hush-hush about these issues and women being generally more afraid than their western counterparts (at least in the tamil industry) to confront powerful men, I can only assume it must be/have been pretty bad. What the whole of Kollywood did with Namitha, I can only call exploitation.

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https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/time-to-call-out-the-desi-weinsteins-1763879

November 10, 2017

@Arjun: Shobha De had written an article last month, claiming it is time to call out the desi Weinsteins (without, ironically, naming any names). Some of the hints, though, are so big it’s nearly as good as naming them.

Interestingly enough, Vidya Balan as well as Kangana Ranaut had both at one point claimed that neither did they face a casting couch nor would a truly talented artist have to (a statement that I thought was grossly unfair to every talented artist who has been subjected to it and it does happen). Circa 2017, Kangana has been discussing a lot about molestation while Vidya Balan has sort of clarified her earlier stance to say she would walk out of any project that looked shady and that her middle class privilege allowed her to do so (as opposed to somebody who may have been wondering where her next meal would come from). I doubt any big fish are going to get named in India; they have either political or underworld backing or both. If the likes of Weinstein or Louis CK could get away with it for so long in the US, it must be much worse in the Indian film industry.

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Arjun

November 11, 2017

“Shobha De had written an article last month, claiming it is time to call out the desi Weinsteins (without, ironically, naming any names). Some of the hints, though, are so big it’s nearly as good as naming them.”

Not ironical. Unless one is personally a victim, dropping names can expose one to legal trouble.

“I doubt any big fish are going to get named in India; they have either political or underworld backing or both”

Frankly, the industry is so sordid that some of the idolization of movie people that I see even on this space seem naive to me. Despite my earlier comments here praising certain actors, I should clarify have absolutely no personal liking for any of them and will not blink an eye if they are outed as predatory scumbags which they may very well be.

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Ganesh

November 11, 2017

http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/ive-lusted-after-you-so-long-what-not-say-when-interviewing-woman-actor-71284

During the audio launch of Lingaa, comedian Santhanam quipped that Sonakshi Sinha would appear in “sleeveless” in the second half of the film and that people could go and watch it just for that. This was the only comment he had to make about Sonakshi, after he’d waxed eloquent about how wonderful a person Rajinikanth was. Santhanam also recounted that when bantering with Rajinikanth on sets, he’d asked him the difference between love and lust and the latter had told him that it’s the difference between how we look at our “ayah” and Anushka.

Rajinikanth, director Ravikumar and actors Anushka Shetty and Sonakshi were onstage when the comments were made.

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Ganeshwar

November 11, 2017

Baradwaj Rangan is always a savior. Whenever I see a movie overrated and celebrated and a movie not being appreciated for what it is, I run towards Baradwaj Rangan, because in him is a person who watches movies seriously and contemplates on it with all devotion. Kudos!

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Arjun

November 12, 2017

“During the audio launch of Lingaa, comedian Santhanam quipped that Sonakshi Sinha would appear in “sleeveless” in the second half of the film and that people could go and watch it just for that…. ”

Well, he is just an obnoxious little lout isn’t he. Though earlier comedians like Goundamani are also sometimes guilty of such crass objectifying talk this boor takes it to a whole new level. That way, I have always found Vadivelu’s comedy to be the most decent, tasteful and self deprecatory among post-Nagesh comedians in tamil

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Ajay

November 12, 2017

More than Santhanam, Rajini needs to be stripped naked with that love and lust statement

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Honest Raj

November 15, 2017

“Santhanam also recounted that when bantering with Rajinikanth on sets, he’d asked him the difference between love and lust and the latter had told him that it’s the difference between how we look at our “ayah” and Anushka.”

Er, it’s more about the “varthai jaalam” (anbu/aasai). Remember, Rajini’s master was a “master” at that!

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CPK

November 19, 2017

A overrated actor’s movie with 217 comments ( ofcourse lots of digression), since there is lot of foot traffic here posting this link here ( BR’s interview with two new promising directors) please watch the interview , must watch for all the good movie lovers.

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CPK

November 19, 2017

sorry the link ‘https://baradwajrangan.wordpress.com/2017/10/15/interview-nithilan-swaminathan-lokesh-kanagaraj-directors-of-kurangu-bommai-maanagaram/#comments”

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Prasanna

November 22, 2017

Atlee does it again, Picks a formula that won in the 90’s and dilutes it. If it was Steven Seagal movies / Chatriyan for Theri. It is one of the many movies of from 90’s.

There has been a common comparison with Apoorva Sagodarargal. But all the good things in AS have been lost in Mersal. For Instance in AS, Dad Kamal gets a meager space of 10 mins in the beginning, but the impact of injustice meted out is enough the drive the audience till the end of that movie. Here, dad Vijay gets a long, boring space, We know he is going to get killed. so why stretch it. Also the first murder in Paris has no connection with the audience, since we don’t know villain’s doings then. Again, that is the lamest way to kill and belongs in Vijaykanth movie not in a Vijay movie.

There were two villains in Mersal or three if you wonder what happened to guy in the auto with slit arm. One gets killed very early in the story, the next SJ Surya gets killed very soon after the long boring flashback, and the third guy (in the auto) ??. In AS, the villains were 4, and the revenge took half of the movie, So when they die we know why each one is dying and we wish their death.

The son Characters of Vijay and Kamalhaasan, Appu KH was a underdog but uses his strength / skills to Kill. VetriVj is Magician with amazing magic skills(Hold Tight – he uses magic to get out handcuffs) and fights like a super hero. It is So what moment There was no tension

The positive side was the Dr Maran Episode with Samantha but again was too short.

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kaizokukeshav

December 27, 2017

Going with the mood of the audience, that’s a deplomatic headline for the review “Better than Bairava”. Having seen the telugu version recently I haven’t seen a more pretentious and logicless movie in recent times. The movie seems to give some message and I didn’t get what. Doctors want to give Cesearian which is becoming norm, the solution seems pathetic. Good doc or bad doc, they are the only docs in the state but our hero goes on killing them and make the society a ‘doc free’.. really ? Another character is a magician who can turn into snake and takes a trishul from a stranger’s purse… really ? May be Mersal team needs doctors like Vijay to treat the logical ability part of their brains. And then there is Samantha who keeps calling Vijay Tammudu(brother) for a zillion times in her 5 mins and sings a duet in the 6th minute. So what message should we grasp now, please educate.

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