Tag Archives: Aishwarya

Kalyana Vaibhogame

Posted on by

Kalyana-Vaibhogame

I hadn’t originally planned to see Kalyana Vibhogame during the film’s brief appearance in Melbourne, but changed my mind when I discovered that a friend has a brief cameo role. Naturally I then had to see the film! I also really enjoyed watching Nandini Reddy’s previous film Ala Modalaindi so had reasonable hopes for a good story and interesting characters, but unfortunately Kalyana Vibhogame never quite hits the mark. At best it’s a bit of a mixed bag since, although it’s a well-worn storyline with frequent clichéd situations, there are also likeable characters and the comedy is generally funny. However the terrible ending ensures that the film is memorable more for what didn’t work, rather than for what did, and that’s disappointing.

Like many films that feature a love story where the starting point is the marriage of the main characters, there are a lot of contrived episodes to get the couple hitched. Shourya (Naga Shourya) works as a gaming designer with plans to move to the USA, but is being pressured by his parents to get married before his grandmother dies. Shourya has a good relationship with his grandmother so the real driving force behind his impending nuptials seems to be his mother (Aishwarya), although she never comes up with any particularly believable reason behind her attempts to force her son into marriage.  So right from the start it’s difficult to see exactly why Shourya feels that he can’t just say no, move to the USA and live the life he wants to lead.

Divya (Malavika Nair) on the other hand has her autocratic father (Anand) to deal with, whose overbearing attitude does at least give a convincing reason why she agrees to consider marriage. Divya talks up a good resistance when she speaks to her mother (Raasi) but isn’t able to follow through on her threats of independence when she speaks to her father. I liked the contrast between Divya’s day to day life as a medical graduate where she’s completely in control and then her inability to stand up to her father and his expectations. It’s more believable than Shourya’s situation and Malavika Nair is convincing and realistically hesitant in her role.

After meeting, Shourya and Divya plan to get married and then straight away apply for a divorce, reasoning that once they move to Hyderabad they will be out from under their parents influence and will be able to do what they want. However we know it’s never as simple as that. The pair enjoy their relative freedom but are constantly having to act the part of devoted newlyweds as their inconvenient families keep showing up. Nandini Reddy even throws in a Punjabi family friend who comes to live in their building with all the expected standard Punjabi jokes, just when the story was starting to improve.

And that’s the problem. There are some good dialogues and the relationship between Shourya and Divya doesn’t entirely follow the expected path. The inclusion of Shourya’s young brother who has Down’s syndrome is brilliant and a fantastic addition to the story. But then there’s another stereotypical character or trite and hackneyed attempt by Shourya to get Divya’s father to respect his wife and daughter, and the film loses pace once again. There is also never any real intimacy developed between the two characters which makes it even more unbelievable when they realise that they do love each other. When did they ever have a chance to fall in love? (Apart from in the songs of course!)

When it’s Shourya, Divya and their friends the film feels fresh and interesting, but once the families appear it’s back into well charted waters and the clichés just keep coming. The end in particular is too ridiculous to take seriously, despite an attempt by Divya’s mother to make a point about women’s rights which is completely overshadowed by the absurdity of the timing and the melodramatic events leading up to her declaration.

Even with the tired storyline, the actors all do a good job and to some extent that makes up for the deficiencies in the screenplay. Naga Shourya fits the part of a young professional and apart from his inability to stand up to his mother, his character is the most believable of the lot. He’s a typical guy – likes showing off, going out with his mates and chasing after pretty girls. Shourya also does well in generating sympathy for his character, painting him as basically a good guy at heart with a generous and respectful nature, and staying true to this portrayal throughout the film.

Although Divya too is a likeable character and Malavika Nair is excellent, the initial promise of her character isn’t fully realised. Divya seems to lose the gumption that let her enter into the deception in the first place and doesn’t seem to make the most of her situation in the same way as Shourya’s character. Granted she is female and is a doctor, but I expected to see the confident Divya of the early scenes in some of the interactions with Shourya, and instead she seems more immature and somehow diminished by the relationship. It’s like that tired cliché that after marriage the girl has to settle down, wear a sari and become the perfect wife. It’s not quite as bad as that here, but the impression is that Shourya is improved by his marriage while Divya seems to lose something of herself.

Overall Kalyana Vibhogame attempts a modern update of an old story but doesn’t  quite manage to pull it off. Although the characters start with a fresh outlook on life and matrimony, in the end the film follows a familiar path until the oddly overly dramatic finale. There are good dialogues, great performances and plenty of well written comedy which together do mean the film is worth a look, it’s just disappointing that there are frustratingly outdated stereotypical characters in abundance as well and as a result the film doesn’t engage as much as it should.

Kandukondain Kandukondain

Posted on by

Kandukondain Kandukondain is an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility and one of the first Tamil films I saw. It’s still one of my favourites, largely due to the good performances and the strong screenplay. Tabu and Aishwarya Rai play the sisters – sensible, thoughtful Sowmya, and the mercurial Meenakshi. Rajiv Menon retains some of the novel’s ambiguity about whose way is ultimately better, and he and dialogue writer Sujatha focus on the characters and how they develop.

The heroines’ characters required little adaptation. Regency heroines and filmi ones tend to spend a lot of time waiting for the right man or angling for a suitable husband so it probably wasn’t much of a challenge. The suitably ladylike occupations of music and teaching are retained which happily allows for more songs than one might expect from Jane Austen. The female characters in the film are memorable, distinct and very appealing. And I do like the image of big burly film directors reading Austen or Georgette Heyer for their inspiration!

Tabu has a lovely gravity that makes Sowmya very sympathetic. There are small things that make her seem so real – in scenes talking to her ailing grandfather Tabu’s face was sweet and serene, but the sudden slight tension in her throat gave away her real feelings. Tabu’s performance was wonderful, and I totally believed it when Sowmya decided to open her heart to a persistent suitor only to find that she may have been mistaken.

True Love rarely runs smoothly and there are obstacles, real and imagined, that try Sowmya’s patience and resilience, challenging her apparent acceptance of her lot in life. Her confusion and disappointment over Manohar was palpable.

Sowmya thinks that her bad luck has relegated her to a life of service and domesticity in the family home. Her journey towards accepting that she has a right to her own love and happiness is one of the elements of the novel that I enjoyed. She avoids being a stereotypical Regency novel spinster – she is intelligent, personable and has a sense of fun. Sowmya also has a decent job and shows determination in pursuing a career and financial independence.

This is one of the films that made me decide Aishwarya is a capable actor but needs a director who can coach her. She has a lively spark that suited this version of Marianne Dashwood, and Meenu’s feisty streak was always in evidence. The opening song shows off Meenakshi’s extrovert nature, features some excellent dancers and lets Aish show off her animal impressions including a valiant attempt at tiger face.

Aish and Tabu had great rapport and details like the way they leaned in to speak to each other, or would catch each others hand as they talked were really charming. But Meenakshi wasn’t all sweetness.

When she was angry she let fly, and Aish was excellent in those high energy dramatic scenes. Meenu confronted her mother over a family secret, and threw Bala’s love back in his face with no compunction. But she wasn’t malicious so much as impulsive and emotional, and I think the script and the performance combined to show this clearly.

Meenu grows to realise that love encompasses respect and friendship, not just passionate attraction to a dream hero. She doesn’t exactly become her sensible sister but she decides what she needs from her life partner and chooses to look beyond the obvious. When Srikanth makes an offer he thinks she won’t refuse, things become crystal clear to Meenu. She sets about getting her way with all the vigour she had previously put into avoiding Bala.

Mammootty is excellent as the embittered drunk with a loosely fitted prosthetic leg, Bala (based on Colonel Brandon). Living with his war injuries and a sense of disillusionment he seems intent on pissing his life away. He is drawn to Meenakshi’s beauty but I think it is her fiery temper and cheeky disrespect that really captures him. Mammootty transforms from angry man to shy boy and then seems to regain his love of life and enjoyment of people, resuming a full and happy life with no booze and less anger.

Unlike Colonel Brandon, he has loyal sidekick Sivagnanam (the excellent Manivannan) to provide strategic advice and moral support. The ‘talk to the hand’ scene was sweet and very funny. Bala had the maturity and patience to deal with Meenu, and the intelligence to realise that she would come round or not but he couldn’t force it.

He helps the family from decency, not to buy Meenu’s favour. His thoughtfulness and generosity made Bala a hero. And of course he does save her life.

When it looks like Bala might see his dreams come true, Mammootty shows the underlying vulnerability gradually give way to joy. It’s such a well judged performance and he supports Aish beautifully.

Ajith is hampered by the least successful storyline. In the novel Edward Ferrars is gentry with strong principles and a secret engagement he is unable to break, torn by his love for Elinor and his duty. Making Manohar an ambitious film director didn’t carry the same limitations and so he came across as more selfish and whiny than noble.

Manohar made the decision to leave Sowmya until he had made his first film. There was no need to make such a choice and it was silly. I struggled to see him as the right man for smart sensible Sowmya. The supposed ‘other woman’, the top actress and action hero Nandini Verma (Pooja Batra) was lots of fun but again her occupation and personality didn’t match the dynamic from the novel and it fizzled. Instead of being worried about being forced to marry an unsuitable woman and lose the one he loved, Manohar often looked quite content with his situation.

Well, until the day he decided he was finally ready to claim Sowmya. Ajith was adequate in the role but the lack of credible tension in his story left me unconvinced.

Srikanth (Abbas) was perfect for the film’s Mr Willoughby. I don’t think he is at all attractive but his entrepreneurial character and silly floppy hair fit the style of the society man on the make. And talk about making an entrance…

The wet shirt scene was completely unnecessary and did him no favours in the inevitable comparison. Srikanth was self centred, self satisfied and avoided responsibility. His relationship with Meenu was based on his surface appeal and her dreamy silly notions and very pretty face.  Srikanth was devoid of substance and sense, and seemed genuinely shocked when things fell apart.

The supporting cast are all very good. Shamili as little sister Kamala, Srividya as the mother who wanted the best for her girls and Manivannan as Bala’s friend were all great. Rajiv Menon and dialogue writer Sujatha gave the support actors lots to do which helped reinforce the domestic feel. Bala’s mother (I think) is obsessed with weddings, and long suffering Sivagnanam even gets the family cats married to keep her quiet. Thankfully the comedy is centred on necessary characters and incidents.

The soundtrack is lovely but the song picturisations are a mixed bag. Some look amazing and others are like something from a high school rock eisteddfod. Some have a bit of both!

Cinematographer Ravi K Chandran made the most of the lovely rural locations, and also captured the more enclosed and subdued lighting of the city. He certainly made his leading ladies look stunning.

It’s a beautiful film, with a quality AR Rahman soundtrack and some excellent performances. And it’s one of the more successful adaptations of a novel I know well and am very fond of.  4 stars!

Heather says: I’m generally not a fan of adaptations of Jane Austin. I fell in love with her books as a child, in fact Sense and Sensibility was the first I read, and so far nothing on either the big or small screen has lived up to my expectations. Kandukondain Kandukondain is no exception, although I do think it is one of the best adaptations I have seen.  Despite that, I failed to connect with the characters and although the whole film looks beautiful and has some lovely songs in the soundtrack, it’s not a film I really enjoyed.

Kandukondain Kandukondain is shot to make the best use of scenery and to accentuate colour in the landscapes as might be expected from someone with Rajiv Menon’s background.  The indoor scenes look just as good and I like the way the colour and light of the first half gives way to duller lighting when they move to Chennai and the family have to fend for themselves. In fact this is the best part of the film for me as I enjoyed Sowmya’s search for work which felt very realistic. Meenakshi’s singing and her career problems were also well depicted and I loved the way that Mahalakshmi was also secretly working. At this point I was able to forget any Jane Austin links and the characters started to come alive. But then the film went back to the respective love stories and I lost interest  again. I didn’t feel that the original characters from the book were well adapted into modern-day romances. While I thought the lives of the sisters were modernised and well written into an Indian setting, the men, (with the exception of Major Bala) seemed to be poor copies of the Jane Austin characters and I didn’t like them at all. Ajith was fine as the film director but like Temple I had problems with his decision not to marry until he had made his first film. Or rather not so much the reluctance to marry until he was established, which did have some legitimacy, but rather the long separation without any contact which just seemed ridiculous. Abbas looked too much like Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet for me to be able to see him without grinning. Especially when he donned a cloak in one of the songs! His character isn’t supposed to be likeable but I couldn’t even find him charming here, and Meenakshi’s devotion to him was only based on his ability to recite poetry. Again this follows the book to some extent but there is so much more to the whole romance than that and for me it wasn’t well brought out in the film. Aishwarya was absolutely stunning as Meenakshi, but I thought there was too much beauty and not enough depth in her portrayal. However I think this is more the fault of the character she played rather than a problem with her performance, which was actually quite natural and one of her best. Despite the changes in the story, I wasn’t able to forget that Meenakshi was basically Marianne from the book and in that context she wasn’t my mental view of that character. Although Sowmya was a more individual character and I thought that Tabu gave a good performance, I couldn’t connect with her at all. By the end I really didn’t care if she managed to get married or not despite having originally felt some sympathy for her. I wanted her to get on with her life on her own terms and not be so reliant on a rather weak man. But then, that’s often a problem with both film and regency romance heroines. The one character that I really enjoyed watching was Major Bala. Mammootty was fantastic and I did empathise with his situation and his attempts to win Meenakshi. His performance was the definite stand out and his interactions with his friend Sivagnanam were some of my favourite moments in the film.

There is nothing really wrong with Kandukondain Kandukondain and I’m sure I would have enjoyed it more if I’d been able to just forget about Sense and Sensibility. But I would much rather read the original book again rather than watch the film.   It still gets 3 stars from me but they are nearly all for Mammootty and a beautiful soundtrack.


Endhiran

Posted on by

After all the hype, hysteria and build-up we finally made it to a packed showing of Endhiran.  There was a definite buzz in the air as we queued in disorderly fashion totally blocking both the main street and the exit to various shops and restaurants in the area.  As the opening credits rolled, the crowd went wild, and we were off into our first Tamil film with subtitles in the cinema.

The film starts well with an interestingly wigged and bearded Rajni working on his robot creation.  His lab is wonderfully futuristic and his lab assistants appropriately comedic.  We then had the introduction of his love interest in the form of  Sana (played by Aish), and this was where the film began to lose its way.  There was no chemistry between them as a couple, and the age difference was notable. Aish actually looked far too old to be playing a medical student, especially one who was too flaky to study for her exams.

Scenes between Rajni as Vasi (the scientist) and Chitti (the robot) were generally done well and conveyed the growing tension in the relationship between the man and his creation. Rajni’s performance in both roles was very polished and often compelling. Again though, the lack of chemistry between the leads undermined this as the plot hinged on Chitti falling in love with Sana and that failed to be really convincing. Once love drives the man and robot apart , the film turns into a revenge action drama and the pace picks up.

Danny Denzongpa makes a welcome return as Dr Vaseegaran’s old teacher, and current rival in robotics. He makes some fine points regarding ethics and behaviour, and seems to have more of a grasp on what it means to create sentient life than any of the good guys.  Unfortunately he seems to be much less well funded than the lone scientist Vasi, and this leads to some bad choices in his associates.

The film tosses up some really interesting ideas and questions, but fails to expand on or answer them which was frustrating.   The scene where Chitti rescues people from burning buildings had so much potential to expand on the theme of the value of life, but instead just served to point out how far removed from the realities of life the scientists had become.

The effects in general were really well done, but even for a sci-fi film like this there just seemed to be too much reliance on clever CGI and not enough on actual story.  For example, in the fire scene the robot could fly with no obvious means of propulsion and despite being hot enough for his silicone skin and clothes to burn away, his metallic frame wasn’t so hot that it burned any of the people he helped. It was obvious that the artistic vision didn’t extend to any basic logic or science.

Once we got to Chitti 2.0 the pace did pick up and the story did consolidate into a straight good guys versus bad guys. Rajni has a great line in evil laughs and his evil strut was a crowd favourite. The production design was excellent and the appearance of the various lairs, labs and other locations suited the theme of the film.

The basic question of why Chitti didn’t have the same rights as the men around him was never addressed, despite that being the reason for him turning to the dark side. Instead, we got more CGI and more Rajnis – not necessarily a bad thing but it did go on for longer than it needed to. We did love the snake! Once all the whizz bang technological effects were done with, the film failed to really reach a conclusion. It seemed that all the surviving characters would just go on with their lives as though this little episode had never happened. It was quite disappointing and not satisfying at all after so much build up and excitement to leave the film with no clear conclusion.

The songs were generally well placed in the film and were beautifully shot.  The outdoor locations were stunning with some excellent use of local fauna.  Aish’s outfits were beautiful and the costumes in Kilimanjaro do deserve special mention for the total exuberance of feathers.

Heather says: While I did enjoy this film I thought it could have benefited from longer in the editing room. The film seemed to be a collection of good scenes which were drawn out a little too long and too many ideas which were never fully developed.  The story had a tendency to lose its way when the focus was on the romance between the two lead characters and this tended to lose my attention.  Rajni however was fantastic and his scenes both as the scientist and as the robot worked very well. He was always the main focus of attention in any scene and made the most of his double role.  His assistants provided most of the comedy and I found them to be very funny and also quite well utilised in the story.  I’d been playing the music for weeks, and liked most of the songs.  Watching the film, even the two songs I hadn’t really liked on the CD worked well and although the dancing was perhaps a little lacking the locales and costumes were elaborate enough to make up for that.  I really didn’t like the bad medicine in one scene – always a pet hate for me, and even some of the physics was just a little too hard to swallow.  But then again it was a sci-fi film and not meant to be taken literally!  On that sci-fi note, the special effects really were special.  Overall the CGI was impressive, and the robot scenes in particular were very well done.  They did seem to get a little carried away towards the end, but the film did have enough of a futuristic feel and justifies at least some of its apparently massive budget.   Perhaps I just expected too much from a Rajni film, and it failed to be as good as anticipated.  But I did enjoy the film and with a little more thought on the editing felt that it could have been excellent.  In this current version, I give it 3 and 1/2 stars.

Temple says: There was a lot I enjoyed about Endhiran but also a lot that left me cold.  Rajni is the superstar, and he certainly dominated the screen whenever he appeared. He had to carry the whole film, and managed to make the biggest scenes and the smallest moments compelling and memorable. He was ably assisted by his wig designer! The first half of the film just dragged, and spent far too long on the unconvincing Rajni/Aish relationship. Aish’s acting was poor throughout, but having seen her give excellent performances in other films (Ravanan, Raincoat, Kandukondain Kandukondain, Devdas) I place a lot of the responsibility for that on a weak character/script and on the director. The second half of the film was much more successful and more enjoyable. It was clear that Shankar has been “inspired” by many other blockbuster films, and seemed determined to use scenes from many of them in Endhiran. This collage effect was spoiled by the lack of linking episodes and dialogues so it became a bit disjointed and messy. I can’t even begin to explain the mosquito skit. The supporting actors are good, and it was great to see Danny Denzongpa back as a villain of sorts.  I didn’t like the music before I saw the film, and thought that might change seeing the songs in situ. It didn’t. I still don’t like the soundtrack much at all, and found it boring despite the excellent production design for the song picturisations. With a good edit, and a bit more thought for the story, this could have been brilliant. I give it 3 stars.