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Thoughts on Ponniyin Selvan (PS) - 1

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  P onniyin Selvan (PS) – 1 – Ratnam’s eloquently fallible retelling of epic literature. Mani Ratnam ’s unending attempts to create a cinematic rendition of Tamil Literature’s Ponniyin Selvan have finally come to fruition after 2 failed attempts across several decades. I haven’t read the novel which spans 5 books and has its epic heart at the right place by starting off with the line “Let’s go back a century every second and cross a millennium. After 10 seconds, we enter the Chola Dynasty”. Quite recognisably challenging to take this subject to the screen, Mani Ratnam   mostly succeeds in the daunting task of cinematically telling the first half of the novel. Why mostly?  The intimidating task to bring a novel (which is utterly dense in breadth and depth) to the world of cinema always has an inevitable sacrifice to regress the story. Ratnam said that he would be sticking to the core thread, which is, Vandiyadevan ’s journey as an agent as well as a messenger in reticent...
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Synccinema Quickie - Laal Singh Chaddha

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L aal Singh Chaddha - (Only) Glimpses worthy of shedding some tears Before continuing to read my review on  Laal Singh Chaddha , I would like my readers to know that I have not previously watched  Forrest Gump . Therefore, my opinion on this film will mostly not contain a comparative study between the films. This review will only talk about  Laal Singh Chaddha  as a singular film in Indian Cinema. Also, this review does not endorse any of the politically or religiously controversial elements associated with the main leads or that are incorporated into the film.    This disclaimer, though long, feels extremely tiny when compared to the 3 min oration by writer  Anurag Kulkarni before the film plays , who takes all his might through his words to shield the film from the controversies which arose, are arising or will arise after the release. Coming to the film,  Laal Singh Chaddha , with a running time of 164 mins, for the most part, felt tediou...
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Synccinema Quickie - Major

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  M ajor - Sincerely Celebrating the Unsung Hero Sesh’s  writing has brought a new wave to Telugu Cinema. His thrillers are that finest quality of binding smart with art, that you feel like your IQ has been raised by a few points after watching his film.  Major  has similar characteristics – the characteristics of a  Sesh  thriller. And just like his previous thrillers, it’s only him who can crack the formula of making us sit at the edge of the seat. Major , which celebrates the real-life hero, NSG Training Officer  Sandeep Unnikrishnan , get’s its story told with enough deft towards complexity and rousing payoffs.  Sesh’s  storytelling is sincere and respects the ideology of a soldier. He emphasises the soldier’s mentality to just be that protector, that shield which stops innocents from showering bullets, pack of grenades and most importantly from the terrorist. He is  a  Protector. But  Major  feels like a twinning tale...
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Thoughts on Shyam Singha Roy (2/2)

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S hyam Singha Roy - An Imperfect Reincarnation It is in the flashback portion where the film really takes an enormous leap in terms of its presentation. The storyline of  Shyam  and  Rosie’s  relationship is itself capable of an entire film (case in point Mani Ratnam’s   Dil Se ). Especially the Song and Dance sequences create a  Bhansali  style dance form choreography by  Kruthi Mahesh  and  Yeshwant . The Orffian Chants and Plaintive Veena (and a countless number of other traditional Hindustani Instruments) just cut through the ethereal silence in the temple as  Shyam  looks at a distance towards  (Maithreyi)  a dance formation being broken and again remade into another, and the song  Pranavaalaya  is sung. In a word, the songs in this movie, especially the ones in the flashback are unskippable for their layered audio-visual quality. But there are several bones to pick even in the resourceful second half...
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Thoughts on Shyam Singha Roy (1/2)

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 S hyam Singha Roy – An Imperfect Reincarnation Nea rly an hour into the film, a Lie Detection Test is considered concrete enough just to bail out  Vasudev  Ghanta  – the upcoming film director. The camera takes a mid close up onto  Nani’s  face which shows a sliver of joy. The camera then rake focusses to the background where  Abhinav Gomatham  and  Krithi Shetty  burst in joy, taking the happiness a notch higher.    In that sliver of joy expression, you see for a second,   Nani  as an actor, conveying a genuine emotion with equal genuineness. But the camera doesn’t spend enough time on the actor’s face as it wants to capture the faces which show genuine emotion with exuberant faces – that of  Abhinav and Krithi . This small gesture from the filmmaking point of view was my first clue in what was the centre of imperfections in this  Nani’s  film.    Here’s my chain of thought. Why give s...
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