Posted on February 15, 2021
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Baradwaj Rangan 
Jay
February 15, 2021
Yes. Sir, Mohanlal it is.
My assumption is that Mohanlal just followed the writing, followed what the director wanted. Our sir, Kamal is ‘smart’ and knows the pulse of all Tamil audience and milks it an extra drop, well… The director has no choice but to accept the ‘great’ actor. As for Telugu, Venkatesh just does it.
But just notice the eye closure scene, he has seen Mohanlal and he liked it and played so. The difference is the pace of closing the eyes… the master does it slowly… rest of the facial muscles too act accordingly…
(btw, I’m not a mallu…)
Speaking of eyes, pick the last scene of the song ‘Poongatre Thirumbuma’ in Muthal Mariyathai. At the end of the song they come face to face and as the man walks forward, he does that eye movement… Which ‘says’ Adi needhana andha kuyuil.
There is a difference in ‘Adi neethana’ and ‘Adi neethanaa andha kuyil hmm..”
a) a bit of a stare
b) a bit of a stare + scan up and down
The king does the second one…
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lakshmi
February 16, 2021
This is so neatly done. Narration and scene synced so perfectly. Kudos to editor Aswin S too. Especially liked how you included the picture of Gandhi in the last frame with all the actors. Or am I reading too much into it 😀
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Rahini David
February 16, 2021
Really enjoyed this.
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MANK
February 16, 2021
That was terrific boss. I just sat there riveted. i feel that the Malayalam drishyam is not a well directed film at all, it’s the screenplay twist and Mohanlal’s performance (as well as of the other actors as well) that makes it work to such an extend.
Btw, i would really like to know how much of this ‘Tamil audiences will like it only if it is presented at such a high emotional pitch’ is really true. Is it more of a perception?. I remember reading about an incident involving Cho and Sivaji Ganesan, where Cho reprimanded Sivaji for his overacting in a certain scene, and Sivaji performed the same scene subtly, telling him that he can act like that too, but if he did, then only both of them will watch the film, no one else in Tamil Nadu will. Now we have Kamal also saying the same thing. Has nothing changed in all these years?, i thought it had.
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Padawan
February 16, 2021
This was a fantastic video essay. Please do more of these.
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Raj
February 17, 2021
Nicely done, BR.
Confucius, he say: you should have included the Chinese version too in your analysis.
Imagine the eyeballs!
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Macaulay Perapulla
February 17, 2021
Fascinating video. I wish someday you get to watch the Chinese remake ( I too would love to check it out. Don’t know where it is platying in OTT) and include that last scene and observe how they have adapted that last scene for their audience.
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Nimmi Rangaswamy
February 17, 2021
Apropos MANK’s post – take the two pulpy thrillers of 2019 Suttu Pidikka Utharavu and Thadam we see a lot of craft and context detailing but the over-acting [ as we used to always say about Tamil film acting] spills over all these crafty scenes- the overacting ‘comic’ cop, the small girl, her neighbor in the hospital and the OTT sign language articulation scenes with her father cop. It’s odd the cinematic language is so good and the emotional writing hammy- Maybe Kamal & Shivaji aren’t all that off the mark!
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FuriAce
February 19, 2021
BR-illiant !! Loved it. This is the kind of stuff I come to this blog for !
Tamil (and Telugu) movies amp up emotions, be it pathos/comedy/anger and imo the audience loves it that way. Amped up, “heart on the sleeve” emotional performances usually are well appreciated. Malayalam movies and audience prefer mid-range or subtle.
Obviously this is broad strokes, but that’s what I’ve seen in my experience.
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