Tag Archives: Dhanush

Polladhavan (2007)

Posted on by

Polladhavan

Frustratingly the only copy I have ever been able to find of Vetrimaaran’s debut film is a relatively poor quality VCD  that doesn’t have English subtitles. It’s particularly annoying knowing how well written the dialogues were in Aadukalam (even via subtitles) and I’m sure there is much I have missed in Polladhavan as a result of not understanding the language. However the story is still clear and easy to follow, with plenty of scenes that suggest a similar attention to developing the flawed characters and their relationships as in Vetrimaaran’s subsequent film.  Although there is much that initially seems familiar about the story, as the film progresses it breaks away from the typical gangster film mould and becomes as much about family as the struggle between Prabhu (Dhanush) and the gangsters who have stolen his beloved motorbike. There is plenty of tension and suspense, and the path to the final bloody showdown is rather more convoluted than expected. It’s a good story, entertainingly told and really deserves to be more readily available to a wider audience.

Dhanush appears in his by now very familiar role as Prabhu, an unemployed layabout, content to spend his days playing carom and hanging out with his friends Kumar (Karunas) and Sathish (Santhanan) or annoying the local bike dealers by repeatedly viewing a Pulsar motorbike. He has no hope of ever being able to afford the object of his desire but continually attempts to get a cheaper price along with a long instalment plan for payment and seems convinced that he will one day be the proud owner of the latest model. Nothing wrong with having a dream!

Prabhu is at odds with his father (Murali) who wants him to get a job, but is supported by his mother (Bhanupriya) who slips him money behind her husband’s back. There are the usual family arguments about money and Prabhu’s failure to contribute to the household, but things change after Prabhu confronts his father following a drunken night out. Prabhu accuses his father of not supporting his attempts to find work compared to his friends whose fathers who have paid bribes or bought them a start in their chosen career. Although this seems a very strange argument to me, it strikes a nerve with Prabhu’s father and he cashes in the money set aside for his daughter’s wedding and gives it to Prabhu instead.

Naturally Prabhu immediately goes and buys the bike.

What is interesting is the way this argument and Prabhu’s subsequent purchase of the motorbike change the family dynamic.  While Prabhu’s mother accuses him of wasting the money, Prabhu’s father supports his son’s right to do whatever he chose, even if he doesn’t agree with that choice. The family arguments feel realistic and plausible and Prabhu’s conviction that his bike will help him get a job seems typical of any young man in similar circumstances. Body language is key and Vetrimaaran uses different angles and distance shots to convey the changing relationships. It helps give the film an authentic sense of a typical family which makes the subsequent scenes of violence a complete and striking contrast.

Amazingly Prabhu’s purchase has the desired result and he manages to get a job, further aiding his reconciliation with his father. The development of their relationship is shown in small moments such as when his father chases away the neighbourhood children playing on the bike, or by his father’s smile when he sees job adverts circled in the newspaper.  It’s effective and develops relationships while avoiding a big family make up scene that would only have interrupted the flow.

As well as dreaming about owning a motorbike, Prabhu has spent the last 2 years infatuated with a girl he sees at the local bus stop. The bike and his job give Prabhu the confidence to finally approach Hema (Divya Spandana) and after a shaky start the two begin a relationship. However, after a good beginning with plenty of humour and promising signs of a personality for Hema, once the action ramps up the romance is relegated to the background with Prabhu’s first love (his motorbike) taking precedence in the story.

As things are going well for Prabhu, in a semi-parallel storyline local gangster Selvam (Kishore) has problems with his younger brother Ravi (Daniel Balaji). Selvam deals in drugs and is involved in various other illegal activities as he runs his area with help from his best friend Out (Pawan). Ravi wants a bigger role in his brother’s endeavours despite his quick temper and apparent general unsuitability for any responsibility. Prabhu crosses paths with Ravi a few times in chance encounters, but most notably on a night when the gang is involved in a murder and Prabhu’s bike is stolen. The two events may, or may not be connected but Prabhu really doesn’t care – he just wants his bike back!

Some of the best scenes occur when Prabhu’s search takes him to different crime operations with a fascinating look at how bikes can be hidden and smuggled around the country. These brushes with the shady side of Chennai bring Prabhu into closer contact with Selvam and his brother Ravi, and the situation escalates as Prabhu discovers exactly what has happened to his bike.

Dhanush gets everything just right here in his portrayal of a young man gradually developing maturity and responsibility but easily distracted by events around him. His spiral into violence is clearly shown as a reaction to circumstance with the infatuation with his bike a convincing reason for the decisions he makes. I had friends who were just as obsessed with their bikes (and I have to confess to a certain amount of obsession with my own!) so it totally makes sense to me that Prabhu would go to such extremes to get his bike back. Ravi is a more typical Tamil film gangster, but his brother Selvam is an interesting character who seems to be a ‘gangster with a conscience’. The interplay between Ravi, Selvam and Out is well done, and once Prabhu is added in to the mix, the story evolves quickly with plenty of suspense thrown in for good measure.

The final scenes revert to more typical gangster film fare with the inevitable final showdown, but Vetrimaaran keeps it interesting by giving his bad guys realistic personalities and reasons to act in the way they do. The fights are short, bloody and more convincing than usual which also avoids sensationalising the gangster element of the story. Although there are a few fights where Prabhu defeats 3 or 4 henchmen, at least it is only 4 rather than 20, and Ravi isn’t a big burly guy either so his fight sequences with Prabhu seem slightly more credible. Apart from the rather Salman Khanesque way Prabhu loses his shirt in the final fight, which is a little OTT but is also a lot of fun too!

While the fight scenes work well, the songs are less successful. Although the music by G.V. Prakash Kumar is catchy enough, the picturisation and choreography are generally mediocre and mostly the songs don’t fit well into the narrative. However the rest of the film looks good, at least from what I could see from my poor quality copy, and the strong cast all deliver good performances. Vetrimaaran’s strengths lie in developing characters with depth and attention to detail in building relationships, and both are used to maximum effect here.  The story may not always flow as well as it could but when it comes to the characterisations and the overall plot, everything works perfectly. The screenplay rarely lags and there are enough twists and surprises to keep the film engaging right to the very last frame. While Polladhavan may not be perfect it is a great first film for Vetrimaaran and well worth watching for a gangster film with a difference. 4 stars.

Anegan

Posted on by

Anegan

Somewhat ironically I had to wait until I got back to Australia to see KV Anand’s latest film despite spending the last few weeks in Tamil Nadu.  I was keen to see Dhanush in a triple role, since the trailer looked promising and three times as much Dhanush can only ever be a good thing! I also loved both Ko and Ayan, and was hopeful that Anegan would be a return to KV Anand’s earlier form after the disappointment of Maattrraan. And overall I wasn’t disappointed with Anegan. The first half is a little slow, and Dhanush’s really quite terrible wig in his first incarnation is rather distracting, but the second half is much better with an improvement in the main relationship and some good plot twists. Although the story doesn’t really get going until after the interval, catchy songs, some stunning visuals and an entertaining story make Anegan well worth a trip to the cinema.

Anegan opens in Burma of the early sixties and tells of a romance between a Tamil labourer Murugappa (Dhanush) and the daughter of a high-ranking official Samudhra (Amyra Dastur). It’s all fairly typical stuff, including a damsel in distress and daring rescue scene, secretive meetings in full public view and the stiff parental opposition you would expect. What never fails to amaze me is how young Dhanush can appear to be when required – a shave plus a bad wig and suddenly he looks sixteen. Here he appears younger than his co-star despite her giddy antics and plaited pig-tails, and maybe that’s why the romance never seems to sizzle. It’s not the best start for a love story that is supposed to be strong enough to span time and involve a number of reincarnations, but there is a sweet song and at least the lead pair look reasonably cute together. Naturally fate intervenes when the military coup forces most of the Tamil workers to leave Burma and Samudhra tries to escape her abusive family by tagging along with the general Indian exodus.  However Samudhra’s escape is foiled by Mallika (Aishwarya Devan) who is jealous of Samudhra’s relationship with Murugappa and things don’t end well for the star-crossed lovers.

Fast forward to the present day, where Madhu (Amyra Dastur again) is undergoing regression therapy to help her deal with the stress of her job in a large gaming company in Chennai.  The story of Murugappa and Samudhra is revealed to be her ‘memory’ of a past life and Madhu is convinced that the different incarnations of Murugappa she remembers mean that he is her soul-mate, and that they are destined to finally be together. The previous lives she remembers all have the two separating in quite horrible circumstances, generally involving murder and death, but this possible outcome doesn’t seem to worry her at all. Instead Madhu’s only concern seems to be that she hasn’t managed to meet her ‘soul-mate’ so far in her current lifetime.

Naturally that is remedied almost immediately and Madhu meets Ashwin (Dhansh again), an IT expert, also working for the same company. Yet again he’s from a lower class family but unlike Madhu, Ashwin has no memories of a past life and very little interest in Madhu other than as a work colleague. But soon event start repeating – Ashwin steps in to save Madhu from serious injury, and co-worker Meera (Aishwarya Devan again) is a potential rival for Ashwin’s affections, while Madhu is relentless in her pursuit of Ashwin as her long-lost love.

For most of the first half Madhu is erratic and completely annoying as she veers between bratty rich girl behaviour and total mental instability, although I put most of her crazy psychotic behaviour down to the drugs she is taking from her therapist mixed with the natural remedies from the family’s guru. Her attitude makes her a rather unlikeable character for most of the first half and her attempts to convince Ashwin that they are MFEO should have been enough to see him run for the hills. But instead he seems to suffer from a similar mental disorder and for no particular reason at all (unless it’s her inherited millions – which would at least make sense!) Ashwin decides that he’s in love with Madhu.

Thankfully Madhu becomes somewhat less irritating in the second half. The film moves back in time again while she relives her past life as Kalyani which turns out to be one of the best parts of the film. Perhaps the effect of the wigs wears off after prolonged exposure, but Dhanush’s Kaali is vibrant and likeable while Kalyani is less naïve than Amyra’s other incarnations, leading to some definite sparkage between the couple. The present day scenes also step up a pace in the second half as Ashwin and Madhu work with Commissioner Gopinath (Ashish Vidyarthi) to find out what happened to Kali and Kalyani and Madhu’s boss Ravikiran (Karthik) starts to take an interest in his employee’s mental deterioration. Dhanush is excellent throughout and makes his three separate characters (four if you include one who only appears in a song) quite distinctly different personalities. Murugappa is sweet and innocent, Kaali is a rough and tough rowdy with a heart of gold while Ashwin is the quintessential computer nerd, who still manages to fight like a pro, filmi style. Ashwin provides the thread that binds them all togther, but the most successful is Kaali, and Dhanush looks as if he is having the time of his life dancing and singing through the streets in a mesh singlet!

Anegan is a good blend of romance and action with a reasonable thriller element woven into the story, and generally strong characterisations. There are a few totally unrealistic moments, Madhu speeding through the traffic in Chennai is one (hah! nope – couldn’t happen in Chennai traffic!), and the attempts to make Ravikiran a hip and trendsetting boss fall rather flat, but mostly the screenplay from KV Anad and Subha works well.  Amyra is rather overshadowed by Dhanush and her theatrics in the opening scenes are particularly wearing, but she does improve as the film progresses. Aishwarya Devan is better is her small role  and it’s a shame she didn’t have a longer time on-screen. The rest of the supporting cast including Jagan as Ashwin’s friend and Mukesh Tiwari as Madhu’s uncle are all good, and Om Prakash ensures the film looks stunning with the scenes in Burma particularly well shot. Harris Jayaraj’s songs fit the film well and the background music is also excellent. Overall the film mixes plenty of action, comedy, suspense with the romance, and even if the story is fairly predictable the different incarnations of the lead characters ensure the story feels fresh and engaging. Anegan may not be quite in the same league as Ayan, but it’s definitely a large step in the right direction and well worth a watch –  and not just for the multiple incarnations of Dhanush!

Velaiyilla Pattathari

Posted on by

Velaiyilla Pattathari

I laughed, I cried, I clapped and cheered along with everyone else in the cinema, and finally I left with a big grin on my face.  Dhanush hits all the right notes in his 25th film with a full mass entertainer that has something for everyone.  This wasn’t the film I expected after seeing the trailer and despite a rather predictable storyline I was completely captivated by the infectious energy Dhanush brings to the screen.  Writer/director Velraj seems to have started with a blend of a number of previous Dhanush roles (he does seem to play the part of an unemployed layabout quite frequently!), but as the story develops the differences become clear and in any case, with the quality of the actors, any similarity ceases to matter.  What starts out as a family drama evolves into a full action adventure featuring snappy dialogue and perfect performances from pretty much the entire cast.   I loved every moment, from Raghuvaran riding his dorky cycle taking his brother to work, to the final shirtless fight scene and even the clichéd pre-interval ‘shock’ which segues into a perfect emotional response from Dhanush.  Paper-thin plot aside, this is a film to savour.

Velaiyilla Pattathari

As the title suggests, Dhanush is the out of work loser in his family, with a father who fails to understand his ‘difficult’ son.  His younger brother Karthik (Hrishikesh) is taller, has a job and is held up to be the ideal son in stark contrast to Raghuvaran (Dhanush).  Samuthirakani plays their father and his disapproval is wonderfully understated, so that it’s hard to tell if his condemnation is genuine or simply masking concern for his jobless son.  Samuthirakani has a perfectly gruff and irritable exterior and escapes stereotype by the realistic alternation between criticism and approbation of his eldest son.  Meanwhile, Saranya Ponvannan is a stereotypical Southern Indian ma, but she is perfect in her role and makes much more of her character than seems possible at first glance.  In particular, her reaction to Raghuvaran’s fight with some hired thugs in her front yard is hysterical!  Again it’s little touches and Saranya’s ease of expression that lifts her role out of the stale and mundane, while such attention to detail in the characterisation ensures the appeal of the characters and bolsters the time-worn storyline.

Velaiyilla Pattathari

The first half of the film focuses on the family dynamics and Raghuvaran’s dreary days as he spends his time filling in job applications and doing the household chores.  There are plenty of lighter moments though as Raghuvaran looks after his dog Harry Potter, and tries to catch a glimpse of his new, reportedly attractive next door neighbour.  Velraj mixes small every-day occurrences with more significant events to gradually build a picture of Raghuvaran’s ambitions, morals and general mind-set which in turn sets up the rationale for the action in the second half.  Raghuvaran is determined to get the job he wants and not just take any work for the sake of becoming employed.  The only thing which seems to have any power to change his mind is his attraction to Shalini (Amala Paul) and their budding romance.

Velaiyilla PattathariVelaiyilla Pattathari

Amala Paul doesn’t have a large role in the film, but she turns in a good performance and has plenty of onscreen chemistry with Dhanush.  Their romance is sweet with Shalini taking the more aggressive role, and it’s a pleasant change to have a film where the hero isn’t a creepy stalker. Or at least not as soon as he gives up his telescope to his mother!

The second half follows Raghuvaran’s fortunes once he does find a job, and the whole dynamic of the film changes to more hero-centric action with slickly choreographed fight scenes and the requisite villain.  Vivek pops up in a fairly subdued role to add some mildly amusing comedy, and there is a second heroine (Surabhi) although her storyline peters out when the action ramps up.

Velaiyilla Pattathari

Amitesh is Arun, the villain of the piece.  He’s a rich boy given control of his father’s company despite a lack of talent and what I would call nounce, and for various petty reasons and sheer spitefulness decides to eliminate his competitor in the world of building development.  It’s a tad far-fetched but I did like the rather brattish and petulant character of Arun which was a respite from the typical brutal world-domination style villains usually encountered.  Amitesh doesn’t really match up to Dhanush in terms of acting skills and it’s fairly obvious who is going to win any encounter, but the various plots and counter-plots are fun.  I also appreciated the fairly accurate representation of a visit to the optometrist and an eye examination in the second half since attention to eye health is rarely featured in movies!

Velaiyilla Pattathari

I’ve been listening to the soundtrack since it was released, and the songs are even better in the context of the film.  Dhanush dances up a storm and the choreography is well suited to the characterisation.  Udhungada sangu is probably my favourite but Anirudh Ravichander’s music and Dhanush’s lyrics (yay for subtitles!) are well matched to the screenplay and the songs are sensibly placed in the narrative.

The entire cast are all excellent but with a strong screen presence, Velaiyilla Pattathari is very definitely Dhanush’s film through and through.  He nails the role of Raghuvaran and as always I am completely amazed by his ability to make me believe 100% in his character, no matter how improbable or unlikely.  The interactions with his co-stars are flawless and when it gets to a long and simply brilliant monologue his facial expressions, body language and delivery all combine to make it one of my favourite scenes this year.  The mixture of comedy, action and drama, plus superb performances makes this one of Dhanush’s most entertaining ‘commercial’ films in recent times and I’ll definitely be heading back to the cinema to catch it again.  Highly recommended – I loved it!