Jil Jung Juk - amusing, even if a bit too self-conscious

Saw a movie first day for the first time ever (that I remember) today. That wasn't the only unusual thing about it. I normally avoid heavily hyped things because I find the hype to be a big turn off. Especially hype that precedes the actual release of whatever is being hyped. Not sure why I made an exception this time - the soundtrack got my attention early, maybe that's why?

Either way, I'm not regretting my choice and wishing my money back in my wallet. That might sound like very lukewarm praise, especially considering the hype machine is going into overdrive even post release for this movie. But the movie suffered from a case of trying too hard and falling short for the most part. More style than substance. Very much a product of its time - said time being one filled with easily shareable memes. This is going to make me sound like a hipster, but I was on the internet before it was overrun with these kids and their social media, and remember when memes were more in-jokes among a relatively small user base in an internet forum. For me at least, the appeal of these was in the fact that they were a way to bond with a select group of people with similar interests. But those days are gone, and I'm rambling on.

Back to the movie itself, there were some good laughs to be had and some of the music choices were quite delightful. My favourite part of the movie was when a carnatic piece was used as the soundtrack for a shoot-out sequence - "cue cool music" Indian style; QT would be proud. The jokes that got the most laughs out of me (and most of the audience in the show I watched) were the perverted ones (duh) - the porn references especially. Loved those. The dude who played Juk (where have I seen him before?) also had some funny moments that I enjoyed though his character was a bit over-milked at places.



The thrills weren't as thrilling as they wanted to be (though the music and the camera tried their very best), but since I didn't go in expecting a thriller, I wasn't disappointed by that. What I found frustrating was the rushed nature of the whole thing. Maybe this was done on purpose to make repeat viewings necessary. Maybe it's another sign of the the ADD filled times we live in. Maybe I'm just slow. I did wish there were subtitles at a lot of places (why, oh why, must the bass on soundtrack be so loud and drown out the voice and make me miss huge chunks of the dialog?), and my Tamil reading skills are admittedly a bit rusty so the Tamil-only captions that went whizzing by made me go aargh. If I watch this again, it's most probably not going to be in a theater. I must have the power to pause and rewind!

I said if just now, but I probably should have said when. So yeah, the whackiness was a bit overdone and the movie wasn't all it could have been, but it was still entertaining and not stereotypical. And that's a win. When the vast majority of Tamil movies that are churned out still stick to stupid boring formulas, it's refreshing to see something, anything, new. Even if it isn't really all that new in the larger scheme of things. It's better to have tried and not (completely) succeeded than to have never tried at all, right? If it's true for love, surely it's true for movies, which are a product of love. Or should be. This one clearly was, and for that, it gets a pass.  

Aaranya Kaandam - a delicious treat of a film

I finally got to see Aaranya Kaandam today. And it made me smile. Nay, grin. Not all through. But at the very end, very definitely. And also through a lot of parts along the way. Quite a few laugh out loud moments as well. It wasn't all love though. I found myself puzzled and confused about where it was going and even how I felt about it as I was watching it, but it all came together eventually and the lingering note was yum.

Lip-smackingly good also was another tamil movie I'd heard a lot about and only just got to watch recentishly - Jigathanda. Contrary to my Aaranya Kaandam experience, however, that film had me in thrall almost right from the word go and never let up its iron hold over me until the intermission (and boy what a stunning sequence the one before said intermission is!). I was quite enraptured with it till that point. What followed was, admittedly, a bit of a let-down though still very good. That it wasn't nearly as interesting on second viewing speaks to how much the film hung on its twists to hold one's interest.

I suspect that Aaranya Kaandam will be unlike Jigarthanda and actually reward a second (and possibly more) viewing(s). Yes, it had its twists too. Or perhaps, surprises is the better word. But it's not only from them that its yumminess derives.

I really do have to watch it again. For one, I saw it on DD National (let me here express my gratitude for their Best of Indian cinema showings every Sunday and Monday nights that've given me the chance to watch so many good films I would never even have heard about otherwise..with subtitles!) and the cuts/bleeps seemed both extensive and excessive. And thankful as I am for the subtitles when watching a film in a language I don't know (at all or very well), they are rather distracting when it's a tamil movie because my brain keeps insisting on checking their accuracy and takes me out of the film. But even putting those issues aside, this is the kind of film that demands repeated viewings by its very nature. So much stuff to mine. So much deliciousness. Ah! 

Song of the Day - Kalvane from Megha

I stumbled upon this gem of a song, quite accidentally, late last night thanks to a comment on a blog discussion on soundtracks (Thanks again, Madan). I'm quite besotted with it and can't stop listening to it over and over again. It is such a swingin' track that is, in a way, unlike anything Ilayaraja has composed before. And yet, when the interludes come in with his stamp all over them, you know it can't be anyone else's handiwork.

I qualified my statement that this song is unlike anything in Ilayaraja's oeuvre because it somehow reminds me of Kurangu Kaiyil Malai from Mumbai Express. What the latter song did with keys and horns, this one does with strings. Both venture further into jazzy territory than filmi songs usually tend to do, and do so with great effect. I must admit that the Mumbai Express song does go a little further than Kalvane does what with that latin flavoured jazz freakout two thirds into the song. But this song holds its own all the same and of course has a charm all its own due to it being a romantic duet. As I commented in the aforementioned blog, it is a smooth, and yet scorching, track.

Ilayaraja's string arrangements have always been his strong suit. And here he uses them to tug at one's heartstrings almost effortlessly. Go on, I dare you to not fall in love with this song.

Balu Mahendra

If you read my blog post from yesterday, you'd know that I was in quite a chipper mood. Sadly, that cheerfulness wasn't to last very long. Less than an hour later I stumbled across the news that veteran filmmaker Balu Mahendra had died. It hit me surprisingly hard. I wanted to express my sadness but had not the words. So I just posted a brief message saying as much on Google+ and added a link to a playlist of his made for television short film collection, Kadhai Neram. I remember watching one or two of those back in the day but I need to watch the rest and the G+ post served a dual purpose, the second being to remind myself to watch it.

Balu Mahendra made some of the best Tamil (or actually South Indian) films I have seen - Veedu, Moondram Pirai (remade as Sadma in Hindi), Marupadiyum (remake of Arth), Rettai Vaal Kuruvi, Sathi Leelavathi. And some that I haven't but will - Sandhya Ragam, Thalaimuraigal, Kokila (Kannada), Yathra (Malayalam). He loved cinema and it showed. Both in the cinema he made and in his interviews.

He was equally good at crafting neorealistic cinema and uproarious comedy. Something not many (if any) others can achieve. Sathi Leelavathi is a perennial favourite in my family. We can (and do) quote lines from that movie to each other time and time again and laugh together. Speaking of that film, it recently occurred to me that infidelity was a theme that occurred fairly frequently in his 20-odd filmography (as director). Maybe that was due in part to his own experiences vis-à-vis the actress Shoba. When he did make a film dedicated to her after her suicide, however, the theme of the film was not infidelity. Instead it was the story of a man who falls in love with a child-woman, who is cruelly snatched away from him after a short period of bliss. The film, of course, was Moondram Pirai and quite an ode it was.

His best film, however, was Veedu - a story about ordinary people told very simply yet eloquently. A story about a single middle-class woman trying to build a home for herself and her grandfather may not sound like much, but it is immensely relatable and the treatment, performances (Archana and Chokkalinga Bhagavathar are simply superb), and music (one of Ilayaraja's best scores ever) made it a classic.

Here, then, is a scene from said film where the grandfather goes to see the construction site of the almost finished house. He takes a long bus ride alone, forgets his umbrella when getting down, trudges on in the cruel Madras heat, and then steps in (taking care to put his right foot first) and...well, see for yourself: