Veyil - Flawed classic
Call me a sucker to emotional and realistic movies but this easily was my best movie of the year 2006 (Haven’t seen Pudhupettai yet). This could have gone on to become a classic if only the director had done a simple thing right - not include 3 unnecessary songs. Remove the 3 songs I am talking about, this would have been an instant classic. The pace of the movie, which was too slow to the point of making the viewers uncomfortable, only gets worse with those 3 unnecessary songs. The Kaadhal Neruppin song in particular stood out, with even the way the song was shot completely standing at odds with the local fervor of the movie. The fact that it reminds one of the Dil Se Re song in picturization did not help matters either. I am sure the snail-paced screenplay and length of the movie are couple of reasons why not everybody liked Veyil. I actually had no problems with both of them but when I can see that the movie could have been a lot better if not for those 3 songs, I felt let-down.
Coming to the realism with which the movie was shot, I can even say that this complete movie looked more realistic, even more than Kaadhal. That should say what I felt about this bcos Kaadhal has by far been one of the 3 most realistic movies in Tamil cinema in the last few years (Pithamagan and Virumandi being the other 2). Every shot in the movie oozed of realism. And having spent a considerable portion of my life in the Virudhunagar & Madurai districts and with most of the movie being shot in these 2 districts, I could so much relate to the locations the movie was shot at and the references that were made in the movie. Tilakaraj textiles, parotta in the road-side shop, the Virudhunagar bus-stand, the VHNSN college - all these anyone who has lived in/ living in the area would just jump out of excitement on seeing them on-screen. I think that is one of the biggest advantages of shooting on the streets and roads of some city. That is exactly the reason why a movie like Kaadhal and Thavamaai Thavam Irundhu is so close to my heart (bcos they were shot in Madurai) and that is one reason why Veyil too will be close to my heart.
There were just too many good scenes in the movie which will linger in my memory forever. Like Balaji here points out, one would definitely be the scene where the heroine wraps herself up in film rolls after Pasupathy gets rid of her mundhaanai. That was just so poetic. Same is the case when Shriya Reddy gives Pasupathy that oil bath. That tight-rope walk scene, if it had not been properly handled and if it had been shown any other way, could have easily looked sleazily. The beautiful relationship that Pasupathy shares with both Bharath and Shriya Reddy was so heart-warming. Particularly the way Bharath warms up to his elder brother has been done very beautifully. The way each one of the family members react to his coming back has been done in a very realistic way. You have his father, who still carries the hatred and rejects him right away. Then, there is his mother who is so happy to see his lost son coming back but she is too burdened with the loads of running a family, she does not realize what Pasupathy expects from her. His sisters, who have no recollection of him, react in a very indifferent way, not knowing what to expect form him and also what he expects from them. Finally, there is Bharath who has been carrying the ‘burden’ of having been the reason for his brother running away from his home. He is the happiest of everybody and does his best in making him comfortable. Only a director who has experienced all these emotions could have thought about all of them in such a convincing & detailed manner and it is where IMO Vasanthabalan scores. After Thavamai Thavam Irundhu, this was the movie which left a drop or two in the corner of my eyes.
Pasupathi's proven acting skills come to the fore once again, but that is only during the latter part of the movie. I thought he was kind of a misfit in his younger role. Like many have felt, the toupee could have been done better. Bharath is awesome as always and to me, Bharath, along with Jeeva and Arya, are the 2 younger generation actors on whom I have placed my faith on. Shriya Reddy's cameo was again so good and overwhelming. Bhavana is very cute. I wasnt very much impressed with her when I saw her first in Chithiram Pesuthadi but I guess I have become a huge fan of her after watching Veyil. The Thala and Thalaivar joke in the movie, I am sure, will be remembered for a very long time.
Though the songs in the movie were pretty good, I thought G.V.Prakash's re-recording effort was pretty ordinary. In fact, in some of the heavy scenes in the movie, he let the movie down very badly. But we should pat the guy on his otherwise decent debut which gave us atleast 3 quality songs which we will carry in our hearts and minds - Veyilodu uravaadi, Uruguthe maruguthe and Kaadhal Neruppin.
Finally, to the man who made this movie possible - no amount of praise and admiration would suffice for Shankar, for placing his confidence in his ex-assistant director's story. He, along with Prakashraj, are easily the 2 best producers quality cinema lovers should look forward too. Though the disappointment that stems from the feeling of 'What could have' is huge, to me, the fact that the director has given us all a high quality movie as the final output outweighs all the negatives that I have of this movie. Shankar & Vasanthabalan, take a bow.
Coming to the realism with which the movie was shot, I can even say that this complete movie looked more realistic, even more than Kaadhal. That should say what I felt about this bcos Kaadhal has by far been one of the 3 most realistic movies in Tamil cinema in the last few years (Pithamagan and Virumandi being the other 2). Every shot in the movie oozed of realism. And having spent a considerable portion of my life in the Virudhunagar & Madurai districts and with most of the movie being shot in these 2 districts, I could so much relate to the locations the movie was shot at and the references that were made in the movie. Tilakaraj textiles, parotta in the road-side shop, the Virudhunagar bus-stand, the VHNSN college - all these anyone who has lived in/ living in the area would just jump out of excitement on seeing them on-screen. I think that is one of the biggest advantages of shooting on the streets and roads of some city. That is exactly the reason why a movie like Kaadhal and Thavamaai Thavam Irundhu is so close to my heart (bcos they were shot in Madurai) and that is one reason why Veyil too will be close to my heart.
There were just too many good scenes in the movie which will linger in my memory forever. Like Balaji here points out, one would definitely be the scene where the heroine wraps herself up in film rolls after Pasupathy gets rid of her mundhaanai. That was just so poetic. Same is the case when Shriya Reddy gives Pasupathy that oil bath. That tight-rope walk scene, if it had not been properly handled and if it had been shown any other way, could have easily looked sleazily. The beautiful relationship that Pasupathy shares with both Bharath and Shriya Reddy was so heart-warming. Particularly the way Bharath warms up to his elder brother has been done very beautifully. The way each one of the family members react to his coming back has been done in a very realistic way. You have his father, who still carries the hatred and rejects him right away. Then, there is his mother who is so happy to see his lost son coming back but she is too burdened with the loads of running a family, she does not realize what Pasupathy expects from her. His sisters, who have no recollection of him, react in a very indifferent way, not knowing what to expect form him and also what he expects from them. Finally, there is Bharath who has been carrying the ‘burden’ of having been the reason for his brother running away from his home. He is the happiest of everybody and does his best in making him comfortable. Only a director who has experienced all these emotions could have thought about all of them in such a convincing & detailed manner and it is where IMO Vasanthabalan scores. After Thavamai Thavam Irundhu, this was the movie which left a drop or two in the corner of my eyes.
Pasupathi's proven acting skills come to the fore once again, but that is only during the latter part of the movie. I thought he was kind of a misfit in his younger role. Like many have felt, the toupee could have been done better. Bharath is awesome as always and to me, Bharath, along with Jeeva and Arya, are the 2 younger generation actors on whom I have placed my faith on. Shriya Reddy's cameo was again so good and overwhelming. Bhavana is very cute. I wasnt very much impressed with her when I saw her first in Chithiram Pesuthadi but I guess I have become a huge fan of her after watching Veyil. The Thala and Thalaivar joke in the movie, I am sure, will be remembered for a very long time.
Though the songs in the movie were pretty good, I thought G.V.Prakash's re-recording effort was pretty ordinary. In fact, in some of the heavy scenes in the movie, he let the movie down very badly. But we should pat the guy on his otherwise decent debut which gave us atleast 3 quality songs which we will carry in our hearts and minds - Veyilodu uravaadi, Uruguthe maruguthe and Kaadhal Neruppin.
Finally, to the man who made this movie possible - no amount of praise and admiration would suffice for Shankar, for placing his confidence in his ex-assistant director's story. He, along with Prakashraj, are easily the 2 best producers quality cinema lovers should look forward too. Though the disappointment that stems from the feeling of 'What could have' is huge, to me, the fact that the director has given us all a high quality movie as the final output outweighs all the negatives that I have of this movie. Shankar & Vasanthabalan, take a bow.
Labels: Movie Reviews, Movies
posted by Filbert at 3:20 PM
2 Comments:
i partially liked veyil for its romantic part and partially disliked for its too much of sentiment and beaten to death family-hates-pasupathy scenes.
athoda ippa ellam serious movie parkanumna konjam kastama iruku :)
Like I said at the beginning of the review, I love Veyil-kind of heavy movies with emotions. But I can clearly understand your reasons for disliking the movie bcos my friend who watched the movie with me didnt like the movie as much as I did and for every scene I was getting overwhelmed, he was equally finding it restless to sit through :)
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