Monthly Archives: July 2010

Arya 2

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This is the second film in the ”South Indian Cinema Induction Programme” for our friends. MAGADHEERA (Step One) is a full out epic film that dazzles the senses, while Arya 2 on the other hand is on a more intimate, character driven scale. It also has many of the staples of a Telugu film used to great effect:

–          Creepy weird stalking = true love and you should be totally grateful to your stalker and love them back
–          The hero will fall in love with the heroine instantly on first seeing her.
–          Machetes are essential for any proper fight scene
–          No Telugu film is complete without Brahmi (it may indeed be a law that he must appear)
–          Totally awesome dancing.

The movie contains similar themes of one-sided love and stalking til you win as the earlier (and far inferior) film, Arya, but is not a sequel as such so you don’t need to see that to understand Arya 2.  The child Arya sacrifices his chance at leaving the orphanage when he wins a coin toss but lets his best friend Ajay be adopted. Years later Ajay reluctantly gives Arya a job after Arya rescues him from some thugs. Ajay tells him he must be the perfect employee and if anything untoward happens, Arya is out. He doesn’t think that Arya can manage this as his childhood friend is a drunken thug who has never managed to make anything of himself. However, Arya transforms himself into the stylish Mister Perfect and confounds Ajay’s expectation of a short-lived stint at honest employment.

Both fall in love with Geetha, played by Kajal Agarwal, and to show his true love Arya stalks her – of course!!  This totally freaks her out, especially since no-one will believe that the perfect Arya could do any of the things she is accusing him of.  It says enough that Brahmi plays the HR Director, so you can imagine the quality of staff counselling on offer! Finally she turns to Ajay to try and shake off Arya’s attentions, and announces that she will marry him.

Meanwhile her family, who are the local big-wigs in her village, want to marry her off to the son of their rivals in order to bring the two families together and stop all the bloodshed.  For various reasons, Arya goes to let her family know that she will only marry his good friend Ajay.  Along the way he manages to get married to her himself and his conflicts between doing the right thing for his best friend, his own desires and flaws and his total all encompassing love for the girl are brilliantly portrayed. How he tries to resolve all these dramas and achieve a happy resolution for all forms the second half of the film.

This is Allu Arjun’s movie all the way, and he does turn in one of his best performances to date as the psychopathic Arya.  Bunny manages to make all of this convincing as he swings from manic stalker and psychopath to tender lover and concerned friend and back again, all the while trying to make Geetha’s world as perfect as possible, be the ideal worker, solve the inter-family rivalry, and be true to his best friend.

Special mention of his goldfish – despite being worried for its safety the whole way through the movie, thankfully all was well in the end.  We choose not to consider the fluctuations in appearance of the goldfish, and decided it was just occasional use of a stunt fish rather than multiple goldfishes. Indeed the goldfish had a vital role to play, apart from the obvious one  demonstrating that Arya really was a good person at heart because he took care of a goldfish!

The added touch of Arya administering first aid to the thugs while he was beating them was genius!  He wasn’t wantonly violent – just teaching them a lesson. This was picked up again in another fabulous fight scene involving a bus and a trail of ambulances.

Other plus points of this film are Kajal Agarwal, who is just beautiful and feisty enough to make a very attractive heroine.  Her evolution from hating Arya and trying to ruin him to understanding his motivation and problems was believable. The scenes where she realised Ajay might not be the man she believed him to be were effective and not overplayed. The addition of Subbu (played by Ajay) as her third prospective bridegroom, the son of the opposing gang-leader, was an unexpected bonus as this actor is another favourite.  The Sholay tinged bromance between the characters played by Ajay and Bunny was both hilarious and touching, and more than a little twisted.

In fact the only downside, and it is small, is the character of Ajay, played by Navdeep in the movie.   Despite the  back-story showing how young Arya manipulated situations to ensure they stayed close, little of this was referenced again in later scenes, except by Arya who genuinely seemed to care about their shared past, albeit in his warped way. Ajay seemed just mean and spineless as he tried to throw Arya to the wolves and come away with the girl and without the burden of his “best friend”.  We really never care about Navdeep’s Ajay at all, despite the potential for us to see him as a victim of an unstable relationship or as the villain of the piece. Navdeep also didn’t turn in a particular inspiring performance, and it really felt as if he was sleep-walking through the role.

The soundtrack and choreography are excellent, and months later we are still listening to the songs on high rotation. Neither of us quite understand who came up with the reverse-worm move in “My Love Is Gone”, or why, but they all seem very proud of it, and it clearly took some doing! The muted colour palette in the city scenes gives the boy-meets-girl story a fresh and modern look, and the monochrome costumes for Arya are quite a remove from the usual bling-is-more Telugu hero style.

The cinematography and editing are brilliant, and the dance and fight sequences look fantastic. For those who like a colourful village wedding, machetes, moustaches and skanky item girl, these essential elements are abundant once the story relocates to Rayalaseema.

Heather says: Arya 2 is my favourite Telugu movie.  It just has absolutely everything.  Action, drama, comedy, Allu Arjun (who just happens to be my favourite Telugu actor), brilliant dancing and a really well plotted and paced story.  The lead actors shine in this film, and Sukumar’s direction is just fabulous throughout.  I agree with Temple that the small details and personality quirks shown throughout really raise this film above other ‘stalking as love’ films I’ve seen.  The only quibble I have is with Ajay who was just too one-dimensional, but since he was only there to showcase how selfish and narrow minded he was compared to the big hearted Arya, this wasn’t too much of an issue.  I love the music in this film, the dancing is just incredible, although trying to copy the dance moves in “My Love has Gone” has caused some minor injuries in our dance group.  I would therefore advise watching with some caution and the ‘please don’t try this at home’ warning should apply! This film makes me laugh, cry, sigh over Arya, shout at the screen, and even gasp every time at the climax even though I’ve watched it many, many times.  Just perfect – 5 stars!

Temple says: When I started watching Hindi films, I saw a lot of early SRK films where he played the stuttering stalking psycho that you couldn’t help but love, but who dies in a hail of bullets. Arya 2 reminded me a little of those films, but with the added bonus that the very attractive anti-hero survives, and gets the girl. Hurrah!! But I will add, I only barrack for the stalkers and psychos in films, not in real life.  Small details in the direction really made this film perfect for me – Arya putting his glasses back on so he could see his dream sequence clearly, the goldfish, the tiny jail for frogs, Bunny’s excellent moments of pure mayhem when Arya broke through the surface of Mister Perfect and the recurring musical and sound effect motifs. Oh – and a heroine entrance featuring an umbrella hat. Haven’t seen one of those in ages! I really have no criticism of Arya 2. I love the story development, it has all the action and brilliant dancing I want, and the comedy was actually funny. Allu Arjun just shone in this role, and is a delight from start to finish. I’m sure it was considered quite risky to make this film as it isn’t a standard heroic role, and the character is manipulative and unhinged right to the end, and not something a lot of young actors would venture. A huge thank you to the producers, director and writer and all the cast for making something so quirky and fun. Of course this gets 5 stars from me!

Maryada Ramanna

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Maryada Ramanna was released on Friday with a lot of expectation – the latest film from SS Rajamouli, and starring Sunil who is better known for his role as the comedy sidekick. Could they pull it off after the huge success of Magadheera?  We went to see this in the cinema with a little trepidation – would we follow enough of the story and actually get the comedy, since neither of us understand Telugu? Fortunately for us the combination of excellent direction and storytelling, with a great performance from Sunil ensured we were amused and entertained from the very first moments.The plot twists and turns are generally easy to follow, although not understanding the dialogues we did have to puzzle over some of the longer speeches.

There are many stand-out scenes, from the opening song where Sunil appears to channel some Chiranjeevi style,  the hilarious train platform scene, to the final dramatic showdown.   The talking bicycle which sounded strange in the promos is actually used to good comic effect, as are the many other props and devices throughout the film.

The film isn’t just about comedy mayhem though, there are some beautiful quiet moments captured along the way, including a stunning scene illuminated by the flickering light of fireflies.

The song and dance tracks are well integrated into the narrative and serve a purpose within the story. The supporting cast , especially the two murderous brothers, are excellent and everyone makes a good contribution to the film. Saloni makes the best of what she has to do, and is certainly quite charming in her scenes with Sunil.

For those of you debating whether to see this film without subtitles, we think you should give it a go. Of course it is a different experience when you can understand all the dialogue but this film proves that a good story, great director and excellent performances will always keep you engaged.

Alaipayuthey

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Having seen and quite liked the Hindi film “Saathiya“ some time ago (mainly for Rani Mukherjee) we were thrilled to know it was originally a Mani Ratnam Tamil language film starring the ever charming Madhavan.  In a broad generalisation, we find the interpersonal and romantic relationships in Tamil films to be more credible than their Hindi counterparts – people discuss their likes, dislikes and fears, sex is not such a secret, there  seems to be more thought given to how couples will live once they are severed from their families and people do get second chances. Alaipayuthey is no exception to this. Told in flashbacks, the story reveals layers of the relationship that go beyond the usual frothy boy-meets-girl rom-com.

Madhavan plays charming middle class boy about town Karthik. He spots Shakti (played by Shalini) at a friend’s wedding and is immediately interested. Shakti is a smart, studious girl who is being educated with the support and financial sacrifice of her working class family, who want to see her move up in the world. Shakti isn’t a push over to be dazzled by Karthik’s floppy hair, dental perfection and easy manner, but eventually (after some traditional filmi stalkerish behaviour) she succumbs. They continue to see each other around town, sharing glances across the train tracks,  and Karthik continues to find ways of placing himself in Shakti’s path. The attraction is mutual, and the struggle between wishful thinking and practical considerations is well developed without being laboured.

The young lovebirds enjoy stilted phone conversations and long awkward silences as they attempt to keep their romance under wraps.

In due course, Karthik pops the question and the families meet. The casual manners of his more moneyed family clash painfully with Shakti’s father – the socialist with a chip on his shoulder – and the union is not agreed upon.

Fear of a forced marriage to a suitable boy pushes the couple into deciding on a secret marriage, which doesn’t remain a secret. Forced to leave both their homes, Karthik and Shakti move into a half built apartment and try to build their lives.  And this is where the story gets deeper and more engaging. This couple struggle. They are both used to having their own way, to being the golden child in their respective families, to following their own priorities and now each has to deal with someone equally determined and ambitious.

Shakti is never going to give up her medical career, and Karthik won’t back away from his dream of becoming successful in his own IT business. The relationship deteriorates and they fall into recrimination and an angry silence.  The half finished apartment then seems an apt metaphor for their hastily constructed life and the shortcoming become more noticeable despite attempts to decorate and patch over them.

Things come to a head when Shakti fails to meet Karthik at the station one evening and he fears that she has left him. How things are resolved does indeed travel through full blown melodrama but having built so much goodwill and emotional investment in these characters, we stay with it to the end.

Madhavan doesn’t shy away from showing the negative aspects of Karthik’s character – his arrogance, sense of entitlement and lack of empathy. Shalini plays Shakti as a girl caught between her traditional upbringing, her ambition to make something of her own career, and her love for Karthik. She is selfish, sulky, cheeky and loving by turns and all the more credible. Vivek Oberoi and Rani Mukerjee on the other hand seem to live in a much cleaner and more sanitised India which is almost Disney-like.  They look almost  airbrushed and never seem to be quite as real as their Tamil counterparts.

The soundtrack by AR Rahman is great, although there is too much of the dreaded montaging for our liking. We know Maddy is not famed for his dance ishtyle but he tries really hard and we would have preferred to see more dancing!

Heather says: I really enjoyed this film, – thanks to everyone who recommended it to me.  The young couples’ story is realistically portrayed, and rather than making marriage a ‘happy ever after’ the film shows the commonplace reality.  The end of the film is more contrived, but in such a way that it doesn’t seem to intrude too much into the atmosphere created earlier in the film.  Madhavan does seem to fall naturally into the role of the spoilt rich kid, but is also excellent as his character matures and has to deal with the reality of life without the support of his family.  Shalini fits her role as the medical student from a working class family, and the two actors are very well matched.  Their increasing frustration with each other as they try to live together and the problems they encounter within their marriage and are very believable, and certainly will ring true with most married couples.  Really good performances from the lead actors and the supporting cast who ensured the story’s realism.   I saw Saathiya a few years ago and thought it was a good Mani Ratnam film, but this version was so much better. Having seen both Hindi and Tamil versions of his newest film as well, I will try and stick to the Tamil in future. I am deducting half a star because there wasn’t quite enough dancing – 4 ½ stars from me.

Temple says: I’m so pleased Heather liked this! This is a well constructed story with memorable characters in a fairly realistic setting. I particularly enjoyed the low key portrayal of the growing discord in the new marriage as it was neither a happy ever after fable nor an overwrought tearjerker. While it follows a standard boy meets girl storyline, the relationship evolved in a way that I could identify with, and I was emotionally engaged. The soundtrack is never intrusive and the songs are well integrated into the story. Visually the film is lovely with rich sun-faded colours and lots of texture, and shot on an intimate scale which made me feel closer to the story. It seems to be a strength in the Southern films (I have seen so far) that there is diversity in the look of the backing dancers and extras that is really charming, and certainly seems different to the Bollywood Beauty Standard. Overall, while the romance genre is not my favourite, I did really enjoy Alaipayuthey. I would have liked more dancing too, but not sure the lack of it detracted from the film for me. I give this four stars – a deduction for the melodramatic ending which was almost too too much.