Weekend movies - Sindhu Bhairavi and Ponniyin Selvan

Sindhu Bhairavi - This is one movie whose many scenes I know by heart but I don’t remember watching the movie as a whole. So, wanted to revisit this. When they talk about the best films in the history of Tamil cinema, this movie easily finds a place in almost all of them. And I can easily see why everyone says so. This was a typical KB movie all the way. You have the trademark maverick character in Suhasini, who is definitely revolutionary, even when the movie is seen today. The fun part of the movie came when KB had to show that Suhasini and Sivakumar were making love. Oh my God. You should watch the scenes that KB had used to convey the same. I guess it would have been a lot more easier for him if he were to shoot the movie today. The Maestro won the National award for this and again, evidence & reasons for the same can be found all over the movie. Amazing songs and perfect background score. But the one thing that stood out for me in this movie was Suhasini's performance. Her performance was fabulous and flawless. There is this one particular emotion that she conveys which I simply love – after she is ridiculed by someone, still smarting under that & trying to cover up the same, she sarcastically gets back to the same person. The way she emotes in such a scene is absolutely beautiful. Everyone else, including Sivakumar, had done their part pretty well. The only place where I thought KB could have done differently was in revealing what was going to happen in the climax, some 30 mins before the end of the film. Suhasini is being shown as going to a clinic to abort her pregnancy and then she goes back without doing it on hearing that Sivakumar's wife can not become a mother ever. Then at the end it is shown as though we should be surprised on seeing Suhasini come back with a baby. The surprise element was completely not there since it is clearly been shown before that she visited the gynecologist. Bottomline - no wonder, it is considered a classic by many.

Ponniyin Selvan - Mainly wanted to see this movie for the director Radhamohan. It has become commonplace to find his debut movie - Azhagiya Theeye - in everybody's list of best movies of the last 5 years. I too concur with that, for I simply loved the movie. But this I have to say is definitely a below-par attempt by the director. If a single character can change what we feel about an otherwise OK movie, it should be Ravikrishna in this movie. He sucks. Period. And the less said about his voice modulation, the better. No wonder not many liked him in 7GRC (but we have to applaud Selvaraghavan for finding the right actor for that role in 7GRC). I am sure the Ravikirshna Haters' club only grew bigger in size after seeing him here. And the one thing we all liked about Azhagiya Theeye - its simplicity in both narration & execution of the script - is missing here, with the director's attempts at making this movie commercially viable by adding an item number & a duet in foreign locales not gelling with the nativity of the story, which he is so good at bringing to the table. He has the usual interesting dialogues and jokes strewn all over the movie and they are all very enjoyable. While watching this movie, I was thinking may be I should meet this director one day in person and talk to him. I am sure he is full of such interesting anecdotes & ideas, like the ones he brings to his movies and it would be a very enjoyable experience talking to him. Vidhyasagar's tunes could have been far better. Only the Vennila siragadithu song stood in my mind. Revathi & Gopika were outstanding. I am surprised on why Gopika is not getting too many chances while someone like Nayantara is bagging many offers. Prakash Raj plays a similar role here too, as the guide of the hero. So are the friends gang which we saw in Azhagiya Theeye. But one gets a feeling that we might get bored of Radhamohan's pattern of screenplay pretty soon. Ponniyin Selvan is a gentle reminder to the same. But I would be happy if his forth-coming venture Mozhi proves me wrong.