Review of my reactions after "Newton-in Moonram Vithi"

Sitting alone in a theatre has always made me feel good. That too, after a gruelling seven days studying Statistics and finance. One of the main reasons I wanted to come home was to watch a movie in a single-screen theatre. Multiplexes don’t give me the feeling which I get watching in a theatre like Devi or Albert. So, after watching CSK innings, I kicked off my bike to watch a movie in Albert/ Shanthi/ Woodlands. Albert had Ayan still.

 

That left me with “Newton-in moonram vithi” at Sai-Shanthi. Except for the fact that S.J.Suryah doesn’t look like a hero – what impressed me was the script and it’s treatment. I feel very sorry for the Director for having decided to cast S.J.Suryah. A good-looking hero would have made a lot of good to this script. But I can understand the reason behind a very moderate cast. A different script like this would have been seen with a sceptical lens. That might be the reason many producers and a few actors would have said NO.

 

With some good camera aesthetics and decent marketing, there is every possibility that this movie could have been a bigger hit.

Why did a movie not make money?

Cinema, similar to books, is a very personalized medium. There are 'n' reasons for a film to work for me. And yes, there can be 'n+1' reasons for the same film to not to work for you. In this scenario, how does a Director/Producer decide whether to direct/produce a film? It is a gamble, isn’t it? Every film produced around the world was done on the sole intent of making money. No producer ventures into a production to lose money. Few exceptions can be pointed out here. Like, spending black money and stuff. But, this percentage is negligible. Coming back to the producer’s intent, the Producer believes in the Director and the Director believes in the script and the crew. It is the Director’s call at the end of the day. After all, it’s the Director who is going to say CUT and PRINT - the two magic words in the film industry. So, it all boils down to what the Director is made up of. This term "made-up-of" is very difficult to explain. We’ll have it later. 

Now, there are four types of Directors, as far as I observed in my movie-watching career.



1. Those who make movies for the majority of the public.
2. Those who make movies for themselves.
3. Those who try to find a balance between satiating themselves and making movies for the audience.
4. Those who find a balance between satiating themselves and making movies for the audience.


Any Director born in this world falls in to one of the four above mentioned buckets. It now looks simple, isn’t it? If you want to make a commercial film – making money, think in the place of an audience and plug in what all he wants to see. But, sadly it isn’t that simple. The mind-set in which the Director made a movie might be different from the mindset of the audience entering the theatre. To put in simpler words, the Director is not in sync with the audience. Take the case of 'Anbe Sivam'. 'Anbe Sivam' must have been a commercial hit film. It had all the ingredients of a good film and importantly, it was entertaining also. But, then why was it a flop? It was solely because the Audience was not in the same mindset of Kamal Haasan. Or we can rather say that Kamal Haasan assumed a few things and made the movie. One of the main assumptions is that the audience already knew about Globalization and Communism. Intelligent people knew it. Many of them didn’t. Those who knew those concepts were able to connect with Nalla and Ars but sadly, that number was not even enough for the producer to break even.



This being the case, it is now very clear that there is no magic wand that will make the movie garner money. Whether the movie will make money is a different question which CANNOT be answered. But, making a good movie is in the hands of the Director.

Review of my reactions after "Sarvam"

First half was too good. The chemistry between Arya and Trisha made me feel jealous. Adding to that is the usage of the old Ilayaraja song – “Mella Mella” as back ground score. 

 

I always knew that Vishnu’s USP is his visual sense. Right from Arinthum Ariyamalum to Billa, his films had excellent photography. This film too does justice to that fact.

 

All these went in vain as the movie progressed to the second half. To say the least, it was dragging. A few trims here and there would have made this movie a decent one. Sad.

 

Technical Mistake

Thickness of a hair. That was the distance I came close to death with. My enemy should have wielded his sword with his right foot forward. Technical mistakes in war are unforgivable. That mistake cost his left forearm. Just when he brought the sword close to my eyeballs hoping to pierce it through my brain, I immediately bent down, removed the knife kept as an additional weapon in his armory and struck hard in his foot. I, then, rose up to the wailing cry of him; razed my sword right through his hand. A war cry emerged from my back. Only then, I realized that I was fighting a different person, 3 seconds before. With one arm on his bleeding left abdomen, he came charging towards me with a sharp heavy metal in his right hand. The way he held his left abdomen made me realize that he had a weak right hand. No matter how much force he thrusts on his right hand – he can never pierce through my metal jackets. That gave me the confidence to look in to his eyes and thrust my sword right in to his throat. Sshheeesh… Blood came gushing out of his body, almost covering my face with it. Just when I shook my head vigorously to not to have it cover my face completely, a thumping sound hit my abdomen and I bent down to see the same metal deep in to my body. With my sword on his throat and his metal on my abdomen – we fell down on the ground together. Both of us looked at each other, catching our breaths. “Who are you fighting for?” he asked. “King Race” I said proudly. He held the metal still more tightly and thrust it still deeper in to my abdomen. “Moron” he said with a deep anguish in his face “I am also fighting for him”.

Story behind a Coffee Bite

I

“I know that I should have done all these when I was in School, at least in College. But, what to do? Either I was afraid at that time or I didn’t find any girl that much interesting. For the last 1 month or so, this girl at office… I am seeing her too much often. Whenever I step out of the cubicle, she walks past me with a mobile on her ear, talking with someone. I go for a coffee; she is there. I come back from Food Court; she is walking towards me (to the Food Court). I come back from hockey practice, sweating; She gives a look. I mean… something must be happening between us. “I explained Partha.

The time was 12 noon and right then messenger windows across M.City would have lit by Blue. Ours were no exception. We decided to have lunch at Saravana Bhavan. Expectedly, everyone agreed. Who wouldn’t? After all the hype for Charminar meals. It isn’t that much good. Is it? I and Partha crossed to the opposite wing to pick Surendar and Balaji. While coming back to the B-wing lift, I saw the girl again, planning to take the opposite lift. Sleeveless green. Man…don’t I like that color? Open hair suits like a T to her personality. I was longing to have a deep look into her eyes. I grabbed all the three of them to the other side so that we can share a lift ride! Come on… Don’t laugh. I said right? I should have done all these in my school and college. But, what to do? Poor fellow I was.

I walked fast, should I say ran? We came just in time for the lift. But then, Shit!!! She was waiting for some one and didn’t board the lift. I gave one deep look at her, masking all the “bulb” I got and silently boarded the lift. I cursed my luck. Little did I know what was in store for me for the rest of the afternoon.

Initially, Suren didn’t like this girl. Not now! Actually, it is not possible not to like this girl. She is not one of your “scene-types” who try to behave like Angelina when they actually look like local Anjalai. She is not a ravishing beauty. But, you’ll be made to look at her. At least once! She doesn’t do anything extra like sporting an extra-fragrant perfume or a revealing dress. She is just herself!

Our walk to Ascendas which must have made me feel tired didn’t, because I was talking about this girl. We could see a lot of “hopeful-Infoscions” walking along with us to have a decent food today at least. Suddenly, one group stopped and started taking the opposite route. Partha enquired why and they said that the entrance is in the opposite direction. Hearing this, I t u r n e d b a a a a a c k! You guessed it right. There she was! To be honest, I don’t know what happened to me that time. I could not see anyone other than her. For me, at that moment, time stopped. Literally! If Mani Ratnam was there at that time, he would have shot “me looking at her” with a steadicam in his hand. The scene would have looked beautiful. Absolutely cinematic and unbelievably romantic!

“She must have seen me” I assured myself. Who wouldn’t? If some one looks at you this deep, you are bound to give one look at least. But, she just ignored. As if I didn’t even exist. May be she didn’t see me, but there is some thing more than “looking” you see. Everyone has their own magnetic field. She must have felt my vibrancy. I am sure I made an impact on her. All these while, Suren being a good friend and all, was poking me from behind to tell her that the entrance is in the opposite direction. “This is your best chance to talk to her…come on… come on” he urged. I adjusted my hair; kept my left hand in the left pocket of my jeans; rotated my mobile in the right hand and shifted my head to the left. All these were my humble attempts to “look casual”. She might cross me any moment. Shall I call her by her name or should I say Excuse me? I was in a fix. And then, she was walking past fast and I opened my mouth…

II

... and nothing came out of my mouth. Many times I forget who I am. Who am I actually? Deep inside my desires to talk with these beautiful girls and know them, there exists the real me - A very ordinary looking- insufficiently tall- adequately fat- darkish brown - lowly software engineer, who tries to be some one else all through his life. Not attractive for a girl, isn't it? The truth hits me right on the face every morning when I see the mirror - "Just be content looking at girls" "Don't get illusion-ed by the movies which you take so much seriously". Which girl would think of looking at me in the first place? What if I say something and she insults me in front of everyone? Its better I just look rather carry a big bulb for the rest of the afternoon.

I just let her go. You know what? I liked the feeling of letting her pass me. Just imagine that you are leaning on a wall and your favorite girl walks past you. Feels good isn't it? It’s much better if she doesn't look at you. No butterflies in your stomach and you have all the time in the world to look at her. To just look at her!

She walked fast before us while we waited there to confirm where Saravana Bhavan was actually located. Partha inquired a security guy who said that we were on the correct route and there is no need to take a different route and all. Partha gave a hard-hitting look at the group which had us confused for a while. But, I thanked them in my heart because... you know why! They made me turn back and thus I spotted her. By the time we started walking again, she was ahead of us by 300 meters approx. Partha was scolding me that I missed my chance to speak with her; Suren was smiling for the reason which he only knows; Balaji was calm as usual and me, Siva, can't believe his luck - he just got a chance to be near her for the next 1 hour. How lucky he must be!

I made Suren and Partha walk fast so that we could be near her. Balaji always walks fast. We reached the Ascendas food court and as expected my eyes started searching for her. There wasn't a big queue anywhere as the time was just 12.20 or some thing. I couldn't find her. There was a non-veg caterer before Saravana Bhavan and I was tempted to give it a try. I went to the counter and spent some time looking at the menu. "Too costly I thought". I just casually turned back and spotted a green tops some where. The crowd started swelling by then and I wasn't sure whether it was her. I searched again and there she was. She was in the end of Saravana Bhavan queue. I doubled my pace and got the most coveted place of the day.

I stood behind her.

I would be lying if I said I didn't try listening to what she was talking with her friend. They were actually discussing which meal to take. She looked at me twice - I am sure. But, I didn't look at her even once. That’s my problem. I go numb and dumb when a beautiful girl is near me. But, I like that feeling. Even here, I had the urge to do some thing. How about a plain smile? How about a casual hi? My “real me” just stopped me. I wanted her to know some thing about me. Some thing! At least she must know me. Just then............. as god-send, Suren shouted (literally) from behind "Siva...Siva... Siva... buy me 50 Rs. meals". She looked at Surendar and then looked at me. Holy Fuck! I couldn't control my excitement. She knows my name! I was shouting this in my brain. If I had my splendor that time and a beach near by, I would have driven my splendor on the beach exactly like Madhavan in Alaipayuthey shouting..."hey....ava enna paathutta....en pera therinjikutta( She knows my name)"

I came out of the queue; made Partha stand in the queue; took Surendar to a corner and gave him a Coffee Bite.