Kuselan - P.Vasu does not disappoint
Before you guys start pouncing on me for making that statement, let me clear something. This was what I was expecting in the movie, after the experience of watching Chandramukhi and after watching the few scenes in the trailer & few pictures that were released:
1) A drama like feel throughout the film
2) A truck load of character artists and side artists
3) Cheap, third rated comedy
4) Incoherent and messy screenplay
5) Most importantly, bungling the few mins of screen time that Thalaivar allotted for this movie
And P.Vasu delivers on all these fronts without any disappointment, as the movie had all of the above. Even though the stills looked a lot better when they were released, the tone and acting of all the other actors in the movie was like watching a 2 hour long TV mega-serial with a long list of actors present in every single frame of the movie. I could have even stood all that but it is the cheap 3rd rated Vadivelu jokes with the camera focusing on Nayanthara and the other actress Sona at all the wrong places that got me so angry. I mean, a Thalaivar movie is not the place for stupid jokes like that. If someone calls this movie a clean family entertainer, then there can not be a more contradicting statement than that.
I guess most of the blame for this movie should go to Chandramukhi and Shankar (In fact, this was going to be my subject of this post: Kuselan - Blame it on Chandramukhi & Shankar). Why CM? Well, if Chandramukhi had not been this monstrous hit, P. Vasu would not have been directing this movie and dished out another of his messy movies. Why Shankar? Again, a pretty easy to guess reason. Shankar had raised the bar to such unbelievable heights with Sivaji that it is going to be hard for any director to follow. And given the fact that P.Vasu is the director here, the task was doubly difficult and it is no wonder that he faltered, big time.
Among the truck load of comedians, only Livingston, Santhanabarathi (in couple of scenes) and Santhanam worked for me. Except for the 1 scene, Vadivelu was hopeless and his make-up along with his gaudy costumes only made the experience of watching the comedy scenes a real torture. Among others, Pasupathy was not his usual self. It is not the Pasupathy we have seen in movies like Dhool & Virumaandi. That is the power of someone like P.Vasu who can single-handedly bring down the performance of even talented actors (like Pasupathy in this case).
Even the songs picturization were a disappointment. That was something P.Vasu had done decently in Chandramukhi. Every single frame in the Cinema Cinema song comes and goes so fast that you could easily miss so many of the actors who show their heads. I missed Dhanush and there were so many like me who missed others like Surya, GVP, Sneha, Kushboo. Though Thalaivar's costumes were just too good in this song, he appears in each of those get-ups for few fleeting seconds that makes it impossible for fans like us to fully relish them. Om Zaaraare was a tad better with Thalaivar's stylish steps and the setting in the backwaters of Kerala in those long boats but even there one gets a feeling that it could have been done a lot better. This is where the Sivaji factor kicks in. After the songs picturization that Shankar treated us to in Sivaji, everything looks ordinary now. Pre-Sivaji, we might have lapped up Om Zaaraare but not definitely in this post-Sivaji era. Chaaral was a needless number. What I dont understand is that why would someone have a solo song for Nayanthara in a Thalaivar movie. It is not like that the song is in anyway crucial to the flow of the movie. So, why not replace it with another song for Thalaivar which would have satiated the thirst of fans like me. The less said about GVP's background score, the better. It is to his 'credit' that he bungled big time in the one scene where the background music mattered the most.
It was not like there are no positives in the movie. Thalaivar is there. Every single scene involving Thalaivar was a treat to watch (except may be the Chandramukhi-2 scenes). Thalaivar's entry scene was good but the use of too much CG in the scene kind of killed my enthusiasm. (It is during times like this that you start yearning for intro scenes like the one we had in Annamalai) I think having to act as himself presents its own set of challenges, given the fact that it is Thalaivar who is doing it. There were few mannerisms and actions of Thalaivar that looked like they were not even shot for this movie. It could have been Thalaivar on the sets with the camera rolling without his knowledge. They were that authentic and Thalaivar looked so casual in them.
Obviously, the climax. Though I would not go to the extent of saying that it is one of his best performances, it did bring back the memories of the talented actor lying dormant inside him, for the last 15 - 20 years. The fact that inspite of the numerous 'Enna Kodumai Saravanan Idhu' moments throughout the movie, the audience clapped when the movie ended as the saying "நல்ல நண்பர்கள் அமைவதெல்லாம் இறைவன் கொடுத்த வரம்" was flashed on the screen. Many in the theater were indeed in tears as they were walking out. But that didn't include yours truly, who is easily overwhelmed on such scenes in movies. Thalaivar's speech in the school function, before he goes into his nostalgic trip back to his childhood days is the best that I have seen Thalaivar speak. There was so much clarity in his words. And more than the school speech, I liked what transpired at Pasupathy's house after that. Thalaivar's body language in those last moments were exemplary and the way he slapped him on the face before hugging him were just too good.
The whole Chinni jayanth sequence was very entertaining. More than the scene where Chinni Jayanth finally meets Thalaivar, the way the Nari kuravargal group was trying to get the attention of the film crew was quite hilarious. Though Vadivel's performance on the whole was disappointing, the scene where he meets Thalaivar had the whole theater ROTFL. I mean, it looked so authentic bcos anyone of us who adore him so much would react in the same way if we come to face Thalaivar in such an unexpected manner.
Like I had written earlier, even before the movie was released, I loved everything what Thalaivar did in deciding to act in this movie except the fact that P.Vasu is going to be directing it. This guy is so much stuck in the 80s that I I knew this is how he will finally end up giving a movie. Any other director (type in the name of your favorite masala film director in this place) would have done justice to this story which could have been adapted so much better to exploit Thalaivar's cult status among Tamilians across the globe and that is my biggest regret on this movie. And the best part was, this could have been done without spoiling the underlying theme of the movie.
Having said all this, I was really happy to see Thalaivar on the big-screen even though it lasted only a few precious minutes. Thank God for small mercies. Now, the really long wait for Robot stares us in the face. Shankar, please start work on Robot ASAP & keep the hopes of Thalaivar fans afloat and Thalaivaa, sincere request to you - lets ditch this P.Vasu guy once for all from the Tamil film industry. And if that means that this movie flops, then so be it. I know, I just couldn't believe that I just typed the previous statement but that is the result of my anger at Thalaivar for selecting one of the most ridiculous & archaic directors at the helm of this movie which clearly had scope for much larger things.
1) A drama like feel throughout the film
2) A truck load of character artists and side artists
3) Cheap, third rated comedy
4) Incoherent and messy screenplay
5) Most importantly, bungling the few mins of screen time that Thalaivar allotted for this movie
And P.Vasu delivers on all these fronts without any disappointment, as the movie had all of the above. Even though the stills looked a lot better when they were released, the tone and acting of all the other actors in the movie was like watching a 2 hour long TV mega-serial with a long list of actors present in every single frame of the movie. I could have even stood all that but it is the cheap 3rd rated Vadivelu jokes with the camera focusing on Nayanthara and the other actress Sona at all the wrong places that got me so angry. I mean, a Thalaivar movie is not the place for stupid jokes like that. If someone calls this movie a clean family entertainer, then there can not be a more contradicting statement than that.
I guess most of the blame for this movie should go to Chandramukhi and Shankar (In fact, this was going to be my subject of this post: Kuselan - Blame it on Chandramukhi & Shankar). Why CM? Well, if Chandramukhi had not been this monstrous hit, P. Vasu would not have been directing this movie and dished out another of his messy movies. Why Shankar? Again, a pretty easy to guess reason. Shankar had raised the bar to such unbelievable heights with Sivaji that it is going to be hard for any director to follow. And given the fact that P.Vasu is the director here, the task was doubly difficult and it is no wonder that he faltered, big time.
Among the truck load of comedians, only Livingston, Santhanabarathi (in couple of scenes) and Santhanam worked for me. Except for the 1 scene, Vadivelu was hopeless and his make-up along with his gaudy costumes only made the experience of watching the comedy scenes a real torture. Among others, Pasupathy was not his usual self. It is not the Pasupathy we have seen in movies like Dhool & Virumaandi. That is the power of someone like P.Vasu who can single-handedly bring down the performance of even talented actors (like Pasupathy in this case).
Even the songs picturization were a disappointment. That was something P.Vasu had done decently in Chandramukhi. Every single frame in the Cinema Cinema song comes and goes so fast that you could easily miss so many of the actors who show their heads. I missed Dhanush and there were so many like me who missed others like Surya, GVP, Sneha, Kushboo. Though Thalaivar's costumes were just too good in this song, he appears in each of those get-ups for few fleeting seconds that makes it impossible for fans like us to fully relish them. Om Zaaraare was a tad better with Thalaivar's stylish steps and the setting in the backwaters of Kerala in those long boats but even there one gets a feeling that it could have been done a lot better. This is where the Sivaji factor kicks in. After the songs picturization that Shankar treated us to in Sivaji, everything looks ordinary now. Pre-Sivaji, we might have lapped up Om Zaaraare but not definitely in this post-Sivaji era. Chaaral was a needless number. What I dont understand is that why would someone have a solo song for Nayanthara in a Thalaivar movie. It is not like that the song is in anyway crucial to the flow of the movie. So, why not replace it with another song for Thalaivar which would have satiated the thirst of fans like me. The less said about GVP's background score, the better. It is to his 'credit' that he bungled big time in the one scene where the background music mattered the most.
It was not like there are no positives in the movie. Thalaivar is there. Every single scene involving Thalaivar was a treat to watch (except may be the Chandramukhi-2 scenes). Thalaivar's entry scene was good but the use of too much CG in the scene kind of killed my enthusiasm. (It is during times like this that you start yearning for intro scenes like the one we had in Annamalai) I think having to act as himself presents its own set of challenges, given the fact that it is Thalaivar who is doing it. There were few mannerisms and actions of Thalaivar that looked like they were not even shot for this movie. It could have been Thalaivar on the sets with the camera rolling without his knowledge. They were that authentic and Thalaivar looked so casual in them.
Obviously, the climax. Though I would not go to the extent of saying that it is one of his best performances, it did bring back the memories of the talented actor lying dormant inside him, for the last 15 - 20 years. The fact that inspite of the numerous 'Enna Kodumai Saravanan Idhu' moments throughout the movie, the audience clapped when the movie ended as the saying "நல்ல நண்பர்கள் அமைவதெல்லாம் இறைவன் கொடுத்த வரம்" was flashed on the screen. Many in the theater were indeed in tears as they were walking out. But that didn't include yours truly, who is easily overwhelmed on such scenes in movies. Thalaivar's speech in the school function, before he goes into his nostalgic trip back to his childhood days is the best that I have seen Thalaivar speak. There was so much clarity in his words. And more than the school speech, I liked what transpired at Pasupathy's house after that. Thalaivar's body language in those last moments were exemplary and the way he slapped him on the face before hugging him were just too good.
The whole Chinni jayanth sequence was very entertaining. More than the scene where Chinni Jayanth finally meets Thalaivar, the way the Nari kuravargal group was trying to get the attention of the film crew was quite hilarious. Though Vadivel's performance on the whole was disappointing, the scene where he meets Thalaivar had the whole theater ROTFL. I mean, it looked so authentic bcos anyone of us who adore him so much would react in the same way if we come to face Thalaivar in such an unexpected manner.
Like I had written earlier, even before the movie was released, I loved everything what Thalaivar did in deciding to act in this movie except the fact that P.Vasu is going to be directing it. This guy is so much stuck in the 80s that I I knew this is how he will finally end up giving a movie. Any other director (type in the name of your favorite masala film director in this place) would have done justice to this story which could have been adapted so much better to exploit Thalaivar's cult status among Tamilians across the globe and that is my biggest regret on this movie. And the best part was, this could have been done without spoiling the underlying theme of the movie.
Having said all this, I was really happy to see Thalaivar on the big-screen even though it lasted only a few precious minutes. Thank God for small mercies. Now, the really long wait for Robot stares us in the face. Shankar, please start work on Robot ASAP & keep the hopes of Thalaivar fans afloat and Thalaivaa, sincere request to you - lets ditch this P.Vasu guy once for all from the Tamil film industry. And if that means that this movie flops, then so be it. I know, I just couldn't believe that I just typed the previous statement but that is the result of my anger at Thalaivar for selecting one of the most ridiculous & archaic directors at the helm of this movie which clearly had scope for much larger things.
Labels: Movie Reviews, Movies, Thalaivar
posted by Filbert at 6:54 PM
13 Comments:
Boss, agree on each and every observation of yours. (Except ofcourse i found santhanabarathi also to be irritating)...for me as u said vadivelu in one scene, livingstone in couple of them, santhanam in almost all his scenes, and sunderrajan in his scenes with thalaivar worked. Nothing else. Everything else was annoyingly idiotic. Such trash it was , for the first time a whole movie hall expresses some dejection after coming out. ennatha solla. inthe padam pannavanga, paarthavanga ellorukumae thevai illatha velai ithu.
kuselan -- mega serial
//
Now, the really long wait for Robot stares us in the face.
//
this is what i thought after coming out of the movie hall...
//
cheap 3rd rated Vadivelu jokes with the camera focusing on Nayanthara
//
nayanthara-va 'kaatradhu'ku thaan oru paatu poturkaane, apparam edhukku indha 'alpa' scene-nu enakkum theriyala...
ennatha solla... very very ordinary use of thalaivar in an interesting and emotional subject... liked the climax though... nice acting by thalaivar...
shankar, pls atleast release few photo shoots of thalaivar soon !!!
watched nadal play like he was born to lose on saturday (cincy open) and thalaivar's movie on sunday... rendume TV-la paathurkalaam , 4 hrs drive panni paathen :-(
Kuselan Thw Worst of 2008..Totally diappointed on Seeing...Draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagin g like nythg...Utter Crap..
1.Worst Sets.
2.Worst Music.
3.All Irritating and Artificial Characters.
4.Serial Screenplay.
5.No Twists and Turns.
6.Nonsense Skin Show of Nayanthara.
7.Vaidvelu and Sona Pair Horrible and cheap rated nonsenses.
8.P.Vasy Should Stop Direction.
Yeah Naren, romba correct-aa sonneenga. Vera endha director-aavadhu indha padatha direct panni irundhaan-naa, it would have been so much better. Enna pannradhu, Thalaivar indha waste fellow-va director-aa select pannittaaru. The thing I hate about the distributors is that they promoted the movie as an out-and-out Rajini film and many folks would be disappointed just bcos of that.
Arun, same blood :) Seriously, that Nayanthara solo was a too much. And the reason for bringing up that song showed how dry his well of imagination is :( The releasing of Robot's stills alone can assuage some of the hurt caused by watching this movie.
Can understand your hurt of watching both Nadal & Thalaivar deliver performances unlike them on consecutive days.
Mahesh, I have nothing else to say other than agreeing with your points. But you could have done away with your time listing the reasons by writing just 1 word - P.VASU :)
In your Dasavatharam review comments, I posted that one has to wait and see the gang rape of "Kadha Parayum Pol" by P Vasu and Rajini gang. I am so happy that it has come true so soon.
They went to the extent of saying who will buy the movie if Pasupathy was projected as the hero etc. when there was news in the press that Pasupathi was disappointed at the lack of publicity for him and the projection of this movie as Rajini movie. Now, that the movie has miserably failed at the box office, Rajini's tails have started waging that he played only a guest role.
With P.Vasu at the helm, even a kid could have guessed that Kadha Parayumpol would be massacred in the name of remake. so, no brownie points for you.
Regarding your other charge - FYI, Thalaivar for this very reason announced at the Kuselan launch that he will be there in the movie for only 25% and that is exactly what he did - 36 mins in a 140 min movie. He tried his best to keep the expectations low but then, he probably didn't realize that he is just too big for that. It is the distributors' greediness that led them to promote this as a out-and-out Thalaivar movie and naturally folks were disappointed. But what they said is also true - who would buy a movie directed by someone like P.Vasu with Pasupathy in the lead role?
About your comment - it is exactly the kind of personal hatred for the man revealed by the choice of your words that makes me think twice if I should even respond to your comment or just ignore it by deleting it. I am gonna do that the next time I see such language.
Typical intolerance to criticism.
"Thalaivar" charges Rs.10 crore for helping KB for 36 minutes in a movie.
"Thalaivar" says it is someone's dialogue I spoke it is the public who misread him. As if he was not aware of the meaning of what was written as a dialogue and the very reasons for writing those dialogues. This Saint, I do not know, why didn't ask the dialogue writer to change it as it would mislead the public. But, ultimately, even for the modern day Buddha, money matters!
I cannot understand which part of my language was bad for you. I have no hatred for Rajinikant but I only hate the ways in which he cheats his millions of followers and continues to do so.
Acting innocent for dialogues in his movies is height of irresponsibility in my view and that kind of irresponsible person in my humble view doesn't qualifies for the word "Thalaivar". If he is "Thalaivar" then I do not know if we were right in calling the great Kamaraj as Perunthalaivar. Insult!
Dude, do you even know that Thalaivar did not take a single rupee from KB for Kuselan? Get your facts right before commenting.
That exaplanation dialog in the movie was meant for critics like you and not for fans. Since the fans felt that he had addressed them, Thalaivar had those dialogs removed from the movie. Its as simple as that. And for folks like you, that was his way of telling to shut the hell up and also say "I am trying to convey my thoughts to my fans through dialogs in my movies. Just don't poke your noses into it".
You have so much hatred for the man. Why don't you appreciate the fact that he has come forward to share the burden of the distributors who have faced losses bcos of Kuselan, something he is not compelled & required to do but something he is doing as a noble deed.
You go back and read your previous comment & figure out which part of it was in bad language. I am not going to tell you.
Once again, I do not hate Rajinikant the actor, I only try to bring out Rajinikant's real life acting.
1. My facts are right, your "Thalaivar" did charge Rs.10 crore for the movie. I humbly request you to do the research and know for yourself. I have my facts right. Rajini and not charging "single rupee" - joke of the this century and centuries to come (even if those that might come accidentally from the bat of Sachin Tendulkar of now)
2. He has come forward to bear the losses as he (as regular) fears the backlash for the next movie Robot which is bigger budget and might spell disaster if fails. concerned. The hidden fact might be that behind the screens action might be on to make Robot producers to bear part of this loss. Keenly following your Thalaivar's actions over the many years I can guess so. After all he is the one who gave support for Karunanidhi for saving Raghavendra Kalyana Mandapam, he is the one who gave a PDC for Rs.1 crore for uniting rivers (Gundu Kalyanam gave Rs.3 crore as he knew the cheques cannot be banked), he is the one who has written a will that after his and his family's life time Raghavendra Kalyana Mandapam will go to charity (!)
3. Coming to the dialogue, let me understand it. If the dialogue was meant for the critics, was he admitting to the critics that the old dialogues were penned by someone and spoken by him and so should not be taken seriously?
If the Kuchelan dialogue was only meant for critics and not for fans,
a) Does it mean, for the fans, old dialogues were not merely written by "someone" and spoken by "him" but were in fact inserted by him at his direction so that his fans can continue guessing about his political entry? What is the benefit if someone can be kept guessing for someone's actions?
b) If (a) was true, then was he lying to critics that they were merely dialogues and critics were taking it seriously?
How can a statement be true for two sections of the public at the same time? May be it is possible for Superstars and not mere mortals like us!
We have seen what he spoke at the Hogenekkal fasting day. I was really happy that he spoke so courageously. He maintained that view even in an interview given almost after a fortnight when he said, it will be Karnataka that will be the loser if his movies don't get screened there as his movies have worldwide market and not just Karnataka. But then, "Thalaivar" had the last laugh, we were defeated and he won!
In any case thanks for the space in the blog to post my comments. It is next to impossible to change people with strong views. Both you and I have strong ones. Thankfully, unlike Mr. Rajinikant. Who doesn't have a strong view on anything... except of course money!
Just like you have your sources for how much Thalaivar got as salary from KB, I have my own sources. May be, we will just hold on to our sources and leave it at that.
About Thalaivar giving back the money - imagine this scenaio: When movies of stars like Vijay, Kamal, etc fail big time at the BO, aren't their next movies still bought by the same distributors at all? Their movies are still bought at the very high MG that is being quoted. If that be the case for lesser actors like Vijay, then isn't to easy to see that no matter how badly Thalavair's movies flop, there WILL BE distributors who are willing to buy his movies at the prices that they charge.
I and most Thalaivar fans love Thalaivar for what he is, both on-screen aand off-screen. And nothing is going to ever change that.
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