Posted on November 1, 2021
Spoilers ahead…
If transcribed, you can read the text here:
Copyright ©2021 Film Companion.
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Baradwaj Rangan 
dhananjayank
November 1, 2021
IF transcribed, huh? This is terribly disappointing 😑😑😑
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hari
November 1, 2021
Pottu thaakiteenga
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ram1976
November 1, 2021
Is this the first time BR has gotten so furious with a movie?
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shaviswa
November 1, 2021
I knew that this movie was exactly this the moment I watched the trailer.
I have started seriously doubting Surya’s script and team choosing abilities.
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vandana lakshmi
November 1, 2021
sooper! semma thittu!! loved the review
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Padhma Ranganathan
November 1, 2021
Just watched Anupama’s interview with Suriya and Jyothika. I was hoping BR would interview him / them as part of this Jai Bhim promotion – BR doing the interview for FC South seems more appropriate. And, I think BR may have probed more around the question about messaging vs story telling. But definitely kudos to Anupama for asking it. Hopefully this will set them thinking and stop them going deeper on that path.
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Yajiv
November 1, 2021
Another ‘loud’ message-y film from the 2D stable, as expected
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Anu Warrier
November 1, 2021
The audio is breaking up – is it only for me?
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Senthil S
November 2, 2021
Wow you’re really getting roasted for this review. Don’t think even the Soorarai Pootru review (which I disagreed with to an extent) got this much hate. But I just finished watching this movie and you’re 100% correct.
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Caesium
November 2, 2021
@BR: You may be in the minority here. Looks like ringing endorsement from everyone else (include TN CM, no less!)
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Satya
November 2, 2021
I really wished this was dealt like Todd Haynes’ Dark Waters. That was a proper mainstream court drama which somehow is considered offbeat. Don’t know why.
And, what’s with the look Suriya sir? Was it Hey Raam inspired?
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H. Prasanna
November 2, 2021
One of my favorite comments in this movie’s YouTube review, which is really ominous for no reason:
Ok BR. You have given your opinion of the movie. Let the people watch the movie and decide for themselves.
A seemingly innocuous comment until you see the commenter’s name: Kim Jong Un.
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Heisenberg
November 2, 2021
Well in today’s charged environment one can’t write bad review on this subject without being abused. Your actual political views or the reviews you wrote for Pariyerum perumal or visaranai or karnan wouldn’t matter.
Wonder if this review going to earn you new titles on social media. Like “Blue Sattai” Maaran, “Bald Sangi” BR.
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Thupparivaalan
November 2, 2021
Hard disagree. The movie was really gripping. There can never be lesser movies that speak against police brutality, who knows how long cinema will have the voice to do this, I might as well appreciate it when they are released. Aesthetically maybe things could have been done better, but it’s not like every movie released these days is peak cinema.
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brangan
November 2, 2021
Senthil: I don’t see why people seem surprised. There have been tons of films where I have been in the minority 😀 And every time, there is hate or trolling or whatever. It’s part of the job.
But this — apart from the nice-ish first half hour — was just smug and sanctinmonious and just throught the “subject” was enough. There’s no way it would have worked for me.
I have always been a proponent of HOW you make a story is at least as important as WHAT you say. So, again, most regular readers must have expected this review.
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Heisenberg
November 2, 2021
It’s good and important thing that we have movies that speak about Dalit issues in past few years. But I wonder if this is just a market trend – what sells today. Hindi cinema comes up with nationalistic/patriotic/akshay kumar movies and tamil movies have this Dalit /marignal people vs system wave.
When big name like Surya stars in this subject, is it good that the issues are going mainstream or is it cultural appropriation? Surya himself has starred in quite number of movies as a brutal cop while that was the trend (Kaaka Kaaka, Singam series) and now he is fighting police brutality in a movie.
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madhusudhan194
November 2, 2021
“If actor-turned-virtue signaller Suriya and director and T. J. Gnanvel had seen film critic Baradwaj Rangan’s review of their film ‘Jai Bhim’, they would feel so humiliated for making such a movie and might even go the extent of quitting their career.
Such has been Baradwaj Rangan’s take on the movie who has smashed it to smithereens which might even make people to cancel their subscription of Amazon Prime Video so that they don’t even accidentally watch the movie.”
The super dramatic introduction in this article made me laugh out loud. If only BR was as powerful.
https://thecommunemag-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/thecommunemag.com/jai-bhim-a-cry-baby-film-film-critic-baradwaj-rangan-ruthlessly-roasts-actor-suriyas-latest-film/amp/?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a6&usqp=mq331AQIKAGwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16358306925722&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fthecommunemag.com%2Fjai-bhim-a-cry-baby-film-film-critic-baradwaj-rangan-ruthlessly-roasts-actor-suriyas-latest-film%2F
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brangan
November 2, 2021
Heisenberg: But that is not fair, no? People do change and maybe Suriya feels differently about those cop movies today.
Or maybe it’s just the trend — and he’s jumoed on the bandwagon. An early line about Ambedkar tipped me off — it appears so randomly and is such a throwaway scene.
Similarly when Rajisha speaks about the SC certificates, it’s not dialogue. It’s a sermon that starts with “India sundhandhiram petrathilirundhu kaathittrunkaanga…”
The most disappointing aspect was that even the procedural aspect (the courtroom bits) was dull.
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Heisenberg
November 2, 2021
BR:
Yes I agree people do change, but it’s hard to think of these actors committed to any ideology in general (not that I think it’s wrong to be not committed to anything).
These mainstream stars are champions of social issues when it’s trending. Few years back these guys were saviors of the farmers, now for dalits and occasionally feminism. What next? Climate change saviors?
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Cinema_trench
November 2, 2021
Been a longtime follower and had very similar taste in movies(to say in short i love katruveliyidai and kadal). But come on BR it’s not as filled with sermon like a samuthrakani movie, nobody is seeing into the camera to say their dialogues u can see the genuine effort put into the half decent staging and it has a constant texture maintained throughout.
I mean it was completely underwhelming for all the 100/100 and 4.5/5 scores but to put it like scorcese it has all the elements what one would call cinema and also GENUINE tension. So u didn’t feel for the characters or u were angry abt the technicalities in ur review?
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brangan
November 2, 2021
Cinema_trench: I did not feel for the courtroom drama, nor for Suriya’s character, who was written as almist godlike in his ability to quickly fix problems. And “genuine tension”? Let’s just agree to disagree on this one.
In case you want to see a far better film about a woman’s struggle to find her husband, do watch KA PAE RANASINGAM. It’s not the exact same story but at least it does not end with everyone doing a namaskaram for Suriya. His character was written very badly (i.e. too conveniently) IMO, which resulted in a rare uninvolved Suriya performance.
So many issues I had…
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Muhammad Rafeeq
November 2, 2021
AskBR for Jai Bhim would be interesting…
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Srinivas R
November 2, 2021
This is the kind of movie Tamil audience love. Message-y, loud and painting everyone as black or white.
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Caesium
November 2, 2021
While BR has done away with the star system, one can still infer it:
1 star – Short review
2 stars – Full review
3 stars – Full review + AskBR
4 stars – Full review + AskBR + Deep Focus
5 stars – Full review + AskBR + Deep Focus + FC Gold
😛
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krishikari
November 2, 2021
This was an epic rant! The frustration and the contempt was just about scorching my laptop. Smoke was pouting out of it! I almost want to watch it just to feel this level of rage.
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Chandrashekhar
November 2, 2021
You Motta shame on you… I also don’t like your Motta thala and your idiotic face… Will you die today… Shame on you
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bart
November 2, 2021
Ungalukku Suriya, Karthi naale some gaandu.. Thats y these kind of reviews and they give no interviews to u. Yedho, ennala mudinjadhu eriyara neruppukku 1 spoon petrol…
P.S.: Chumma.. Haven’t watched the movie yet (medhuva neruppu ananjadhukku apram yosikkalam) 😀
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Kumar Alagappan
November 2, 2021
I beg to differ on a few points…
The climax where people stood up to thank Surya/Chandru at the end – did you see that person as Chandru or Surya? I dont know what exactly happened in the courtroom on judgement day. But, when someone is fighting for you for 13 years without expecting much in return probably might have got that ovation even without them wanting it. Would our makkal have subtlety to say a quiet thank you to their savior or provide him a raucous reception?
I still was hooked to the investigation. It didn’t seem very convenient. I felt the police were so accustomed to foisting cases on people without a voice that they really didn’t bother to frame their FIRs cohesively to avoid suspicion. They didn’t have to put that effort because they were so sure that hapless individual they were framing will accept the crime. So for the first time these cops were being exposed to an unfamiliar situation – a steadfast individual who doesn’t want to accept the crime and a lawyer who can read the chargesheet. So their mistakes come under the spotlight. It looks convenient but maybe their cover-up was not of the mettle that needed a sherlock. Isolating Munnar as a possibility and producing the tea shop owner made me perk up.
But, I do agree with you on the larger matter of emotionally trying to milk an already powerful moment with needless cinematic tropes. I really felt that when Sengani was taken to the station and when her family members and husband were subjected to violence – that extreme portrayal with the loud bgm was over the top. Vazhakku enn redux 🙂 Also, I really wanted to know more about Chandru – not sure why that was left blank.
But, this movie worked for me despite the over the top moments. It had a strong emotional core that is very close home and I am happy someone chose to make this movie
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Krish
November 2, 2021
How do we read the text of the review? I cant find it in FC.
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Yajiv
November 2, 2021
@Chandrasekhar: Vangada vanga en Suriya army chellangala. I was waiting for your entrance after all the nonsense you pulled in this blog when Amit Joki wrote his Soorarai Pottru piece.
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Kumar
November 2, 2021
Just when I thought the Tamil Audience has evolved… they go and call this a masterpiece (I am guessing it’s mostly Suriya fans for now).
It’s a very good BR roasted this (and I hope he further more roasts these “message” padam in the future). Eagerly waiting for Annaththe Roast!
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Ragenikanth kannan
November 2, 2021
Just when I thought the Tamil Audience has evolved… they go and call this a masterpiece (I am guessing it’s mostly Suriya fans for now)
its just the YouTube paid reviewers not the Tamil Audience
Eagerly waiting for Annaththe Roast
BR review’s for Rajini movies are too predictable, No one takes it seriously
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WHy
November 2, 2021
How is it fair to expect the tone and subtlety of a European arthouse movie in a Tamil film. This is what local pple enjoy. How boring if people all over the world make docudramas about things without any emotional attachment and mock anything that has emotional heft, like the westerners do.
SOme people enjoy the melodrama, the loud acting, the music, the manipulative bgm in movies. No judgment, just because one’s own taste is different.
Why do people put down Indian movies that are made according to the local taste and is appreciative of movies that are made to copy American/European style?
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KS
November 2, 2021
BR is very unfair in this review. Maybe he was in a grumpy mood while watching the movie. Yes, many emotional beats were magnified for effect, but those are small flaws that can easily be overlooked. After all, he has overlooked so much cringe in movies like Bigil or Viswasam. The movie was quite engaging and undeserving of this level of mockery.
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Srikrishna
November 3, 2021
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krishikari
November 3, 2021
How is it fair to expect the tone and subtlety of a European arthouse movie in a Tamil film.
That is really not what is happening in this review. This is a blog that celebrates the Indian style of movie making. Even Rajesh Rajamani had similar critiques about this movie.
The subject matter deserved better is how he put it.
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Satya
November 3, 2021
WHy: What you say is true. We cannot mimick Western sensibilities in any Indian film that has a very distinct local touch. One must feel the sense of the soil the film is set in. But, I have a few reservations with Jai Bhim.
See, I don’t agree with BR completely regarding Suriya’s character. I don’t want to know who he is. We have enough reason why he wants to continue the fight this long. And yes, people like Ram Mohan do exist even today, even among the younger population. The story has a lot of relevance and depth, and can actually stand on its own without any extra effort to make it “consumable”.
What I wished for is some toning down. To just point an example, let’s say, instead of making people salute him in the rain crying already, wouldn’t it be nicer if Chandru shook their hands and say we won, and all celebrate it? That is a very Indian thing. The painful thing here is that even the happiness of winning a battle, a moment so pure, isn’t spared for a chance to say “Ayyo Paavam”.
At the end of the day, as I mentioned earlier in Rudra Thaandavam’s thread, I am beginning to question if Dalit emancipation has become a trope that gives you a ticket to personal facelift. Just like farmer’s issues, Dalit lives are being romanticised. Is this the kind of representation they deserve?
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Kumar
November 3, 2021
@Why
“How is it fair to expect the tone and subtlety of a European arthouse movie in a Tamil film. This is what local pple enjoy. How boring if people all over the world make docudramas about things without any emotional attachment and mock anything that has emotional heft, like the westerners do”
BR is asking for it to be more like Visaaranai. Which worked perfectly well and was terrifying. The problem is that these people are used as torture porn with unnecessary levels of hysteria. If the scenes looked realistic then it would have had more impact. The Music director doesn’t have a leash and just runs amok. At a point I couldn’t stop “cringing” at the melodrama because you feel as if the director is desperately trying to manipulate you.
“Make docudramas without emotional attachment”…
Uhhh buddy I think you underestimated how emotionally impactful documentaries can be.
Sigh. Most people are idiots and they just listen to part of the review and come to their own conclusions and can’t call a Spade a spade. Hopefully the Vasayam message directors don’t shift from their steadfast quest to educate and reform the public and become Dalit/tribe message directors.
Besides, what is Surya and his wife’s obsession to appear extremely virtuous? Every film seems to reek of virtue signalling.
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Hari
November 3, 2021
@brangan
You say “I have always been a proponent of HOW you make a story is at least as important as WHAT you say”. You review movies of big stars by viewing them through the ‘commercial’ prism and say that it is great that a big star has done this or that in his movie. Similarly a big star like Suriya cannot be expected to star in a European arthouse film. He would have commercial compulsions and an OTT service or distributor will not pay top dollar prices for an arthouse film. They would need ‘commercial/mass’ elements so as to reach as wide an audience as possible.
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Hari
November 3, 2021
@Kumar
“BR is asking for it to be more like Visaaranai. Which worked perfectly well and was terrifying”
You seem to be unaware or are willfully ignoring the commercial element of the film which is the most major element. A movie cast in the mold of Visaaranai would have not fetched the same amount from an OTT provider as the current story of Jai Bhim has . The viewership of a Visaaranai type film too would be way less than the reach Jai Bhim has reached. A movie which is targeted towards a very wide audience and a movie targeted to a niche audience would have different plot elements.
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krish911
November 3, 2021
I have been an avid reader of your reviews but this one was unwantedly harsh . I expected you to roast a flim like rudhra thandravam which you were so soft on. This film had its mistakes but your review was a bit harsh .The movie had worked for almost everyone except a few . It was largely insensitive of you . I always thought that people calling you biased were wrong but this review might have changed my mind
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VJ
November 3, 2021
@brangan
OF COURSE BARADWAJ RANGAN, A BRAHMIN, IS GOING TO HATE THIS MOVIE! HOW DARE HE? LOOK AT HIM – ALL HE CARES ABOUT IS OPPRESSING THE WEAK.
I skimmed through some of these comments and heard the opening of your video above. I came to this blog the moment after I finished watching the movie because in the past I have respected BR as a reviewer and a cinema …historian?
Well, after watching this review, my respect has for BR as a reviewer has solidified. Don’t worry – I will stop sucking BR off here and explain who I am, and my perception of this review and movie.
I am someone who supports what the movie stands for. Vehemently. I am ok with movies that try to deliver a message. However, I once watched ‘Appa’ by Samuthirakani and thought the man could have delivered a TED talk instead. “But…but…Samuthirkani made Subramaniapuram?! How can BR think this man is inherently a bad director.”. Apparently, that was Sasikumar. Perhaps that is why BR is better off reviewing movies and I am better off reviewing the reviewer.
BR said out loud what I heard my inner voice muttering to me throughout the movie. Except for one moment where Surya’s character Chandru faces a temporary obstacle because the character Sengeni withholds a crucial fact, literally everything else goes his way. When he first takes up Sengeni’s case, Surya looks into the distance and laments that this case is going to be an uphill battle. I wish the uphill battles of my life looked like this. The incline of the mountain Chandru has to climb is very gently and barely exists.
Rytu vidu. He’s a hero in a Tamil movie. I should be used to this by now. Konjam kooda valikala.
The movie was not all bust for me and there were moments of it that I did appreciate. The concept of a legal precedent is very often lost upon the masses that this sort of movie is made for, and I liked that the movie touched upon that facet of a legal battle, brief as it may have been.
While corny, I also liked the relationship between Prakash Raj and Surya’s respective characters. Or atleast what the characters’ conceptions in writing stood for. It reminded me of the juxtaposition between Professor Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr in the X-men movies. Both characters want the same thing, but their individual impressions of the issue due to their experiences and the means through which they want to achieve their ends are very different. Prakash Raj’s IG Perumalsamy, like Chandru, wants the society to be protected and defends his actions of going beyond the law to break a thug’s fingers as punishment for molesting a young girl. Chandru, who wants a just society too, is against the police using brutality to achieve their means. However, most of this relationship existed in my head – very little of this is shown in the actual movie. This implication is beget only if one watches that portion of the movie with some semblance of enjoyment which I did, because I supported what the movie stood for.
BR, however, is not here to laud movies whose message he might support. He is a reviewer, and he reviewed the frames he saw.
For a movie that speaks so much about police brutality and caste discrimination, it is a disgrace that they chose to use cast a fair-skinned actress and depict her in brownface. What the actual fuck, TJG? Brownface so thick that I could not even tell that it was Lijomol Jose – might as well as cast a newbie who fit the role. TJG, in this movie atleast, it not only a terrible storyteller but also a hypocrite in this particular instance.
Orey tensions of India.
The scene the BR mentions he likes – I saw it from a different angle. Well, I still sat parallel to my monitor, but the metaphorical angle that I saw it from led me to understand it differently. I did not see it as Sengeni saying enough is enough and refusing their help. I saw it as Sengeni forcefully continuing the discriminatory treatment that had been imposed upon her and her people all her life and ironically, it is her oppressors that are begging for her to accept better treatment. She chooses the path she would have been normally subject to – taking the bus and walking home – but this time it hurts her oppressors.
So, what am I trying to say through this long ass comment? BR – Kai kudu sagala.
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brangan
November 3, 2021
hari He would have commercial compulsions and an OTT service or distributor will not pay top dollar prices for an arthouse film.
I have no business with the “business” of a movie.
All that my job requires me to do is say (1) What did I feel, and explain that feeling by going into (2) Why did it make me feel this way.
For instance:
(1) WHAT?
I did not find Chandru’s character interesting at all.
(2) WHY?
Because he is a cardboard cutout to whom things (evidence etc.) happen almost magically in court.
Do you really evaluate a newcomer’s movie by saying “Oh poor guy, it’s just his first film, let’s go lenient on him however bad the film is”? You evaluate the film and only the film, right?
*
Here is a scene I imagined – for instance – a little after watching the film. It’s when Sengani and Teacheramma come to see Chandru.
Chandru (after finishing formalities): Late aayiduchu. Ungala engeyavadhu drop pannatuma?
Teacheramma: Naanga Vizhuppuram poganum.
Chandru: Oh, appo ingeye irundhuttu naalaikku pongalen.
He leads them to a room and opens it. It is filled top to bottom with legal files. He begins to move the files, but a lot of dust rises from it and everyone begins to cough.
Sengani: Indha rooma clear pannradhukulla en purushan sonna kal veede kattiduvaaru.
All have a small laugh, an unexpected gift of a laugh, given the unrelenting tensions of the days gone by. Chandru then takes them to a smaller room for the night.
*
This is what they call a “first draft” scene. I know it is crap.
The point I am trying to make is the film does not bother to establish any inter- or intra-relations between the characters, or give us small humanising touches like the scene I wrote above.
And I do not like narratives where this happens, where everyone serves only their “purpose” and then vanishes. It is bad screenwriting.
PS: I hope the above scenes did not sound like a European art-house movie.
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Kumar
November 3, 2021
“You seem to be unaware or are willfully ignoring the commercial element of the film which is the most major element.”
What BS… That is why Suryah is there.. to attract the audience…and also amp up the price of the OTT provider’s deal. This movie itself A certificate, that itself is a major flag to the audience that it is not a commercial film.
“A movie cast in the mold of Visaaranai would have not fetched the same amount from an OTT provider as the current story of Jai Bhim has”…
Wait…are you implying that Surya is another unethical businessman? Who wants to get more money by adding commercial elements to a serious story? So he is not interested in the story as much as he is intrested in the money? You said it not me.
“A movie which is targeted towards a very wide audience and a movie targeted to a niche audience would have different plot elements.”
You just assumed that the entire tamil population is a bunch of dumb idiots who can’t watch a serious story? LMAO. Even Visaaranai was a massive box office success and a lot of people like it. Any viewer can watch Visaaranai and understand it. I think you just think people are dumb.
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Hari
November 3, 2021
Apologies to Rangan and other regular readers of the blog. I will not post msgs after this.
@kumar . Suriya is just being realistic. Had he removed all mass/commercial/cringe(to certain viewers), he might have been offered 0.2X-0.3X instead of the X amount he received.
As per online film trackers, Visaaranai’s box office collection was only 11 crore. That is nowhere near an average film grosser.
Potential OTT viewership is not affected by whether a movie has ‘A’ certificate or not. As stated by Vetri in a recently , reduction/elimination of songs is purely a commercial decision, a lack of big amount for audio rights. He also said profanity/violence is heightened for OTT releases, thus making the dreaded ‘A’ certificate redundant.
Fin.
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Kumar
November 3, 2021
@Hari
Your argument doesn’t make sense? Is over amplifying the melodrama present in the scene “Commercial”? Is it going to attract someone to watch the film? Do people ever think…Oh look a film with extreme hysterical melodrama..I gotta watch!
Mass scenes in the film didn’t make sense. This is OTT, not theater where everyone would whistle and cheer. (in fact, it is cheering and whistling is what makes a mass scene effective) Also, there was inherent “Mass-ness” in Chandru himself. He was a total boss. Do you still need that extra dosage of BGM for that? That is too much.
Also these commercial aspects are highly subjective and cannot be measured, and instead the price of the film depends more on the actor’s potential market and budget.
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Ashwin Kumar
November 4, 2021
I would like to assume that BR was in a terrible terrible and nasty mindset while watching this movie. Nothing else would probably explain the need to savagely mock and ridicule a honest and decently well made mostly engaging movie 🙂 Its not perfect but certainly didn’t deserve so much hate and sarcasm. BR has been far kinder towards dumb and stupidly directly movies like netrikan. Recently watched a couple of interview related to the true events from savukku shankar and chandru and in fact the real events of this case are much more worse and inhuman compared to what is depicted on screen.
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Jallikattu lover
November 4, 2021
Yes, the manipulation is at its peak when they cut to the crying daughter at the end of the scene..Yes, the film grammar is sloppy at times. The reason the Bribe shot, the Crushing of the toys shot and the Crying daughter stick out is because they are all Inserts. (The Terminator has a similar ‘crushing the toys with the wheel of the car’ shot but it’s done way more organically).
You say good intentions don’t make for good cinema. But, what if they weren’t making ‘cinema’ in the first place? Sure, this is mediocre stuff.. But, their aim was only a loud, commercial film. It’s not like Vikram Vedha, where you can see they set out to make a new age masterpiece, but what turned out was a mass movie, so they decided to settle for it and celebrate it for the rest of their lives.
Jai Bhim is miles ahead of Ponmagal Vandhaal, another film in the same backdrop and the same banner! Now, I don’t recall you giving that film such a drubbing.
While I agree with your points, I feel you have gone Full Blue Sattai on the wrong movie. Your tone could have been different, for a guy who reviews a film based on whether it achieves what it sets out to.
I think BR, you are in a screenwriter/filmmaker phase right now, more so than before. So, you seem to view films from that prism. Welcome to the other side.
And, why is Lijomol Jose’s Blackface not a big issue? You can’t be bothered to find an actor who looks the part or you think does not deserve top billing, so you cast a fair girl and paint her black. Where’s Semmalar Annam? Personally, I don’t mind Blackface as long as the shoe fits. But, her acting and rhythms were so off from the other tribal women around her that she turned out to be a regular Tamil heroine as opposed to Manikandan, who just disappeared into the role.
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FrtedInUrFace
November 4, 2021
Seems like the movie touched a nerve with BR. BR is now bringing a list of all “similar” movies (all those without touching the nasty caste issues) as better movies with same story.
Yeah, it shows…..
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Prat
November 4, 2021
The film was very poorly made, but it was somehow weirdly engaging too. The violence was totally gratuitous, especially wherever it was directed towards women.
“Sometimes it was impossible for him to think about his country without experiencing despairing shame” – this movie reminded me of this line from an Alan Hollinghurst novel.
The novel ‘A Fine Balance’ by Rohinton Mistry does the same job too, but at a much higher plane.
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apala
November 5, 2021
It’s more of a docu-drama, elevated to certain larger appeal through commercialization, including casting of Surya, I think that’s fine – even though the making is mediocre, what it conveys has to be heard and seen. We are part of this shameful system.
Being your reader for over two decades, I understand what you are saying – rather why you are saying what you are saying! 🙂
It worked for me as it’s so close to home…This film is for justice’s sake and don’t care for the privilege of being art’s sake!
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H. Prasanna
November 5, 2021
I see some YouTube suggestions for “responses” to BR’s review of this film, which say how unfairly he has reviewed this film, to put it mildly.
Honestly, I am not worried about this type of reaction. Although some seem intended to hurt more than call out, BR seems to have figured out how to deal with them. I am more worried about the support, if any of the reactions go viral, from “untoward” sources.
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shaviswa
November 5, 2021
This response to BR’s review is precisely the problem with Tamil cine world. What BR was talking about, rather roasting, was the way the film was made. He did not question the story or the issue that was being addressed in the film. But all this guy wants to talk about is the political aspect of the film, the caste issue, and whatever.
This video by this guy is actually unintentionally funny.
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steadymeandering
November 5, 2021
1) I think the fact that the review was by way of video rather than a write up made it sound meaner and more personal.
2) I disagree with your opinion on the movie but like you said everyone’s perspective differs. Being an advocate, I enjoyed the mostly accurate replica of the high court , the lethargy of the public prosecutors. They made an effort to show the actual citation by which evidence can be taken in a HCP! And exactly when i thought a HCP was being converted into a murder trial, the advocate general voiced out the same. It really shows that they had a lawyer advising them. This along with andavan kattalai is one of the most realistic depictions of courtroom procedure. Whether that makes interesting cinema is another question. I really enjoyed it.
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SR
November 5, 2021
A movie that has portrayed the courtroom investigation in an honest and realistic way, that eventually did bring justice to the families does not deserve this review. I mean, I get it. It is not aesthetically top-notch with few melodramatic scenes here and there. But overall, a very good attempt at portraying the investigation and police brutality. The investigation and the courtroom scenes were pretty good and not artificial like in PonMagal Vandhaal. The unfolding of the events was quite gripping.
I don’t understand your enjoyment of one particular scene where the heroine rejects the police van. I mean, in a movie like this, I don’t expect such people to go through personality development and CHOOSE how they react to such hard-core human right violation. Come on! They DON’T have a CHOICE (bloody hell – my blood was boiling when you said “it was brilliant because she chose not to accept”). Their traumas are deeper than you expecting an “artistic high” from one particular scene!! I am sorry to be putting it this way. Your review was that shallow!!
Why can’t a lawyer who is sincere be as boring as Surya in this movie? I mean, what’s with your expectation of him playing badminton? Real-life people are boring but they may also be incredible. They don’t expect these people to choose what happens in their life, but they get down, work for things to change, so Irulars don’t have to CHOOSE how they react. Chandru is not shown as a superman/’know-it-all’. He is just persistent and meticulous. Although I admit, I hated him jumping across the barricade and the intro song. But still..this review?? It was like watching Donald Trump saying, “It is freezing cold in my state. Where is the global warming?”. Seriously, were you in your right mind while posting the review or watching the movie?
Why did you have to AMPLIFY your expectations of what an “art” must look like and not give SOME credit for the effort behind how straightforward the narration was. FYI, the “STORY IS SERIOUS” irrespective of whether you THINK it is serious or not. Please do get out of your bubble now and then. At least give it some credit for portraying real incidents without adding any cinematic element to it. The sincerity behind the making of the movie and some of the actors’ performances really did move me (despite being a bit melodramatic & manipulative).
I hope some sincere but “not-so-great” filmmakers are saved from such “brutally snobbish” reviewers in the future.
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Thiru Raja
November 5, 2021
Hi Bharath,
I’m completely supporting your review. It’s totally genuine & unbiased. Haters always want to hear what they want to hear. With reference to the movie, like they say “It’s based on true events” but it isn’t. Lots of inaccurate scenes & non description of characters. Just now saw your review in YouTube that liked by 3.5K and disliked by 25K. I just want to extend my support and so I’m dropping you this message. Definitely it’s not related to ideologies but you’re a true cinema fan and me too. Just rock as usual. If you acknowledge my message I’d be happy.
Thanks,
Thiru
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krishikari
November 5, 2021
Jai Bhim is not available on Amazon where I live, so I haven’t seen it, but this morning I heard my mother’s review of it. She thought it was really really good and recommended it to me. In her view, the courtroom scenes especially were great and that Surya did a great job!
Okay, so my mother is of a generation that likes the message and story being spelled out very clearly and has very little appreciation for cinematic niceties, but she is definitely a target audience for this kind of film depicting the harshness of life for people in India who don’t enjoy her privileges. If the film made a positive impact on my mother with its loud bgm and un-fleshed out characters, then it achieved what it set out to do. If my mother likes it It’s definitely going to strike a chord with a huge crowd and be a hit. It’s probably also going to be appreciated by the people who are victims of police brutatilty.
I know BR you are a form > content guy so I don’t come here to read about your engagement with the content of the film or its politics and I do gain amazing insights from reading your views. But can’t a film be ONLY about it’s content and politics? Can’t a film be a medium for messaging and not for art? Like when you make a banner to march in a street protest, great graphic design in this context equals bold text that is legible from a distance. If it’s crudely painted it doesn’t matter.
When some European guy tells me he didn’t like an SRK bollywood film, my reply is it’s not made for you and that it is really entitled to expect everything to be according to your tastes. I might also find this movie too loud and obvious. My tastes are not universal. Maybe Jai Bhim was not made for those whose priority is wanting to watch a Film but those who feel really strongly about caste injustice and want to hear a true story about a win for once.
I think the people going on about the commercial intentions of the film can also just please sit down. People really care about the subject matter and the real life hero of the story and that’s why it will be a hit.
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Yajiv
November 5, 2021
I really struggle to understand why people take film criticism so personally, especially when said criticism is clearly about the form and not the content.
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krishikari
November 5, 2021
@shaviswa This guy’s reaction is perfectly valid, he is criticising BR for not engaging properly with the content of the film and just discussing the art of the film. He says this is not just a story, this is about people’s real lives, therefore he has a problem with the very framework within which BR has chosen to engage and finds it an amoral stance. That is a valid judgement. Why do you find that funny? If you feel he is missing the point, he is not. He is rejecting the point.
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brangan
November 5, 2021
krishikari: This guy’s reaction is perfectly valid, he is criticising BR for not engaging properly with the content of the film and just discussing the art of the film.
Film is an art form, for God’s sake. How can it be “amoral” to judge an art form as an art form? This is utterly baffling.
Oh, so this is is about people’s “real lives”, so we let go the screechy theatrics and bad, manipulative writing?
Was VISARANAI not about people’s “real lives”? Did I not give it a glowing review?
Was PARIYERUM PERUMAL not about “real lives”? Did I not give it a glowing review?
Was MAADATHY not about “real lives”? Did I not give it a glowing review?
Was NAYATTU not about “real lives”? Did I not give it a glowing review?
Was KOOZHANGAL (PEBBLES) not about “real lives”? Did I not give it a glowing review?
Because these films did not set out to manipulate you. They treated the audience with dignity. They had well-rounded characters, superb writing, amazingly crafted dialogue, amazing drama and everything I look for when I watch a film.
Even here, am I not saying that the Irula portion of the film is the best part, and that it’s lovely?
But sorry, again, when you are reviewing an art form as GREAT as cinema, the GREATEST art form of all time, I cannot treat it like a Hindu editorial. I cannot overlook the linear screenplay that drains out all the drama, and that has the protagonist solve every issue in a matter of minutes. He is like Superman in a black coat.
Check out my review of TNT. I say: “Aravind’s ‘Thelivuppathaiyin Neesa Thooram (TNT)’, on moviewud, investigates the 1998 Coimbatore bomb blasts with a sincerity that overcomes its shortcomings” (The Coimbatore bomb blasts are a “real life” thing, BTW).
I’m sorry, but in this film, I did not find that sincerity. I mean, one early shot of Suriya has him jump over a barricade in slo-mo. Please, don’t include a hero slo-mo shot in films like these and glorify the star. I am pretty sure the “real life” Chandru did no such thing.
PS: Is it so inconceivable that my opinion of a film is different from your mother’s? All I am doing is stating MY views, like I have done for every single film since I started this career.
Thiru Raja: Once the review is sent from my side, I do not look at comments, likes, etc. That keeps me sane.
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Madan
November 5, 2021
FWIW I finished watching it and really liked it. I think it compares favourably to mainstream Hollywood courtroom dramas like Time to Kill or Hindi’s Jolly LLB/Pink films. If anything, the monologues are nowhere near as loooong as Pink (but then, Pink was an AB film so they HAD to give him a monologue).
As for the hot debate, here’s an analogous scenario. I have said in this space that I couldn’t make it through 2001: A Space Odyssey (and I say that as someone who loved Clockwork Orange and Shining, so I don’t snort at Kubrick’s work per se). And while I received opinions about how it was a masterpiece and ahead of its time, I didn’t receive any verbal bashing and to the contrary, there was understanding shown that yes, it’s a tough film to get into.
That is, the only reason this is such a hot debate at all is the film involves the politics of caste. And when you know the caste of the reviewer, you cannot help leap to the conclusion that that may have something to do with his take. But why should that be when critics routinely give bad reviews to films that end up being liked by the masses? I don’t agree with most of anything BR said in his review but that’s no different from any of many other reviews where I have disagreed. I don’t think anybody comes here expecting to read reviews they agree with.
So why should that change just because this film is about Irulas and upper caste brutality towards them? If you expect he should tone down his criticism of the film such as it is because of his subject matter, that’s not a long way away from censorship. If he doesn’t like it, he doesn’t like it. And it’s not like the film is perfect. Maybe some find the flaws harder to ignore than others. For me, compared to Soorarai Pootru, this film was much less melodramatic even with the subject matter permitting it to a much greater extent and was much truer to the real life story (whereas we know that SP was, to put it in colloquial Hindi, a dachiya udaofying of the original story). But that’s me, that’s my opinion. It wouldn’t be art if we all agreed on everything about it.
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Madan
November 5, 2021
“Maybe Jai Bhim was not made for those whose priority is wanting to watch a Film but those who feel really strongly about caste injustice and want to hear a true story about a win for once.” – So let me turn this argument around. Jazz is not made for people who want conventional melody and a structure. That doesn’t mean a person doesn’t have the right to say they don’t like jazz. In fact, on a progressive rock forum, I knew a 50 something Brit who liked seemingly every conceivable genre of music on earth but…didn’t like jazz! If the equation somehow changes just because of caste, then that’s no different from “do not offend public sentiment”.
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brangan
November 5, 2021
Here is my review of SETHTHUMAAN, which is about a Dalit protagonist — I saw it at Intl. Film Festival of Kerala.
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Voldemort
November 5, 2021
FWIW –
1) BR would have definitely known he’d receive backlash for this review. But he still chose to put it out. He could have easily paid lip service and gotten so many views and likes for being good hearted. TBH, if I were a reviewer and I didn’t like the film, I would have still given a positive review and mentioned the negatives that I found in the end, like a footnote. Why? ‘Cause I am terrified of the amount of hatred. Yeah probably I am spineless and petty. Whatever.
2) I have not watched the movie. I did feel BR’s roast was unkind. But, he found a similar scene in Kaithi where Karthi loses his daughter’s earring (and it breaks or something IIRC) also to be hammering the point way too much. He doesn’t like this idea as a whole.
3) I can think of several similar instances where I, personally, had a knee jerk reaction and decided someone was sexist/elitist or any of the ists based on one incident or one tweet or one throwaway line. Because it’s BR, I did not immediately jump to that conclusion because I think I have followed his work enough to feel he isn’t that person. I am not gonna lie, I would have been outraged as well if someone else had done this review, although I wouldn’t caste-shame or call for a ban on them or anything. Which brings me to this – are we too quick to label people so that there is no doubt about our politically correct credentials? Should we give people the benefit of doubt? If yes, for how long?
4) If a reviewer who is not an UC called out this movie, would he have been bashed less? Or would he have been bashed more because he is internalizing the discrimination?
5) Since movies are extremely influential in Tamil Nadu, everywhere else as well, but more so here, if someone chooses to make a movie about something so important because his intention is that it should reach the larger audience and he doesn’t think there is a better medium to do so than a film, should that film be evaluated for this intention alone and not for its cinematic value ? If that’s the case, is it not a disservice to these movies? Is it not like being condescendingly appreciative of everything that a (for the lack of a better example) physically challenged child does to the point that the child hates it and wants to be treated normally, for a change? Is that what Pa Ranjith means when he says that he is tired of his community being shown as the oppressed always and that he wants to show that they have interesting lives that deserve to be portrayed as well?
So many more questions, but I will end this rant now.
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shaviswa
November 5, 2021
@Madan
I would rate Jai Bhim better than Soorarai Potru. That film was horrendous.
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Rad Mahalikudi
November 5, 2021
There is a good news here, BR. People care about your reviews. They need your GOOD REVIEWS!!
I watched the movie on the day it got released on OTT. I found the movie engaging and liked it. I started watching expecting a preachy / message-y movie but to my surprise, except a few out of place one-liners in conversations, it stuck to the procedural story. Didn’t find the narration to be manipulative, yes, there is some melodrama. To me they weren’t jarring…or deal breakers…to me the dosage was similar to Karuppi’s funeral song from Pariyerum Perumal.
Now to the question, is JaiBhim a good cinema in the lines of Maadathy or Mandela or Pariyerum Perumal? It is not. BR is correct on that front. I don’t come to BR reviews expecting to agree with his viewpoints (and he doesn’t expect us agree too). To me it is more of learning – insights and another perspective from someone who loves and knows movies. I could see how narration could be better (isn’t it always?), more breathing. Jai Bhim as what has been put out, engaged me and didn’t find it sagging anywhere through the 2:45hours duration…content and performances (especially Manikandan) kept me engaged.
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Madan
November 5, 2021
“are we too quick to label people so that there is no doubt about our politically correct credentials? Should we give people the benefit of doubt? If yes, for how long?” – I agree with much of what you say in your comment but have to take this point up. Let’s see, BR’s review is harsh but there isn’t anything directed at the caste of the protagonist(s) or that they brought down, in effect, a system designed to protect upper caste power and pride, not that I noticed. It’s harsh but the harshness is purely directed to the film that was made and the manner in which it was made.
So..my question is, where does benefit of doubt arise in this case? Say this review was rendered not by BR but another reviewer who even wore a patta naamam on his forehead. I still wouldn’t say he was being casteist or prejudiced just because he trashed the film. If we start to believe that a negative review is likely to be bigoted because the person delivering it is UC, that’s thought control territory imo and I for one am completely against that and find that creeping trend in today’s discourse dangerous. If people cannot believe that the sum of my thoughts do not have to do only with my immutable or (in this case) inherited characteristics, then we might as well not venture to ‘permit’ UC critics to review such films. Edhukku vambu?
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krishikari
November 5, 2021
Film is an art form, for God’s sake. How can it be “amoral” to judge an art form as an art form? This is utterly baffling.
To be honest, I enjoyed the angry review you gave this one but I also feel that some responses to the rant have merit. Like this Iyan Karthikeyan sounds sincere to me. Amoral as you well know is not the same as immoral so it is not a terrible insult. That was my choice of words to paraphrase what he said, so it may not be what he meant. Anyway, I felt he had a point when he says you are unconcerned with the rightness or wrongness of the content because you are so far removed from these peoples lives that it is just a story to you, whereas someone else may look at this movie and feel deeply moved. That is what I hear this man saying. It may or may not be true, as you say you simply did not feel sincerity in this film – but that is his perception and I was responding to the comment dismissing him as unintentionally funny..
I have to keep going back to this Birth of a Nation film class which was the first time I experienced people looking at a movie and ignoring the content and appreciating the form. I felt then that this was an absolutely wrong way to view a film, this keeping an objective distance thing. I mean sure talk about the emotional manipulation and the staging of shots but also express something about the actual subject matter.
PS: Is it so inconceivable that my opinion of a film is different from your mother’s? All I am doing is stating MY views, like I have done for every single film since I started this career.
Oh my God, that was just an example of someone being moved by what you call terrible screenplay and insincere manipulative filmmaking. Even I don’t agree with my mother about most movies and find her love of preachy movies crazy. So no, i am absolutely not exhorting you to love this movie because my mother did, I may not love it either.
We are all just discussing, exchanging views, mine change all the time. Please don’t take offense. I know you won’t because well… the rant. You must have been expecting a backlash of some kind.
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krishikari
November 5, 2021
oops, first two lines above are a quote from BR’s comment
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Nappinai (@Nappinai2)
November 5, 2021
I think it was very brave of BR to put that review out and standby his professional judgement. Given the political environment in TN and some of the conversations even with this blog, it was a no-brainer that he was going to be targeted. As other comments have already pointed out, it would have been easier to review the movie favorably and move on with it.
After the appropriation stunt that Surya pulled with Soorarai Pottru, I wasn’t planning on watching Jai Bhim. I may still give this a try though for the story.
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shaviswa
November 6, 2021
@krishikari
The problem with someone like Iyan Karthikeyan is that they expect everyone to be emotionally moved by the content like it does to him. This is unrealistic expectations.
I do not know about BR but to me the connect is definitely not there since I have never lived away from the cities. I have never been exposed to such treatment being meted out to people.
A movie that tries to bring up that subject needs ti factor this and try to get me involved. Trying to manipulate me into connecting emotionally with the film would have the reverse effect. And I think this is just what BR wants to say. The emotional connection should be organic to the content in thr movie and not thrust upon you by the film making technique.
So this guy ranting that BR did not get the story and the context is clearly not someone who understands how films should be made. All that he realises is that he is able to connect with the film and therefore everyone else should. Otherwise they are bigots.
I could not watch Soorarai Potru at all. I had to watch that with a remote in hand so that I can skim over those scenes which were forcibly added to make the story into a downtrodden guy facing corporate villains narrative.
I hope you see what I found funny in that guy’s rant
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Madan
November 6, 2021
“That is what I hear this man saying. It may or may not be true, as you say you simply did not feel sincerity in this film – but that is his perception and I was responding to the comment dismissing him as unintentionally funny..” – Wouldn’t it help then to first see the film and judge for yourself what you make of BR’s critique? Otherwise, and I am trying to put it as politely as I can, it comes across as “avangalukellam pidichurukku, ungalukku mattum yen pidikala?” Are you saying YOU like every sincere film no matter what? Surely not, I guess, because that would be most films. There are very few films that are absolutely phoned in even at a superficial level. Especially not, er, Tamil films; most of them have a sincerity overload.
Now let me say what I make of two of his criticisms. 1) That there is nothing about what lawyer Chandru is as a person outside the courtroom. I agree 100% with the observation. Only that (a) it didn’t bother me in this specific film because the case itself was a compelling narrative for ME and (b) I would allow that a person may be a complete workaholic and have no real life outside their work (my CEO is exactly like that, if you applied the Birbal rule and poured a bucket of cold water on his head when he is fast asleep, he wouldn’t call out for mother but instead the company’s name). In the same light, there is a montage song in the film showing Chandru at work and one shot shows him hurriedly cooking some food for himself while dictating notes to his assistant. So we can infer from this that he is super busy. But we never learn the assistant’s name. For that matter, we don’t know ANYTHING about Maitreya, why she is involved in the village and with the Irulas. You could be a tad colourist and assume from her skin colour and well dressed get up that she is a privileged UC fighting for the downtrodden but to have to make that assumption itself is fraught in a movie like this and I would have certainly appreciated a better explanation. Sean Roldan’s songs were rather good and after a long time, I enjoyed listening to a Tamil album in the context of the film. But that said, I would still rather have snipped one track and had scenes telling us a little more about Chandru and Maitreya.
The other complaint was the amplification and hysteria. I can understand where he’s coming from though I completely disagree – there IS a lot of hysterical outpouring of grief and anger at police brutality. I think it was entirely apt given the context, BR doesn’t. But a lot of this is about how it hits you at a visceral level. For eg, I ‘respect’ TMS’ singing but I don’t REALLY like it, especially not the ‘operatic’ belters like Satti Suttadadha/Ponal Pogatum Poda. It’s just too loud a style of singing for my tastes and even knowing that it was entirely appropriate for the films where those songs was used doesn’t make me get past that visceral reaction. In the same way, what if the hysteria just goes right over you like noise and then you start to simply find it irritating? Would that then be a valid point of criticism? Yes, very much so. We can’t handwave every objection as ‘this isn’t made for you’ because that then means that the film isn’t all that broad in its appeal and has flaws that some sections of the audience would find harder to overlook than others.
My only point of surprise with the review was I have seen similar issues with much less accomplished films like the aforementioned Soorarai Pootru (where Naresh Goyal, renamed as Paresh Goswami to further amplify the anti-Brahmin narrative in a film ostensibly about a Brahmin entrepreneur now renamed as a lower caste person to pander to the masses, is absolutely caricaturized and depicted as an utterly cartoonish villain rather than a tough business competitor). So why would he lash out at this film specifically? I don’t know but that, again, is the point of art. Nobody can be absolutely, infallibly consistent. For a critic, the job is harder still because they have to watch so many films where somebody like me can pick and choose the moment when I want to watch a film and not have to watch more than one in a week at all.
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WHy
November 6, 2021
“Uhhh buddy I think you underestimated how emotionally impactful documentaries can be.”
I was waiting for the wannabes without a social life who sits at home and binge on all the “impactful” stuff that comes on foreign channels .
“Sigh. Most people are idiots and they just listen to part of the review….”
ANd look at all the idiots in the comment section giving the director of a successful tamil film, lessons in directing , bcoz they think they know better by just watching random “impactful” stuff on netflix…lol!
Let Indian films be Indian films. How pathetic to compare it to films from other languages .
The deification of the hero, the songs and dance, the colors, the dubbing, heightened melodrama, the loud bgm…all of it makes the Indian cinema larger than life and makes it a different experience from watching films from other countries.
There are enough films made in other countries that make their subject matter gruesome, dark, violent, repulsive, and Soul-crushing, to up the shock value. I hope Indian films avoid a descent to that level. Let our films have songs and masala and herogiri to buttress the storytelling.
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Voldemort
November 6, 2021
Madan : So..my question is, where does benefit of doubt arise in this case? Say this review was rendered not by BR but another reviewer who even wore a patta naamam on his forehead. I still wouldn’t say he was being casteist or prejudiced just because he trashed the film.
I meant that benefit of doubt part in general – on how quickly we launch into hatred campaigns, and immediately attribute that someone does something only because they are casteist/misogynist etc, without getting into the nuance. If someone feels BR is unkind to this story because he doesn’t know the lived in reality of these people, that is fine IMO. Everyone is colored by the situations they live or grow up in. We have different responses to art. When this becomes problematic is the moment they attribute it to his caste. BR is not asking for everyone to agree with his views, like someone pointed out earlier in this thread.
For an example, a friend who I looked up to a lot, once told me she liked Remo. I am not proud to say this but my respect for her diminished a little. I asked her about it and she said it was fun and mindless entertainment and she didnt think too much about it. She also said since she finds Sivakarthikeyan immensely likeable and funny, and his journey from a VJ to a famous actor inspiring, there is a tendency to generally like his films. Which is a very valid response. This is what I meant when I said that in many instances we are quick to label people. It’s not always black and white and we need to take the context into account before raking someone over the coals. Like what happened to Hardik Pandya in the KWK episode. We know he is a misogynist from a show whose format itself is sleaziness and is full of questions like who would you hook up with from this list? Seriously? I guess I meant that we need to take a pause before going all righteous on someone just so we feel good about ourselves. Which is what is happening with BR. They know he is casteist because he doesn’t like a film? Wow. Just look at the number of views and comments on the Seththuman review. Where were these people when such movies released?
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Voldemort
November 6, 2021
In short, it might be tempting to call everyone who hates the film casteist assholes. Well some of them might be. But, the world is not divided into a binary of good people and casteist assholes, good people being those who like the film and casteists being those that didn’t. It’s not that simple. It’s never been. Reality is mostly in the grey. I can absolutely love the film and still treat people terribly IRL. In fact, subtle forms of discrimination is so rampant and is not even talked about as much.
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WHy
November 6, 2021
“BR is asking for it to be more like Visaaranai. Which worked perfectly well and was terrifying”
WHy ask for this movie to be like any other movie? It worked perfectly for whom?
If one wants to watch “realistic violence” like in Virasanai, then go watch Virasanai again on dvd or netflix or wherever it is available . Why demand other filmmakers to make films like virasanai with more violence to make “impact”.
Not everyone is looking to see realistic violence on screen for entertainment.
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Madan
November 6, 2021
Voldemort: Thanks for clarifying and now I get your pov better and in fact agree with it mostly.
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Madan
November 6, 2021
“Let Indian films be Indian films. How pathetic to compare it to films from other languages .” – Indian is a language? Gee, thanks for letting us know.
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vijay
November 6, 2021
If I expect my favorite reviewers to respond in the same manner to a film as I did, I will drive myself nuts. 6 out of 10 times the take on films by “top critics” in rottentomatoes doesnt tally with how I felt about a film. There are too many variables at play here to expect 100% consistency all the time even from a single reviewer. Sometimes the jarring aspects overrule the better parts for them and sometimes they don’t. There are degrees here. This is not exact science. This is what some of these youtube analysts don’t realize.And then they cherrypick reviews to whine about. When a Pariyerum perumaal or Maadathy gets a thumbs up here do they make videos about it? Probably not.
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AN
November 6, 2021
Baddy, I have been following your blog since your early critic days of 2008 and I hope you see this as coming from someone who is genuinely vested in you continuing to deliver quality reviews. I can see why this movie may not have worked for you but where you went wrong was the delivery of your review. Again to use your own quote, it’s not the WHAT but the HOW. Off late you have been using a lot of sarcasm and occasional ridicule in delivering reviews and that works great for a movie like Aranmanai 3. Now I don’t think you went as far, in this particular review but your body language and choice of words did come across as tone deaf and very callous. The review wasn’t wholistic either and I felt there were a lot of elements (certain performances, realism in certain scenes, art direction etc) that were completely looked over. To give you an analogy, think Uyire. Now Uyire is a well made movie but hypothetically if it wasn’t, would you use the same delivery style or would you say to yourself “maybe this is a sensitive subject for women who face harassment on a daily basis and let me use a more nuanced approach at getting my point of view across”. For someone who identifies deeply and personally with the issues on screen, whether right or wrong, they may look at this review and attribute your delivery style to your insensitivity on the subject. Like they say, your intention doesn’t matter as much as your words.
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Eswar
November 6, 2021
I haven’t watched the review yet. Based on the comments, I am wondering what triggered this conversation.
Is it the content i.e the unfavourable view given to the movie (or)
The form i.e the way the unfavourable view has been delivered.
If the backlash is solely based on the content, then there is nothing to do about it. As already mentioned by other commenters, movies connect with the audience in numerous ways. Delving into them is a separate exercise and requires an appropriate medium.
If the backlash is a result of the form, then there are questions to consider. The main question is: What is the purpose of film criticism?
Is it merely personal i.e to explore and express one’s assessment of a film? (or)
Is there a higher purpose i.e to use one’s assessment to help the audience understand the nuances of movie making and what makes a film work? This could help the audience appreciate films better, result in better films from the creators and improve the art form in general. This has a higher purpose because it is an important contribution to the art form and society.
When the purpose is merely personal, then the way content is delivered doesn’t matter. In this case, the reviewer is putting forward himself. The content is only a vehicle to present the reviewer.
If there is a higher purpose to film criticism, then this adds a teaching element to film criticism. When the teaching element is included, the way the criticism is communicated becomes as important as the criticism. Delivering in a tone that the audience cannot appreciate could fail to get the point across to the audience. If the purpose is going to be lost in communication, then the question to ponder is, is there still value in providing that criticism?
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Madan
November 6, 2021
” I can see why this movie may not have worked for you but where you went wrong was the delivery of your review.” – It’s the angriest I have seen BR in a review. I don’t even associate that word with a BR review. Usually when he really dislikes a movie, he does snark of the finest quality. Maybe he thought snark would be even more offensive for a film like this? This is also the issue with the video review as opposed to the written one – the latter finesses tone in a way that a video cannot. And even if one uses the right words, there is body language, as you mentioned.
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H. Prasanna
November 6, 2021
@AN As far as your analogy with Uyare goes, see the BR review for Aishwarya Rajesh’s Thittam Irandu. Check out the movie as well, its worth it. It is consistent with Jai Bhim review in terms of calling out audience manipulation and character building.
https://www.filmcompanion.in/reviews/tamil-review/thittam-irandu-review-sonyliv-tamil-movie-a-generic-thriller-with-an-original-premise-aishwarya-rajesh-subash-selvam-baradwaj-rangan/amp/
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Purple Sky
November 6, 2021
Dear BR sir,
I hope by the time I write this, the furore over the review would have died down. However, being a long time reader and a fan, I want to jot down my 2 cents here.
I totally agree with your review. For an avid cinematic viewer who watches movies across the spectrum of language, some scenes are too long, too predictable, too manipative. For eg. The same scene you mentioned where rajakannu is going to be arrested. You can deduce the plot line from a mile away. Evalavu padathila paathiruppom.
Again for the small section of people especially lurking around this blog, we must have most certainly watched a pariyerum perumal. But the average audience has not.
I understand your frustration of why the makers think the audience is dumb when the next state is making so much more sophisticated movies on equally important topics. This movie has relied a lot on sensationalism than on writing to take it forward.
However, as long as you were writing for The Hindu, I am sure your reach was so much more smaller than when on YouTube. For the same reason, when the topic is so sensitive, a little diplomacy would have gone a long way in handling this situation. It does not mean to be false to your self or opinion. Like another reader said in the comment section, you sounded angry and that was a very wrong stance to have taken when you are putting your face out in public. The general audience is not going to remember all the good things you told about Koozgangal or Madathi or any other gems, because they have never even heard of these movies. 90% of the people are only coming to know if the movie is good or not, not to understand the nuances of film making through your review.
And only because Surya is acting in this movie so many people have watched it. For people who keeps abreast of the news, what is depicted in the movie is not new. But I am sure for most city bred people they know about the Irulas for the first time after they watched the movie. So this has been an eye opener for many. When everyone is in awe of Surya for doing such a movie you lambasted him! Cinephiles may feel this should be the norm. Unfortunately it is not. So sometimes, we must embrace diplomacy and just give the guy his due for his brave venture and keep the ranting for the written version… Peace✌
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JustAsAngryIfNotMore
November 6, 2021
In cinema, form is not separate from content. Form is content and content is form, they are both deeply intertwined to provide an emotional experience to the viewer.
To all the people who loved this movie – by content do you mean knowing about the plight of a tribe who aren’t provided even basic human rights, but in the end justice served them right? If the answer is yes to the question, the film (form and content) in my view did disservice to them.
The movie (always form and content) I saw, was about a messiah lawyer single-handedly, nonchalantly, saving them from their plight.
I saw a movie where the tribe can’t just be human – just the way they are. But, they have to be exceedingly, excruciatingly nice. They can’t hurt a thing, they can’t steal a thing, they have to be full blown pregnant and only then you understand how bad their situation is. The film thinks nothing less will work on you, because you literally won’t care about them if they were anything but this impossibly, impractically good natured.
Do they not deserved their rights, if they had to hunt any rat because they are hungry?
Do they not deserve their dignity, if the heroine doesn’t have a small child and just in the verge of delivering their next?
Do they not deserve humanity, for just being effing human?
Human beings make mistakes, and more often than not, it is their condition and their place in the society, that pushes people to do the so called immoral, illegal things. You don’t steal a bun when you can afford a buffet, do you?
By making them this unbelievably, unrealistically nice, the film almost dehumanizes them.
To all the people who loved the movie, did you see the movie as an innocent bystander watching someone else in pain? OR did you really get into their psyche and feel in your bones their pain?
Did you come out of the movie feeling, what can I do, what mistakes and biases do I have? what change do I have to make in me? OR did you come out thinking, Oh I am glad A HERO is there to help these guys, so I can feel sorry for them for 2 hours and not change an ounce of me?
Did you see a movie where you came out thinking, Damn these law enforcers lives are so fucked up that in order to get more money, or live a better life or just hold their job they have to do unbelievably shitty things. They lose their perspective of other lives and just see humans as numbers they report to higher officials? (form and content enabling you reflected internally – wouldn’t I want the same things for me and my family? If I had the power to not get caught, what would ‘I’ really do?)
OR did you come out thinking, wow I am glad the messiah has come to get those three police morons the punishment they truly deserve? (Form and content making you go, damn that situation of the tribe is really bad, Wow this hero truly cares about the world, Oh this movie is masterpiece and everybody who says something else just has no humanity, but I am awesome because i can be manipulated and i am easily feeling bad for them).
He also said in the review, atleast a million times, he doesn’t have one doubt about the intention of its makers. I can’t talk for BR, but I am reasonably sure what his answers to these questions are, and why the film made him angry. That anger is humanity.
Seriously, getting informed and honest opinion on art is one of the rarest things right now. Let the man do his job, so he can serve more to humanity by truly critiquing art, than to serve fragile human egos by validating them.
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WHY
November 6, 2021
“Indian is a language? Gee, thanks for letting us know.”
You are welcome. Always glad to do my bit for humanity by imparting my immense knowledge to fellow beings.
Now back to solving the miseries of the oppressed minority of India by discussing their plight in rangans’ blog comment section of a Surya film.
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Karthik S
November 7, 2021
BR, You are good at your craft, your reviews are usually pretty insightful. But occasionally you miss subtexts (like some folks pointed out when you reviewed ‘Madras’). In this film you lament the lack of skillful screenplay, that all characters do a specific job and nothing else etc. I wonder if you missed the context i.e. the meta-ness of the movie.
Karnan had a police brutality scene that was widely appreciated. Jai Bhim takes it to another level. I wonder if it is a message from the director – “Simple dressing is for the upper class, people like us need to dress up as that projects power from the underclass” – said the Rajini character in Kabali. Likewise, the deliberate amplification of the police torture perhaps is a needed effect as 80% of the country have no idea how real these can be. And if the story is real then perhaps more reasons to up the ante.
I personally thought there was no contrivance. Yes Suriya did come across as the savior but Chandru was. A group I volunteer with – AID India – the Chennai chapter has built houses for Irulars and I hear from some of the chapter’s leaders that the movie was well made and captured the essence of Chandru well. As a casual movie watcher I thought the procedural scenes were pretty well done. The way the doctor explained the chilli powder logic – notice how seemingly the Suriya character succeeds in not exposing any misses by the doctor (as he was worried about his image which was clearly established earlier) – didn’t seem ‘magical’ to me, it was pretty convincing in fact.
I respect your review but the tone is unusually dramatic. I think this was good cinema with lots of attention to details (Windows 95 screen saver, Pepsi Uma). By the way what speakers do you have? The BGM sounded fine to me, Sean Roldon was better in Joker but this was not bad, did a good job not being too intrusive.
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Jay
November 7, 2021
Disclaimer: It’s BR that I go to whenever I want to read about a Tamil movie before watching.
That said, it was a very strange review from him. I wonder if the video form had something to do with it, but I kind of felt there was so much personal. I wonder if he went with the expectation of seeing a Visaranai or a Super Deluxe. If so, does he do the same when he reviews a Rajnikanth or a Vijay movie? Some of the things that at best would be a small flaw are meted out as strong negative. When I was watching, I did not, for once, wonder what Chandru’s personal life was like. Would it make BR happy if he had a girl friend and a duet? Also, I don’t understand the big deal about this “grey area”. If a bunch of policemen beat a hapless guy to death, what is wrong in portraying them as all-evil?
If a reviewer rates a movie very poor (that got 9+ on IMDB), then it has to be the reviewer. I would have been okay if he had said, “a decent movie with flaws” but it doesn’t warrant such harsh words.
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sai16vicky
November 7, 2021
Looks like BR is getting flak on Quora as well — https://tamildravidam.quora.com/Another-blue-sattai-Baradwaj-Rangan-Edit-Lol.
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SuchithraR
November 8, 2021
I never write in your blog and this is my first and I have to emphatically disagree with your review of this and thittam 2 reviews. I am really disappointed how critical you have been of with these two movies. It felt like you are out of touch with reality. These are movies where you have to see if from the “other side” and clearly you review is lacking empathy. I am tired of all these nuanced and “hard core cinema fan” type reviews.
These two movies are made by newcomers who have taken extremely controversial and sensitive subjects and tried their best to present it to non-documentary and commercial cinema watching crowd. I applaud these film makers and I hope such movies do extremely well.
I am not saying these movies are without faults and you are certainly allowed to point them out. But I would have hoped that you put things in perspective when you give the final nod or nay. So many avid cinema goers watch your review before deciding to watch a movie and that’s a great responsibility and I would use that power wisely.
Sorry for the harsh criticism of your review. None of it it’s meant to personally attack you. But again not sorry about what I wanted to say.
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sachita
November 8, 2021
I havent watched Jai Bhim because it seems darker than what sort of movies/shows I want to watch right now.
And there are lots of movies that I dont enjoy that you would like – for example, SLB’s movies. I cant stand them but based on your reviews you love it. Difference in taste isnt an issue.
But you appreciated bigil in the same breadth when you dissed kaithi. (But in your interview with Lokesh I get the feeling you actually liked kaithi). That sort of makes it hard to accept your dissing of what seems to be a popular movie. Even Vijay fans mocked the bigil’s match shots.
Would Jai bhim have done more injustice to what it set out to do compared to bigil? You even gave credit to bigil for a bit of feminism.
Your bigil review will always be a breaking point for me
To other’s in comments who are comparing visaranai to jai bhim: I will watch Jai bhim at some point even though it is on a serious issue.. But based on what I hear about visarani, I most probably wont watch it. I cant stomach as much brutality. The viewership record for both these movies from their OTT would be on those lines as well.
Also fact is Jai bhim wasnt done for an OTT release alone. It happened that way due to pandemic.
This isnt hard to understand at all. Aamir khan and irfan khan movie’s with same stoy will definitely have different intensity in their approach. Even aamir can only push as much in the mainstream format.
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sachita
November 8, 2021
This is pure speculation. But you had mentioned in your review that some actor asked for positive review in exchange for an interview. i am tempted to connect it to Suriya/Karthi now 🙂 Pure speculation.
Anyway, whichever actor asked that is beyond silly.
Even in that case your review of kaithi was unfair. because your subsequent interview with Lokesh sort of indicated you actually enjoyed that movie.
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H. Prasanna
November 8, 2021
Someone else pretty much summarizing the movie the same as BR (and having similar views about movie reviews/criticism), and then giving a favorable review:
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H. Prasanna
November 8, 2021
@BR
“… one early shot of Suriya has him jump over a barricade in slo-mo. Please, don’t include a hero slo-mo shot in films like these and glorify the star. I am pretty sure the “real life” Chandru did no such thing.”
Here is the real life Chandru’s take on it:
“After nearly two decades of practice I realized that the lawyers strikes have become counter productive and also highly tendentious and harmful to the future of the legal profession. Therefore, I publicly declared that the courts are meant for the litigants and not for lawyers… the director of the film wanted to show so as to register the true character of lawyer Chandru and brought in that particular scene. In the film, Surya acting as a lawyer was shown leaving the lawyers agitation place and jumping over a barricade to attend a court case of a tribal person detained.”
Here is the full interview:
https://www.livelaw.in/interviews/justice-chandru-interview-jai-bhim-movie-police-brutality-custodial-torture-tribes-constitution-185024
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brangan
November 8, 2021
sachita: But you appreciated bigil in the same breadth when you dissed kaithi. (But in your interview with Lokesh I get the feeling you actually liked kaithi).
One, I evaluate movies on what they set out to do and how they end up doing it. So yes, for me , a Bigil > Kaithi.
Two, I told Lokesh I enjoyed certain shots in Kaithi, but it’s still a mostly generic and underwhelming film for me.
Three, if you are going to evaluate reviewers on “how CAN you like this or that movie,” that’s expecting them to adhere to your taste. I can only speak for myself. My job is not to “recommend” a movie to you/anyone.
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brangan
November 8, 2021
H Prasanna: My problem was not with the jumping. My problem was with the slo-mo “hero”-ification.
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H. Prasanna
November 8, 2021
@BR Yes, I kind of got that. I was trying to put it out here what they were hero-fying (as it was not apparent in the film).
I found another review (recommended to me by Jimmy Cage, who did the favorable review) like yours, which was unfavorable:
He had the same problems you did, including jumping the barricade with fully gelled hair in slo-mo.
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tonks
November 11, 2021
I’m a content person, with less importance to form. So I like the movie, I was moved by the story. I liked the court room drama, and teared up on cue. Yes, I did think the melodrama was over the top, and would have liked it better without so much of it, but I rationalized thinking that Tamilians are more melodramatic in real life than us stoical Mallus (the reason Kamalahasan decided to do Drishyam with more melodrama than Mohanlal).
Bottom line: The story wrenched at my heart, and so I liked it.
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VS S
November 16, 2021
Guys- Lets be real. If there is any theft in our houses and we have lost a lot of what was hard earned and legal or your kids kidnapped and if you have an opportunity by which I mean you have some influence on the cops what will you tell them. Will you tell the cops to be gentle and have a civilized enquiry. How many of us have felt happy when cops have killed people committing sexual crimes on minors and women. The move is about lock up torture. The man who inflicted the crime did not belong to an upper caste. If its show like that then there is no boiling of blood or emotions. So the director has chosen to bring in fiction. I feel that’s why BR is calling this as a cry baby move
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H. Prasanna
November 16, 2021
Here is the director T. J. Gnanavel’s response to the BR review (or the “Crying Baby” portion of it):
From 2.30 to 4.00, he says BR’s (conscious or unconsicious) bias that has led him to the opinions in his review.
From 4.00 to 4.30, he says these [biased voices] were the only voices in film criticism before 20 years. But now new, different voices are coming up due to education and opportunities created by development propelled by Dravidian politics. He says he is more protected in his profession because these new voices have become ubiquitous.
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brangan
November 16, 2021
H Prasanna: Is there any part where he talks about his primitive writing and filmmaking? Or does he elevate himself to be an actual filmmaker? Genuine question.
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madhusudhan194
November 16, 2021
Who is an actual filmmaker? Does a person become an actual filmmaker when he lives up to certain standards? Who gets to decide when a person becomes an actual filmmaker or not?
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vijay
November 16, 2021
I caught Visaaranai only recently and have been still thinking about it after 3-4 days..Lets hope Surya atones for this with Vetri’s Vaadivaasal and hope it turns out to be at least half as good as Visaaranai. But at least he has taken steps in a different direction starting with Soorarai Potru, as compared to (A)singam 3,4 5 etc. To that extent, this effort is welcome, the amateurish direction notwithstanding..
Sad to see Gnanavel’s take..what losers in the Tamil film industry often do when critiqued, bring out the caste equations liberally. Movies like these are often saved because of that “based on a true story” crutch. You can always hide behind the “but this is what really happened man!” argument..
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H. Prasanna
November 17, 2021
@BR He talks about welcoming criticism and accepting it as other people’s opinion. He says he does not feel bad about negative criticism and he wants to improve (if there is something he feels is right in the criticism). But he cites an example of content when he talks about criticism in that vein (more content examples are provided in the audience QA).
When talking about the movie, he says they wanted to sincerely do what is true to the story innocently (without expecting any great achievements). He says he wanted to make a good artistic film, and it was not about taking an idea to the people, but giving a lifestyle experience. He (and the interviewer) believes his team has achieved that. As many people have responded positively to this movie, they compare the success to the cult status of Shawshank Redemption (over IMDB ratings).
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sanjana
November 17, 2021
When the content is so powerful, form takes a backseat even for many critics. And sometimes form does not matter. At the end of it, form is a western concept like eating with forks and knives instead of with hands. Most Indians love content in their films and some good music. Kashyap, Vishal B make great films with great form but their films are out of reach for the common man. Thus the message does not reach. Raj Kapoor’s films have grand sets and great songs and thus the message reach the common man too.
What is good for the goose is not good for the gander.
Just take the case of deaths and reactions. The lowest rung of people express their emotions beating their chests and crying without any inhibitions. The other strata tries to control emotions with a stoic expression.
Punjabi weddings are loud,, south Indian weddings(not filmy) are sober.
Jai Bheem is raw and primitive like its characters and thats why it is getting so much appreciation even from otherwise indifferent people.
I know some people who dont report thefts or beat the suspects.They just get rid of them and employ new ones. If people see films like this, They will think twice before reporting to the police.
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H. Prasanna
November 17, 2021
@BR From 14.00 to 15.00, he says previously movies like this tend to slip towards propaganda and lose their value as art, so he and his team were very conscious of that. He says they strived very hard to get it artistically well done.
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Macaulay Perapulla
November 17, 2021
T. Dharmaraj has written a series of essays, called “The Drug of Being the Saviour of the Oppressed”. I think it’s an important point that BR alluded to, in his review. The more I listen to how they have chosen to tell THEIR story, the more I am amazed at how BR has just relied on his gut to convey an important point in his review at the risk of inviting backlash.
I am not getting the time to do the translation for the English folks here. It’s an important read. Copy-pasting it here from my FB timeline.
#ஜெய்பீம் நலிந்தவர்களை ஈடேற்றும் போதை!
தமிழர்கள் தங்களைப் புரட்சியாளர்களாக எண்ணி மயங்குகிற தருணங்கள் நிறைய உண்டு. எம்ஜியார் அரசியலில் இருந்த பொழுது, திமுக தேர்தலில் வெற்றி பெற்று விடுகிற சமயங்களில், ஜல்லிக்கட்டு போன்ற பண்பாட்டு நிகழ்வுகளுக்கு எதிர்ப்பு வரும் பொழுது… இந்த வரிசையில், ‘ஜெய்பீம்’ திரைப்படத்தை சிலாகிப்பதையும் சேர்த்துக் கொள்ள வேண்டும்.
மனிதவுரிமை மீறல் எதிர்ப்புப் போராட்டங்களின் உக்கிரமும், உண்மைத்தன்மையும், நியாயமும் அவை நிகழ்த்தப்படும் போது மட்டுமே வெளிப்படுகின்றன. பின்னாட்களில், அவற்றை ஆவணமாகவோ அல்லது புனைவாகவோ உருட்டித் திரட்டும் பொழுது, மனிதர்களற்ற மனிதவுரிமைச் சிக்கல்களாகவே அவை வேடிக்கை காட்டுகின்றன.
ஜெய்பீம் திரைப்படத்தைப் பார்க்கும் பொழுதும் எனக்கு இப்படித்தான் தோன்றியது – இருளர்களின் சமூகச் சிக்கல் இருக்கிறது, இருளர்கள் எங்கே சார்?
‘இருளர்கள் எங்கே?’ என்ற கேள்வி கொஞ்சம் பழைய கேள்வி தான். இருளர்கள் பேசும் படைப்புகளை இருளர்களே தான் எடுக்க வேண்டும் என்றெல்லாம் நாம் அதற்குப் பதில் சொல்லி வந்திருக்கிறோம். அதாவது, எந்தவொரு படைப்பு மனதாலும் விளங்கிக் கொள்ள முடியாத புதிர் போன்றது, ‘ஏதிலிகளின் மனம்’ என்று இதற்குப் பொருள்.
ஆனால், இதையெல்லாம் கடந்து வந்து விட்டோம் என்றே நான் நினைக்கிறேன். மனம் பிறழ்ந்தவர்களின் மனதைக் கூட புனைய முடியும் என்பது தான் படைப்பாளர்களின் நம்பிக்கை. அதே நேரம், ‘ஏதிலியின் மனம்’ என்பது கடந்து செல்லும் தருணம் தானே தவிர, நிரந்தரமாய் தங்கி வாழும் இடமல்ல என்ற தெளிவும் இந்தக் கடத்தலுக்குக் காரணம்.
ஜெய்பீம், ஒரு சதுரங்க விளையாட்டின் உற்சாகத்தை மையமாகக் கொண்டிருக்கிறது. வழக்கறிஞர்களுக்கும் காவலர்களுக்குமான விளையாட்டு. இதில், நல்ல வழக்/காவ, கெட்ட வழக்/காவ, நியாய வழக்/காவ, அநியாய வழக்/காவ, விளையாட்டின் விதிகளை ஒழுங்குபடுத்திக் கொண்டிருக்கும் சதுரங்கக் கட்டங்களைப் போன்ற நீதிபதிகள், முன்வரிசை சிவப்புத் துண்டணிந்த போராளிகள்… என்று விதவிதமானக் கதாபாத்திரங்கள். படம் முழுவதும் சூழ்ச்சிகளும் முறியடிப்புகளுமாக அடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன.
இதில், இருளர்களின் சமூகப்பிரச்சினையின் இடம் என்ன என்று கேட்கலாம். சில விளையாட்டுகளில் திரட்டப்படும் நிதி, எல்லையில் போராடும் வீரர்களின் குடும்பங்களுக்கு அல்லது வெள்ள நிவாரணத்திற்கு என்றெல்லாம் சொல்லப்படுமே, அது போல, ஜெய்பீம் என்ற இந்த விளையாட்டு உருவாக்கும் கருணை, இருளர்களுக்கு.
இந்தக் கருணையைப் பெறும் இருளர்களும் சாதாரண இருளர்கள் அல்ல. வெள்ளந்திகள்; சூதுவாது அற்றவர்கள்; பாம்புக்கும் கருணை காட்டுகிறவர்கள்; பொய் சொல்ல அஞ்சுகிறவர்கள்; காதலும் கனிவுமானவர்கள். அதாவது, ஜெய்பீமில் சாகசம் போலச் சொல்லப்படுகிற சூழ்ச்சிகளைக் கொஞ்சமும் அறியாதவர்கள். மீறி அவர்கள், எப்பொழுதாவது, சொந்தமாக யோசித்து ஏதாவது ஒரு நல்ல பொய்யைச் சொன்னால் கூட, அதற்காகக் கண்டிக்கப்பட வேண்டியவர்கள். நீதி எவ்வாறு வழுவக் கூடாதோ அதே போல், ஏதிலிகளும் வழுவுதல் பிழை.
ஜெய்பீமில் வெளிப்படும் நியாயத்திற்கான சாகசம், வெகுஜன புரட்சிகர மனதை அப்பட்டமாக திருப்தி செய்கிறது. திரைப்படத்தின் நோக்கமும் அது தான் என்பதை நாம் உடனடியாக விளங்கிக் கொள்ள முடிகிறது. பிரச்சினையின் தீவிரம் அல்லது முரண்பாடு அல்ல; அதில் காணக்கிடைக்கும் சுவராஸ்யமே எல்லோரையும் ஈர்க்கிறது. இதைத் தான் ‘மனிதவுரிமை மீறல் எதிர்ப்புப் போராட்டங்களின் உக்கிரமும், உண்மைத்தன்மையும், நியாயமும் அவை நிகழ்த்தப்படும் போது மட்டுமே வெளிப்படுகின்றன. பின்னாட்களில், அவற்றை ஆவணமாகவோ அல்லது புனைவாகவோ உருட்டித் திரட்டும் பொழுது, மனிதர்களற்ற மனிதவுரிமைச் சிக்கல்களாகவே அவை வேடிக்கை காட்டுகின்றன’ என்று நான் சொல்கிறேன்.
நிகழும் போது திரளும் உண்மை, புனையும் போது தவற விடப்படுவது ஏன்? இருளர் சமூகச்சிக்கலைப் பேசும் ஜெய்பீம் மூன்று முக்கியமான தருணங்களை ஜடம் போலக் கடந்து செல்வதைக் கவனித்துப் பார்க்கலாம்: ஒன்று, எந்த நேரமும், எந்த பக்கமிருந்தும் வாழ்வின் மீதான அச்சுறுத்தல் நிகழக்கூடும் என்ற இருளர்களின் பதட்டத்தை, அனாதரவான சூழலை, பாம்பைக் கூட நம்ப முடியும் மனிதர்களை முடியாது என்ற பழங்குடி மனதை இத்திரைப்படத்தில் நீங்கள் காணமுடியாது. இரண்டு, வலுவான நிறுவன பலமுள்ள அரசு வழக்கறிஞர்களின் ஆக்ரோஷத்தின் முன், தார்மீகத்தை மட்டுமே ஆயுதமாக ஏந்திப் போராடும் கதாநாயகன் உடைந்து நொறுங்கி பின் மீண்டெழும் தருணங்களை நீங்கள் இந்தத் திரைப்படத்தில் எதிர்ப்பார்க்க வாய்ப்பில்லை. மூன்று, யாருக்காக வாதாடிக் கொண்டிருக்கிறோமோ அவர்கள் நாம் நம்புவது போல தூய்மையானவர்களா இல்லையா என்ற குழப்பமே வராத கதாநாயகன். இருளரின் மனதை மட்டுமல்ல, நியாய உணர்வுள்ள வழக்கறிஞர்களின் மனதைக் கூட ஜெய்பீமால் அணுக முடிவதில்லை.
இதுவொரு வழக்கறிஞர் – போலிஸ் கதை என்று சொல்வதற்கான காரணம், இதன் பாத்திர வடிவமைப்பு. வழக்கறிஞர்களிலும் காவலர்களிலும் இத்தனை வகைகள் இருந்தது போல, பேசுபொருளான இருளர்களிலும், சிவப்புத்துண்டு போராளிகளிளும் இல்லாமல் போனதற்குக் காரணம் என்ன? ஏன், காவலர்களைத் திருடர்கள் என்று பழிக்கும் இருளர்கள் படத்தில் இல்லை? ஏன், திருடும் இருளர்கள் இல்லை? ஏன், இருளர்களிலும் காவலர்களிலும் நண்பர்கள் இல்லை? மிக எளிய காரணம் தான் – பழங்குடிகள் ஏதிலிகளாக விளங்கினால் மட்டுமே, சந்துரு மாதிரியான புரட்சிகர இளைஞரக்ள் உருவாக முடியும்.
‘நலிந்தவர்களைக் காப்பாற்றுகிறேன்’ என்று சொல்வது தற்கால வெகுஜன அரசியலில் காணப்படும் கொடிய போதைப்பழக்கம். மதவாதத்தின் சாந்த முகம். அதற்கு சிவப்புத்துண்டு போட்டு விடுவது தான் ஜெய்பீமில் நடக்கும் வேடிக்கை.
இப்பொழுதானால் அம்பேத்கரிடம் இப்படிச் சொல்லலாம்: தயவு செய்து தூங்குங்கள் பீம். உங்களது உறக்கமின்மை எங்களுக்குத் துர்க்கனவுகளைக் கொண்டு வருகின்றன!.
Those who want to read further parts of his essay can check out his FB page. He has written four parts further on this https://www.facebook.com/dharmarajant
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brangan
November 17, 2021
madhusudhan194: To answer your question, who is an actual poet? Anyone who writers with line breaks and verse? No, right? There is a form called poetry and there are certain rules that lift the ordinary Facebook poet from an actual poet, right? Similarly, cinema is a language. We have reduced it to a storytelling tool (and I respect the fact that that is enough for you) — but to me an actual filmmaker is someone who takes the “story” and then makes “cinema” out of it, starting from the screenplay to the various departments that follow later, and especially while staging the action during the shoot.
That is how I call it. Like always, I am not imposing this definition on anyone — though I do find it surprising that so few people still care about cinematic form and are just happy with a story/message.
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Yajiv
November 17, 2021
Wow so TJ Gnanavel is the Rupi Kaur of filmmaking 🙂
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vijay
November 17, 2021
I wonder if this had been a written review from a few years back if it would have elicited such a response. These guys wouldnt have gotten all worked up I guess.They know anyway that a selected few read those reviews and even fewer understood what was written . Its that darn video format and the youtube views that is making certain guys jittery. I think if you had said the exact same thing in that video but with a half-smile throughout,, maybe it wouldnt have caused such grief 🙂 Anyways this shouldnt hurt filmcompanionsouth. If anything, it benefits. Whats more worrisome would be sheer indifference. You are becoming more ‘mainstream’ with these video reviews I guess.
Not for nothing do our producers/distributors say “content is king”..the most cliched phrase I have heard about in Tamil edia channels. Have they ever said “form is king”? :-). BR, you are such an outlier man.
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VS S
November 17, 2021
One thing I dont agree with a lot of people trolling BR including TJ G, to bring in the caste or social status of the reviewer as a bias. That does not justify the positive reviews given on Visaranai/Asuran/ Pariyerum Perumal. In fact the right wing, thinks that BR is a leftist when he likes the above types of film which again is not fair. Its better to check consistency of the reviewer before accusing him/her. But in the fast food world we live in its not an expectation we can have.
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H. Prasanna
November 17, 2021
@Vijay I think you are right about video versus written review wrt backlash. I saw another otherwise-positive review on Film Companion South which just referred to some parts of the movie as “violence porn”. I don’t know how that would have gone down in video, which made “crying baby” a meme.
https://www.filmcompanion.in/reviews/tamil-review/jai-bhim-movie-review-suriya-a-no-holds-barred-film-on-institutional-violence/amp/
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Madan
November 17, 2021
” At the end of it, form is a western concept like eating with forks and knives instead of with hands.” – I don’t agree with the notion that form is Western at all. We have our own conception of form and aesthetic. The very bizarre thing post liberalization is that even while jingoism and nationalism have multiplied at least 10x if not 100x, actual appreciation for that which is Indian and still beautiful has been steadily dwindling. Are there no rules for form when it comes to Bharatanatyam or Carnatic/Hindustani music? Or, say, Hindi poetry (because I am not that familiar with Tamil poetry, gulp!)? Absolutely not.
But let’s talk about films. How else does one explain that with limited technology and budgets forcing them to use lots of sets rather than live location shooting, directors still crafted scenes like this lovingly back in the day?
Does anybody have the patience to craft a romantic duet picturisation like that today instead of the usual Edward Scissorhands editing? And was this scene from an art film? No, not at all, as we all know, the film was a massive, massive hit.
And this was 1948, when India had very high poverty and illiteracy:
Sorry but the only person stopping a director from shooting the film well is the director himself, not the audience. To blame the audience indirectly, saying they want content and not form, is lazy and no good director ever says that.
A film can still be a good watch for a general viewer without being well directed if the story is strong…but you don’t need a critic to tell you that and the story being strong has very little to do with direction. A film critique necessarily involves discussing the direction so by discussing that, BR is only doing the job expected of a critic. If a director himself says nobody cares about form, only content, that says more about the director, not BR.
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bart
November 17, 2021
Thala is entering into prime news debates. Jai BR!
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Eswar
November 18, 2021
BR, regarding your response to Madhusudhan194.
I agree there is a form for poetry. But I suppose the form of poetry must have changed over the years? And likely multiple forms of poetry coexisted at some point? If I use an example from Tamil literature, I often hear three distinctive types of works. Traditional (marabu), Modernism, and post-modernism. There is a clear distinction between each of these types of work. But they don’t negate each other that is all of these types of works are considered book-worthy. Is there an equivalent of it in Cinema? If it is a language, then what are its dialects? And how do you recognise and measure the evolution of this language? I understand you do not impose your definition, but I am interested to know what will change your definition of Cinema?
You say it is surprising that so few people care about cinematic form (I hope I have understood your statement correctly). Why is it a surprise? For example, does everyone who visits temples care or marvel at the beautiful sculptures every time? In the absence of any aesthetically, perfectly built structures, does a temple lose its purpose? For an architect or a sculptor, Thanjai Periya Kovil can be a model for a perfect temple. But for a devotee, an Amman under an asbestos sheet will do. I am not saying devotees won’t appreciate Periya Kovil. It’s just that they don’t expect every temple to be a Periya Kovil. For, people don’t go to a temple always for its form.
A few hypothetical questions. If you were not a film critic, would you give so much importance to the form and definition of every movie you would watch? Would you have ever let yourself be affected and moved by formless content?
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brangan
November 18, 2021
Eswar: I will give you an example to say why I think JAI BHIM is not well-written.
The very first scene has people being separated according to caste, and the kuravar/irular/etc community is singled out so that they can be put in jail for unsolved crimes.
So far so good, despite the ugly shot of the bribe money going into the cop’s pocket (LOOK! LOOK! THE MAN IS TAKING A BRIBE!)
But in the larger screenplay, this presents two issues.
One, the exact same scene is repeated when Suriya and Prakash Raj are sitting in front of Irulas and hearing their problems — that their fathers and husbands are being jailed like this. So this is a repetition of something that has already been conveyed very vividly in the first scene.
The bigger problem with that first scene is that when Manikandan goes to look for the snake, you know now he is going to be arrested — (a) because of the ugly visual of all jewels being laid out like a GRT showroom and (b) because the first scene has led you to anticipate it.
Now, we are talking about form right? Imagine the first scene was cut out. Imagine the jewels were not laid out in such a fashion. Now, Manikandan’s capture is not such a surety. He is just a man who’s there to capture a snake.
Or imagine the first scene is that of cops barging into Lijo Mol’s house and beating her and taking her away (okay okay, keep the crying baby). Now, everyone’s in the dark. The suspense mounts. Who is she? What happened?
Now imagine the story begins THEN! Now, everything involved the Irulas becomes a flashback, and is contrasted with the present day!
Now a straightforward and preachy ABCDEFGH structure has HDCABEF stucture (or whatever).
Like I said, most people seem to be perfectly happy with the former structure. But for me, that is bad and lazy screenwriting. You are not allowing the audience to participate (could it be this? could it be that?) and instead leading them with a bullring through the nose. And for me. predictability is a huge problem in screenwriting.
The only unpredictable parts are “what happened to Manikandan”! (But that is not the screenplay. That is the STORY, the overall arc of the story.)
If you were not a film critic, would you give so much importance to the form and definition of every movie you would watch?
There are two things here. Would I watch a movie whose form is not great? Of course. Provided there are other compensations. KA PAE RANASINGHAM is a great example of a story about a wife searching for her missing husband — who, like Manikandan in this movie, went away to get work.
From my review:
“The film is a Roja-ish Satyavan/Savitri story, and it’s an impressive debut for writer-director P Virumaandi…. instead of offering simple-minded solutions and heroic (or heroine-ic) lectures to fix these issues, it submerges us in a quicksand of systemic rot.
We feel — almost physically — not just every step of Ariyanachi’s journey, but also the many months it takes her to find a solution. And even so, the last stretch is a heart-breaker.”
“Most writer-directors try and streamline their story, so there is one clear issue, one clear hero (or heroine), one clear villain… But Ka Pae Ranasingam isn’t a simple cause-and-effect movie. It’s a causes-and-effects movie. Commoners aren’t all good. Politicians aren’t all bad.
Appropriately, several frames are packed with people. (The cinematographer is NK Ekambaram.) My favourite such framing is a scene around the local water source, where women gather with plastic buckets. So much is told, here: that it’s very late at night, that the water in the taps comes in the thinnest of trickles, that these women still manage to make light of the situation with their teasing banter, and that all this affects Ariyanachi.
The film isn’t perfect. It could have used more polish — not necessarily in the making, but in the writing, the way the scenes are rounded off or the way some characters are introduced. But after a very long time, I had the satisfaction of watching a movie that was about something and yet not in a hurry to offer closure. Ka Pae Ranasingam understands that these problems are too complex for a hero (or a heroine) to solve and send us home with a smile
Even the heavy-handed scenes largely work because there is such a lived-in sense of place and time. Shanmugam Muthusamy’s dialogues play a major part: “Kudukaatha saamy-ya vida kudukkara pei evvalavo mael,” or “Nallavano kettavano, sethaa sondha oorula saaganum.” As do the actors.”
Now, each of these lines are the opposite of what I would say for JAI BHIM – except that JB is a true story that actually had closure. I am saying KA PAE could have used polish. But ultimately — THIS IS MY MAIN POINT — it is made with respect for both the art and the audience. It is not saying weep now, weep now, weep now…” which is how JB felt to me, and I found that last scene horrible (where she clasps her hands to Suriya as though he were a deity).
For me, a masala movie like KATHI (where Vijay is “saving hapless villagers”) is more honest in a way because it doesn’t pretend to be anything BUT a masala movie. But JB is a “hero” movie” where the “heroism” (and the way this “heroism is “framed”) is carefully packed into a “social-issue drama”.
So in other words, form IS content. HOW you choose to tell the story is as important as the story itself. I have restricted myself to the screenplay here, but I could go on about editing choices, music, cinematography, etc.
In other words, I am not flippantly dismissing this film. I have my reasons.
PS: I do not deny that JAI BHIM has created a lot of awareness and discussion, but that is not my place to include in a review — where I am only analysing the film itself.
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sanjana
November 18, 2021
Form and content can coexist. Sometimes one can overpower the other.
There are some positives and some negatives about a film like Jai Bhim. First the positives and then negatives or vice versa? How to title a review? Showing the negative narrative or simply rephrasing it? That is a reviewer’s prerogative. If it draws criticism, it has to be accepted as normal. If that criticism is called out, that also can be called normal.
A debate, a controversy is the usp of any blog. Thus one can enjoy this debate.
Jai Bhim sounds northish. That is the beauty of Indian languages. We incorporate certain words, certain titles from other languages and enrich it. An example is a not so recent film called Ramaiyya Vastavaiyya and a song beginning with those words from Shri 420.
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hari
November 18, 2021
A family friend of mine used to work with the under privileged around Cuddalore/Pondy area. During the 2015 Chennai Rains he got an SoS from an Irula village in that area about their mud houses getting damaged and they are in dire straits. He rushes to the village and with local help sets up some temporary setup using tarpaulin sheets. After the rains settles as part of rehabilitation he and few others make a plan to build basic concrete structures costing 25k to 30k per home. We get on a fund raising drive collecting around 3L for around 10 houses. When the local PMK corporator comes to know of this drive, he orders our family friend to get on with the buildings only through him. He said we don’t want them to live in concrete homes like us. He said if these guys get the concrete homes then they will demand jobs, then education etc. We cannot have them as our equals. Our family friend was devastated and could not continue with the job. Not sure what happened to the affected families thereafter.
Finally we see a “movie” making some references to Vanniyars as the caste perpetrators. We need more such movies showing thevar/gounder/naicker/nadar as the perpetrators. Because if one watches only Tamizh movies he/she will not know that other than the Brahmins no body is a casteist in TN :).
But see the opposition of the movie from the Vanniyars. One single movie has rattled them. They all are ganging up.
OTOH Soorarai Potru a movie supposedly about a Brahmin protagonist changes tracks and makes a Brahmin as an antagonist, a favorite pet peeve of Madan 🙂 but didn’t evoke any single opposition.
What is sad is BR for this review is cast as a casteist. BR in his interview with Mohan went on to allude that if a movie mocks a Brahmin it is ok if it gels with the flow of the movie. That should give a clue to these Gnanavels. In a supposedly anti-casteist state, all everyone see is who (caste) is saying not what they are saying.
Funnily Gnanavel attributes DMK for his success, same DMK parties in so many years have done zilch for the downtrodden.
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Macaulay Perapulla
November 18, 2021
“So in other words, form IS content. HOW you choose to tell the story is as important as the story itself. I have restricted myself to the screenplay here, but I could go on about editing choices, music, cinematography, etc.”
In other words, as they say about politics. You may choose to ignore Politics. But Politics Won’t Ignore You. Like wise, a filmmaker or anyone might say, “I don’t give a damn about Form”. But the way I tell my story tells me what my form is. I tried watching this movie and gave up watching after the first scene which showed the money going in the cop’s pocket. I don’t have much time in my life. And so my patience level is very low. And when I see a scene like this, it is enough to tell me that this is as banal as my school days’ plays when I used to (I cringe about it now) make my Muslim friends as terrorists and give messages about world peace.
In other words, how you choose to portray the “oppressed” in one dimension reveals your intentions of FORM. FORM is CONTENT.
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Eswar
November 18, 2021
BR. Thank you for that detailed response. Appreciate it.
There is a scene in Kurangu Bommai that I often recollect which I probably learnt to appreciate from your review. You wrote:
“take the marvellous scene behind a police station where a gypsy couple is reporting the loss of their child. (It’s a fantastic story!) Again, the camera moves slightly, and we see where the cop is. (We expect him to be standing in front of them.) It’s a hoot.
The scene keeps building. We follow the cop and the gypsies as they head into the station, and a single-take shot (the superb cinematography is by NS Udhayakumar) leads to a finale that made my jaw drop.”
Am I right to think the above scene is an example of form? There is no content per se in that scene. But that scene still stands on its own. I will contrast this with the movie Aram. I don’t remember any vivid scenes like the one above. However, I remember the movie for what it made me feel. As I watched the movie I couldn’t avoid thinking about our son going through a similar experience. If there is no form in Aram, then it merely worked for me because of its content. I will use Taslima Nasrin’s book Lajja as an example where the form didn’t work for me. The book felt like a newspaper to me. While I say this, I also wonder if I am making this assessment because I did not agree with the content of the book. Finally, for an example where I didn’t agree with the content, but still find the movie captivating, I refer to ‘Muthal Mariyathai’. If I don’t agree with the content, but if I still can appreciate a movie, surely it must be its form?
From what I have said above, the form and the content of a movie are like looking at a Necker cube. Objectively there is only one cube. But as I keep looking at the Necker cube it flips back and forth. Sometimes it is the form, sometimes it is the content, and sometimes it’s all the same. From this view, it feels to me then, like a philosopher who can defend and reject a position simultaneously, art can be appreciated and rejected simultaneously for its content and form. Or weigh one over the other while looking at the same object. For example, you say ‘Kathi’ doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a masala movie. But that one of Vijay’s characters is named Jeeva and that he explains communism cannot be a coincidence, right? Then, Kathi at the same time can be viewed as just a masala movie or propaganda wrapped in masala format. No?
I am not saying there is no good art or that art cannot be assessed but merely observing the grey areas in making that assessment.
And to your final point BR, yes it is not for a reviewer to take into consideration the awareness and discussion a movie has created.
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Matcher Key-Jaunt
November 18, 2021
the ayes have it – a mediocre, emotionally manipulative film is now officially kollywood’s answer to the godfather and shawshank redemption. i wonder if this will start off a trend of increasingly unsubtle movies, culminating in the movie where the villain is named kettavan and the suffering hero is named nallavan.
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VS S
November 18, 2021
Guys- What is the biggest joke that has happened as a result of the movie? Actor Suriya’s house gets police protection after threats on Jai Bhim. It cant get a better climax and this beats the even the ending of the movie. The Cops will have the last laugh. What should have been taken up by movie team should have been policing reforms, forensic led enquiries and legal education for the police . Instead they made it sound like a cast issue. Giving royalty to Parvathi for the movie would have actually resulted in the movie team upholding equality which they speak. Rather giving assistance actually demeans her. As though some one is offering alms. If she got royalty, she could have taken it without folded hands and would have given them better respect which this movie speaks of but, I leave it to the consciousness of the general public to decide
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sachita
November 19, 2021
Considering BR has reviewed Pa Ranjith’s or Mari selvaraj’s movies, TJ Gnanavel’s response doesnt hold ground at all. But no one is interested in truth. But Long term readers of this space will understand.
Thanks, Hari for sharing the story. When PMK continued making a ton of noise even after the scene was removed, I suspected it was a tactic to ensure that Irula community’s problem doesnt become the focus. And also to ensure public is afraid of pmk. Your story has added to the perspective.
This is why a 5 crore demand so that the party can tell its community that they get 5x the money the irular got.
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Madan
November 19, 2021
“Considering BR has reviewed Pa Ranjith’s or Mari selvaraj’s movies, TJ Gnanavel’s response doesnt hold ground at all. ” – Yes, he could have engaged with the critique itself. Instead, he simply politicized it to the effect that “all these (forward caste) critics talked like this all the time but now they cannot suppress our (lower caste) voices anymore”. That is a bad faith criticism.
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H. Prasanna
November 19, 2021
@Eswar
“For example, you say ‘Kathi’ doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a masala movie. But that one of Vijay’s characters is named Jeeva and that he explains communism cannot be a coincidence, right? Then, Kathi at the same time can be viewed as just a masala movie or propaganda wrapped in masala format. No?”
I think BR kind of addresses this in his reply. Kathi begins and ends with Vijay, like all of Vijay’s movies (but you don’t even need that context of how all of Vijay’s movies are). Every other Character or scenario is just there to challenge or celebrate Vijay. This is apparent from the beginning. If there is propaganda or ideology (communism), then it exists only to serve Vijay. So, it is kind of honest when all the plot machinations lead to mass-fying Vijay’s achievements. Contrast this with Jai Bhim. They talk extensively about the Irula family and criminal profiling independent of Surya’s character. We are led to believe if someone is going to be hero-fyed in this mass/Masala movie, it is them. But, Surya walks in very late and gets all the hero-fying. It is not wrong, it just doesn’t fit in with what we are shown initially. I think that’s why BR keeps saying that they could have structured the screenplay to start off with the crime and then the Surya character heroically unfolding the mystery.
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Eswar
November 19, 2021
A recent post from Paul Graham on a related subject:
The other reason people doubt that art can be good is that there doesn’t seem to be any room in the art for this goodness. The argument goes like this. Imagine several people looking at a work of art and judging how good it is. If being good art really is a property of objects, it should be in the object somehow. But it doesn’t seem to be; it seems to be something happening in the heads of each of the observers. And if they disagree, how do you choose between them?
http://www.paulgraham.com/goodtaste.html
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H. Prasanna
November 19, 2021
@Eswar
In short, it can be both. A propaganda wrapped in a masala/mass movie. But it isn’t.
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Eswar
November 19, 2021
@H.Prasanna. I see what you mean about ‘Kathi’. I think Vijay’s character would have worked even without those references. Don’t you think so? If you agree with that, I wonder about the purpose of using those particular references?
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H. Prasanna
November 20, 2021
@Eswar Yes, the characters work without communism and Jeeva. I feel they are not brought in because the movie wants to glorify them, but because they want to appropriate the glory without doing the work. I know its a thin line. But indulge me. (Thanks for indulging me until now.)
An instance of how this type of movie works for me is Black Panther. Black Panther’s villain Killmonger seeks revenge after he is orphaned and abandoned as a child by T Chaka, the hero’s father and king of the clandestine technologically advanced Wakanda. After he is defeated by the hero at the end of the movie, he is given an option to live as a prisoner, despite all his murdering. Now he says “Bury me in the ocean, with my ancestors that jumped from the ships, because they knew death was better than bondage.”
Killmonger invokes all of African American oppressive history to justify his war fueled by personal revenge. Would the character work without this line? Absolutely. Logically, outside the movie, should it work to justify his behavior? No. Is this privileged, free man who grew up with more advantages than anyone before comparable to people in the history he invokes? Is his death as righteous as the people who didn’t survive the trip under such great trauma? No. But, it works brilliantly because the movie creates a myth that is as deep as the comparison made. They create a man who wants to make his revenge not only about his abandonment but the abandonment of his entire community. His logic sucks, he fails. But we understand his pain.
I am just saying movies like Kathi do not do this work. They expect people like you, who know the history, to make up the myth. Instead, there are hints like Jeeva and communism, triumphant background score, deceitful structuring to hide the hero’s real sacrifice at the heart of the farmers revolution, etc. They are attempting to appropriate our memory and understanding of history rather than creating characters that are complex and larger than life. Do I feel that the sacrifice of revolutionaries are glorious? Yes. But do I buy that this character is invoking that revolutionary by just word association? No.
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brangan
November 21, 2021
Matcher Key-Jaunt: I just caught your comment in Spam as I was cleaning up the site. It’s up now.
Actually, this has been happening quite a bit of late. In future, if people want to use nicknames, can you use “human sounding” nicks, please? 🙂
I think that’s one reason comments get shunted off to spam.
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Madan
November 21, 2021
” a mediocre, emotionally manipulative film is now officially kollywood’s answer to the godfather and shawshank redemption.” – While I agree, I would also like to point out that The Dark Knight still enjoys a rating of 9.0 on IMDB bringing it in the top 3, barely below Shawshank Redemption and Godfather. Two LOTR films make the IMDB top 10 and the third one along with a Star Wars film make the top 20. Meanwhile, not a single Scorsese/Hitchcock/Kubrick/Altman film in the top 10. And should you point this out, there will be an awful lot of ‘contextualization’ and you may even get called a snob as Martin Scorsese was. There is cultish behaviour everywhere and not just in Tamil cinema.
PS: Hitchcock’s masterful Vertigo comes in at 91. The very epitome of cinema is not valued on the most popular forum for cinema!
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Eswar
November 21, 2021
@H.Prasanna. Thanks to you for taking the time to respond.
In addition to “appropriate our memory and understanding of history”, I also see this approach as using the audience’s common knowledge to project the lead character as something more than what the story needs. In Kathi, the reel life character gets shades of reality by naming him Jeeva. In movies based on real-life events, the lead character is painted with the heroisms of a reel life hero, especially when played by popular/mass heroes. Here the common knowledge is the heroism of these heroes. In the absence of a mass hero, heroism elements disappear. So, I see both types of filmmakers dabbling with the audience common knowledge for some gain. Is this an incorrect observation? If not, then it appears mass/masala movies could get away with such dabbling, but films that are closer to real-life events may not have that leeway? The heroic fight sequences and slow-motion shots in the latter movies attract criticism. An example of such criticism is the fight sequence involving older Dhanush in Asuran. I haven’t watched Jai Bhim, so I don’t know if it is a failed attempt to depict a true story or is a failed generic mass movie. If it is the former, and in general, are filmmakers criticised more for their attempts, even if it is a failed effort, to move away from generic mass movies, say when compared to a filmmaker who doesn’t even make that attempt?
Of course, these are general questions I have on the topic and not directed to you. Thanks
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Honest Raj
November 21, 2021
And for me. predictability is a huge problem in screenwriting.
Considering this aspect, would you put KB’s films on the same pedestal had you been around during his time?
On a side note, hope ‘Honest Raj’ is ‘human’ enough for the spam filter. 🙂
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H. Prasanna
November 21, 2021
@Eswar Yes, I am fine with directors relying on the common knowledge of audience to establish context and basic understanding of the emotions the film is trying to convey. But, for me, they cannot fully depend on that real history for creating that emotion. Because no film can adequately recreate a real incident or character, we are reduced to the perspective of the director.
Therefore, any emotion created by the film must rely on the local knowledge created by the characters, and not the real person or incident it is based on. The common knowledge is simply an underlying foundation on which the film’s emotion should be built and should not be the emotion itself.
“In movies based on real-life events, the lead character is painted with the heroisms of a reel life hero, especially when played by popular/mass heroes. ”
I agree. I also agree that mass movies get away with it more than movies that are reality-based. I feel this is because the mass movie is constantly reminding us it is about the star more than the real incident/issue.
And a star/hero character for me is really important in a message movie, as much as a message is important for the hero/star.
A good example is the common masala/mass technique of the punch dialogue. It derives from the greater context of the star to serve the smaller context of the movie. Thus, it enhances the star’s brand while using it to get a high in the movie. In Asuran, for example, the punchline at the end is Dhanush asking his son (by proxy his fans) to concentrate on his education because that is the one thing they can’t take away.
Every issue/incident involves a particular idea/emotion, and an ordinary protagonist no matter how extraordinary can only be shown to survive a certain degree of believable trauma. But, a hero/star can take all the trauma and fight on, thereby representing a wide array of problems a person can face in a real-world scenario. I see this as an advantage of having a heroic character lead the movie.
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Krish
November 23, 2021
This is a movie BR you need to revisit. Think you have got the Samuthrakani movie comparison badly wrong here. Its quite well made and engaging movie and a brave movie too.
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brangan
November 23, 2021
Krish: I have seen it twice 😦
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Madan
November 23, 2021
Not since the days of ‘Attack of the Nolan-ites’ on your blog have I seen so much fervent effort to get you to change your opinion on a movie. 😀
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Anu Warrier
November 24, 2021
Madan, you’ve already forgotten women commentators’ fervent efforts to get him to change his mind on Arjun Reddy?? 🙂
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Madan
November 24, 2021
Anu Warrier: Did people tell him he was wrong with his take on that movie or to watch it again and change the review? I don’t remember but maybe it did happen.
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Krish
November 24, 2021
Madan : The intention was not change the opinion. BR liked Zero, I didnt. There are many other examples where our tastes have not matched but i could see his point of view nevertheless. But for this movie I could not. I think the movie is like a 3 on 5 movie so its not that i rate it too high myself. But i could not agree on the Samuthrakani comparisons or that it was preachy. I dont think the grief was amplified etc. I found it quite engaging to be honest and even realistic actually. The way BR thrashed it, it sounds like a 1 on 5 movie 🙂 It surely is not THAT bad.
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Satya
November 24, 2021
Anu Warrier: Arjun Reddy had its share of supporters from the commentators. But this one is something else. Far more impacting than the Nolan-ite blast in the past.
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Madan
November 24, 2021
Krish : Well, you asked him to revisit the movie so that goes well beyond a mere disagreement. You are saying that he as a professional critic got it completely wrong and needs to watch it or review his review.
And you do have the right to say that, but I am simply pointing out how unusual that is on this blog. Even the movies that provoked the most heated discussions before didn’t have not one but a bunch of commenters telling BR he is WRONG.
FWIW, bears repeating that I liked this film and said as much here.
But I also got to understand BR’s point when I saw Zodiac a week back. I was so fascinated by the Bill Vaughn scene, like many before me, that I had to watch it again. I cannot name a single scene from Jai Bhim that fascinated me for HOW it was shot. That is, say the scenes that depict the police brutality were powerful for what they documented and which our films don’t discuss often enough. But there was not one scene that fascinated me for how it was composed.
Understand : I am not saying this because BR and couple of likeminded commenters like Venky are harping on this point but because my own reactions to the respective films bring out the critique. The subconscious does not lie. I was not instinctively inclined to re-watch any specific scene of Jai Bhim for how it was shot. But I did it all of my own after Zodiac, I had not read about the Bill Vaughn and had no idea prior to watching what a treat I was in for.
Zodiac itself is a movie based on a true story but for something somewhat more in Jai Bhim territory, consider the Steiner scene in Downfall.
After that, if people insist that idhu Tamil padam, idhu ippididhan edukkapadum, there is nothing to debate. But saying that actually only validates BR’s critique anyway. It’s also not as if nobody EVER in Tamil cinema applied thought in how they shot scenes. Even a film with bad production values like Nooravadhu Naal had imaginatively shot scenes. When it’s a thriller, our directors instinctively remember the importance of ‘cinema’. Karuthu sollanumna erangita they forget all about the camera and make the actors talk, talk and talk. This in essence has already been said by Mysskin too.
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Anu Warrier
November 24, 2021
@Madan – this was just a light-hearted quip. 🙂 No, we did not ask BR to watch it again and change his opinion. We just disagreed with his review, and about the impact of the film. 🙂
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satishkvasan
November 24, 2021
Watched Kaavalthurai ungal Nanban.. and then I could connect to BR’s view. Jai Bhim was definitely a watchable movie. However, Kaavalthurai ungal Nanban shocks you.
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brangan
November 25, 2021
satishkvasan: Thank you watching that film. (Which platform, BTW?)
Leave the silly opening scenes of romance – and you get a powerfully directed (and not exploitative) portrayal of police brutality.
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K
November 25, 2021
Kavalthuran Ungal Nanban available in Zee 5
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satishkvasan
November 25, 2021
Yes, it is on Zee5.
Suggest watching the opening credits on mute.
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Jallikattu lover
November 25, 2021
People who say Baradwaj Rangan is casteist just because of this review are sorely mistaken.
For starters, you can’t even spell Jai Bhim without Baradwaj!
Get it? ‘BR’ Ambedkar 😂
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brangan
December 2, 2021
Via email…
I am S residing in Australia for the last 18years, I have a huge respect for your film reviews which was unbiased and transparent, with so many noises around the movie Jai Bhim it made me to watch it. I am not a fan of these modern day films. i only enjoy old MGR & Sivaji Ganesan’s movies.
I was utterly disappointed by your review for the movie Jai Bhim, i always read your reviews before i watch a film very rarely, I am very picky in watching films because these modern days films don’t entice me since it doesn’t have a story line nor make any sense.
But in retrospect i wanted to watch the film Jai Bhim after IMDB rating was so high, but i wanted to read your review before i watch the film which i usually do, You had reviewed the film saying a few flaws in the making of the film but i some how convinced myself to watch the it after a long deliberation,The movie Jai Bhim had blown my mind away and was in awe with the film.
I am not sure what made you think that this movie has some flaws despite of having vast knowledge of reviewing films for the past few years.
My humble request to you is please if you are unsure of your decision please do watch it again and again till you think you have taken a right decision.
I would have missed this cult movie if i had gone by your review. Sorry to say It also puts your credibility in doubt.
This is only a humble suggestion and not to damage your persona.
Thanks and Regards
S
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Madan
December 2, 2021
What’s with this film? Lol.
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naan
December 2, 2021
It isn’t like Tamil movies have been making only masterpieces before. Hero Jumping up into the air, with his sumo, fighting 10 villains , fighting for the oppressed, etc is the normal template for a lot of Tamil films. SUbtlety isn’t the norm. Everything is amped up to a higher decibel level. Most tamil films with viJay, RaJani etc is ususally about a do-gooder hero and the villains are usually acting at “Prakash RaJ level loudness”.
I think BR is so used to watching so many well-told, good films from other parts of India/world that his tastes have become more refined . WHile a vast maJority tamil audience is still happy with Tamil movies and the way they are made, bcoz they don’t have anything else to compare it with.
He mentioned nayattu for example in his review. Mallus are way different in many ways. I remember actress Urvashi saying in an interview a long time back that when she goes to Tamil nadu, the people there are very generous in their praise for anything and everything. They are very forthcoming in their appreciation even for newcomers and don’t hold back when expressing themselves, While malayalis are very miserly in showing appreciation for things. YOu could give them the best movies and best performance, but they will still be hesitant in praising it and they set their standards very high. I think that mindset of being overtly expressive is reflected in Tamil movies too.
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Satya
December 3, 2021
Jai Bhim and Koozhangal nominated for Golden Globes 2022. Now that is some true diversity, no? 😉
Link: https://m.timesofindia.com/entertainment/tamil/movies/news/jai-bhim-is-golden-globe-awards-2022s-official-entry/articleshow/88046858.cms
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Yajiv
December 5, 2021
@BR: I don’t understand how one could think they might convince a professional film critic to change his/her opinion on a film through an email (or a blog comment or an angry tweet for that matter). This man has every right to feel disappointed OFC but what is the point of expressing that to you? What was he trying to achieve?
I continue to be confused by the the fervour & intensity of reaction to your review. Maybe I’m just very out of touch with the TN milieu.
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Madan
December 5, 2021
Yajiv: Colour me bemused too. Does every critic have to like EVERY film about an event of major socio-economic consequences? This is like, “you’re not allowed to say you don’t like Invictus.”
And yet, from the Rotten Tomatoes summary of Invictus: “Delivered with typically stately precision from director Clint Eastwood, Invictus may not be rousing enough for some viewers, but Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman inhabit their real-life characters with admirable conviction” So even the summary allows that everyone may not like the film and an average rating of 6.6/10 is not exactly a superlative thumbs up.
I am going to say that at least some of those urging BR to re-review either did not know about the Cuddalore incident at all or did not know much (not the extent of police brutality, for eg). Or maybe just the visceral shock of watching the cinematic enactment of it was so scalding that they felt overcome by guilt for not having been aware of this before. And they transfer a part of the guilt to BR for not giving a ringing endorsement of the film. Y’all are gonna come protesting that I generalize so pl note the usage “at least some”. How many? I don’t know. But that seems to be playing a part here.
I can freely confess I did not know about this incident. I was a kid when it happened and I didn’t and don’t live in TN. There was no internet back then and I don’t think we had even started receiving Tamil TV channels on our cable network so there was simply no way of knowing about an event like this unless I had been reading every word of the papers. And not doing so at 9 was not much of a crime, I suppose, considering that many of my relatives and elder acquaintances seem to have stopped reading newspapers NOW and only get their news from Republic/Times Now.
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vijay
December 5, 2021
“My humble request to you is please if you are unsure of your decision please do watch it again and again till you think you have taken a right decision.”
In other words, this reader wants BR to be stuck in a time-loop seeing Jai Bhim over and over again until he starts liking it. And then, he may snap out of it like Groundhog day or Maanadu.
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ravenus1
December 17, 2021
This is reminiscent of 90’s Indian movies that mixed scenes of gruesome torture / violence with mainstream masala sentiment. The victims have little personality other than being innocent oppressed folks, and the bad guys are cardboard evil. There is no sense of why Surya’s character is this crusader for social justice other than him being the HERO of the film (considering it’s based on a true story, this is a hugely missed opportunity to understand the motivation of the person).
For a film that so obviously fictionalizes many elements of its story, they could tried to come up with more interesting writing. Karnan, even if it had a less pragmatic solution of violent retaliation, imbued its characters with greater dimension and at least offered an emotional catharsis to its oppressed protagonists.
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brangan
December 18, 2021
ravenus1: Yes to everything. Nice to find one more person for whom this film just did not work. I son’t feel so alone anymore 🙂
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