Skip to main content

Evasive to logic, entertainment

If ever a Hari movie, the director of the movies Saamy, Vel and Singam to name a few, were to be shrunk into a bullet-box, it would read as follows: a setting in south Tamil Nadu, with the plot centering on a single town; loud dialogues; knives, machetes, bombs; and melodrama and violence, with the latter in copious amounts. The said characteristics fit the description of his latest movie, Vengai (tiger), to the-T.

Selvam’s (Dhanush) efforts to capture the culprits behind blowing up a railway track, sets the tone for Vengai, which is largely set in Sivaganga and Trichy. Selvam’s father Veerapandi (Rajkiran), a dispenser of justice to the locals, has connections with rowdies in different districts; he convinces 50,000 persons to vote for Rajalingam (Prakash Raj, in familiar territory as villain); and government officials report to him for scrutiny of deals done by Rajalingam (who says we need RTI?) – all for public good. Rajalingam simmers with discontent when his attempts to earn the extra buck illegally get thwarted.

Meanwhile, Selvam is sent to Trichy to seek better employment, where he meets Radhika (Tamanna) inside a bus (think Run, Parthean Rasithaen), who we are told was his childhood sweetheart. She loves him, she loves him not, he loves her, he loves her not, when the director finally decides, after fatiguing the audience, that the two must unite; a twist, however, is introduced, the ending to which the viewer can spot a mile away. Clearly, their puppy-love seems far more interesting than their latter romance.

Actors Nizhalgal Ravi, Oorvashi, Uma Padmanabhan and Paravai Muniyamma feature in blink-and-you-miss roles. The director’s claim of Vengai being a family entertainer needs redefinition, if the violence in its climax, which could be the content for a ‘Learn how to kill humans in 30 days’ book, is considered. To make an engaging movie, Hari could have sought inspiration from his earlier ventures, the half-sweet, half-bitter Thaamaraiparani or Saamy.

Appeared in City Express, the daily supplement of the New Indian Express, on July 11, 2011

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tamil Nadu’s Thala-Thalapathy conundrum

Overrated, yet celebrated:  Tamil actors Vijay and Ajith, who command massive fan-followings “Oh, you watch Tamil cinema? So, you must be a fan of  Thala /  Thalapathy ?” Trepidation must be the watchword when one encounters these statements. For, this refers to a syndrome that has divided film freaks of Tamil Nadu into fans of Kollywood’s leading (well, at least expensive) actors —  Thala  or Ajith Kumar and  Thalapathy  or Vijay. Chances are, the manner in which you will be treated from then on depends on your reply. Behold the Thala-Thalapathy syndrome. Such is its omnipresence that no Tamilian worth his salt can ever claim to have escaped it ( Thala  and  Thalapathy  roughly translate to “leader” and “commander”, in Tamil). Industry buzz has it that Vijay’s moniker lends credence to the theory that he is the “successor” to Rajinikanth’s mantle in the industry ( Thalapathy  was one of Rajini’s biggest ...
1 comment
Read more

Why the editorial is the unsung hero of any newspaper

A tad autobiographical, this account encapsulates my experiences at a news organisation. Why wait until 50 or 60 to compose one? Hell, who knows, this could even be its blueprint! So, here goes my first stab at chronicling myself... I was prepared for all kinds of weird questions for my first job interview as a journalist four years ago, for the post of a sub-editor, but I never anticipated this one that caught me off guard. Noting that I preferred to work in the editorial than the reporting section, a HR representative at the organization asked in almost an air of dismissal, implying that the editorial is something redundant, “After all, we have Microsoft Word, in built with grammar and spell check capabilities, so why must I hire you?” I stared at him blankly for a moment as a smile grew on his face, perhaps out of exult at having stumped me. I trotted a familiar refrain, which I am sure he would have encountered countless times, “Because I am passionate about writing a...
6 comments
Read more

Chennai’s Fourth Estate at War

Touching upon competitive spirit, the legendary writer George Orwell, in an essay dated 1945, had described sport as war minus the shooting. He could very well be referring to the ongoing veiled battle between two of India's English dailies. When “India’s national newspaper since 1878” and the “Largest read English daily in the world” decide to slug it out over Chennai’s newspaper readership, rest assured that the battle would spill over to the TV media, as was witnessed recently. Cheeky indeed were the ads that thumbed the nose at one another; though, few were in doubt over who the target was. To the uninitiated, the two newspapers – The Hindu and The Times of India (TOI) , respectively – have modus operandi that are as identical as chalk is to cheese, or uppu (salt) is to upma , a South Indian snack. The "war" in question is the race to get hold of the average Chennaiite, and eventually the Indian, newspaper reader’s attention. And no, this piece of opinion isn...
8 comments
Read more