Kamal-Ilayaraaja-Singeetham Rao-MUMBAI EXPRESS

[mellon]

Mumbai Express Review:

3. Kamal??? - Some of the songs had interlude cuts, like all stanzas sung together without any interludes and no flow especially poo poothathu(censort cuts or kamal cut??) looked sloppy. Is it only here or is it even in India? Kamal could have done the normal way of cutting a full stanza than doing this, if he found the movie or the song was lengthy.



I read this as a "major criticism" besides the "contrvercial BGM"

Why does it ever happen????

Censor's impact??!

Consequence of "Hindi and TM versions" taken together?

Or, may be KH pushed it little too hard to get it released on April 14 :?

[kbee]

I will blame it on KH, because these are all directional falut. One should first know who the target audiance ofthe movie is before making any scene. You can not include an "item number" for a "family" movie or make fun of "Vande matharam" when you know that recently some "patriotic" movies are emerging with some "patriotic songs".

KH can not blame censor for cutting the scenes, because as a person who worked in this industry for over 25 years, he should very well know what is correct and what is not.

These are the -ve point that made MX not in the "classic" category, but in a "good movie" category and left viewers with some "incomplete" feeling.

[kbee]

and btw, I will not blame director SSR, cuz he was a proxy director.In last week sun TV's thirai vimarsanam, they where showing the shooting of MX and the director was literally sleeping in a shadow while Kamal was giving instructions!!!

[mellon]

will not blame director SSR, cuz he was a proxy director.In last week sun TV's thirai vimarsanam, they where showing the shooting of MX and the director was literally sleeping in a shadow while Kamal was giving instructions!!!

Man! You are hilarious sometimes! :rotfl:

p.s: Hope Gautam is not reading your post?! :roll:

[kbee]

no with gautam things are different. If kamal put his hand (and voice) in VV, then its going to be another "aalavandhan"

[Dragun]

will not blame director SSR, cuz he was a proxy director.In last week sun TV's thirai vimarsanam, they where showing the shooting of MX and the director was literally sleeping in a shadow while Kamal was giving instructions!!!

Man! You are hilarious sometimes! :rotfl:

p.s: Hope Gautam is not reading your post?! :roll:

I'm sure Suresh Krishna was the proxy director of Aalavandhan. When did he ever direct something so technically polished in his life?

[Cinefan]

no with gautam things are different. If kamal put his hand (and voice) in VV, then its going to be another "aalavandhan"

Did you read Gautham's interview to rediff?Asked how he plans to handle Kamal who is known for interfering,he has replied:"I have given him a bound script with dialogues,how the scenes are going to be treated&the action set pieces.If he has a problem with any scene,I am willing to listen as he is more experienced.At the same time I am willing to argue my case."

My gut feeling is that it will be a Gautham film all the way&Kamal is not going to interfere, restricting himself to just suggestions.

[sureshmehcnit]

Here is my review on the movie

http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Mumbai_Xpress-72753-1.html

Smile
Sureshkumar

[Kanna]

Here is my review on the movie

http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Mumbai_Xpress-72753-1.html

Smile
Sureshkumar

Went through your review. It was very nice and I'm very :D !!

[kbee]

Here is my review on the movie

http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Mumbai_Xpress-72753-1.html

Smile
Sureshkumar
Suresh

As always your reviews are the best. Thanks a lot.

[Kanna]

Review from Tamilcinema.com

http://www.tamilcinema.com/CINENEWS/REVIEW/2005/mumbaiexpress.asp

[vijayr]

"Had a chance to listen to Ele nee etti-po. At the point where kamal says "rootu", it reminds suspiciously of an old IR song. "

Music4ever, I felt the same way too, not able to place the song. If you get hold of it, post t here :-)

[Kanna]

"Had a chance to listen to Ele nee etti-po. At the point where kamal says "rootu", it reminds suspiciously of an old IR song. "

Music4ever, I felt the same way too, not able to place the song. If you get hold of it, post t here :-)

Let it be!!! Why should we bother about that? When other mds are shifting, IR is using his own and it is not new!!

TFM forum dhan illainu sollala, ana andha oru varthaila ivlo kuraiya kandupidippeenga? Sutha mosampa!

[app_engine]

kumudam review says 'Ilayaraja alattikkoLLAmal isai amaiththirukkiRAr'...appadeennA enna artham?

[Kanna]

kumudam review says 'Ilayaraja alattikkoLLAmal isai amaiththirukkiRAr'...appadeennA enna artham?

Here goes my interpretation....Adavadhu, comedy padathuku endha alavuku thevayo andha alavuku padatha kedukama composition kuduthirukaru....

[Music4Ever]

Vijayr, vendam intha vambu :) Seriously, I am still not able to place the song. Will let you know if and when I do.

What do you think about the Sonu Nigam song in Bose? Please reply, if you want to, in the appropriate ARR thread.

The poo poothadhu song in MX is melodious.

[kbee]

about Ele nee etti po - i felt that it sounded like the title song from sathya

I saw the movie second time, just to observe BGM and its really great. The disappointment is only in the songs (no songs and poo poothathu interludes were cut). Also issue in lip sync in the school song (lip movement is for vandematharam)

just look at suresh review. the best unbiased review for any music so far.

[kbee]

Mumbai Xpress DVD in Hindi


Mod Msg: Commercial Ads not allowed

[Arjuna]

Engal Idhaya Deivam Mannin Mainthan Thenpandi Singam Isai Brahma Puratchi Puyal Mozart of Madras Bharat Ratna Dr ARR valka!!

[Music4Ever]

Your accolades probably belong in some ARR thread. Please exercise restraint.

[RajaRam]

Yesterday evening I went to see ME in PVR cinemas in Bangalore with my wife.

there are 3 categories- classic,Eropa,Gold

in Classic(ME - 6 shows - 3 tamil - 3 hindi)-ticket - 100Rs.
Except 10.30Am shows all shows were full.

in classic(CM - 5 shows)-ticket - 100Rs.
Except 7.20pm and 10.00pm shows all shows were free.

in europa(CM - 2 shows)- 2 shows were free.-ticket - 130Rs

in gold(ME - 2 shows- 1 tamil - 1 hindi) - ticket - 500Rs.
Hindi(Morning show) - free
tamil-Full.

I am not able to beleive it. I don't know who are watching the movie by paying Rs.500.

Lucky-salman movie also released in that multiplex. but only one show was full.

Even Rajini film has released after 3 years and his native, there is no enthu among bangaloreans to watch CM.

So many people returned home sadly witout tickets of ME.

Because of over crowd, ME(Tamil) is going to release in another Multiplex in bangalore from this friday(ME - hindi is already running in that multiplex).

[Cinefan]

The 'Tamilcinema.com'review says the dialouge writer is Crazy Mohan :lol:

Rediff says of the 4 hindi releases last week MX fared best but still calls it a flop.Is it because it will lose money or because it's not an all india hit(Bihar,Punjab,UP etc) :?

RajaRam,Are u from Bangalore?

The 500/- class has very few seats but the comfort level is too good.You can even push back the seats completely,sleep&watch the movie.There will be attendents to help you with snacks during break etc.

Dig:

http://www.cinesouth.com/masala/hotnews/new/19042005-1.shtml

Kamal in a documentary of Chaplin

[Cinefan]

http://thatstamil.indiainfo.com/specials/cinema/specials/kamal23.html

Kamal talks.

http://www.chennaionline.com/panorama/youthclub/youthclub46.asp

Another review.

[tmrrmt]

http://web.music.coolgoose.com/music/song.php?id=174060

I have uploaded the above PINK-PANTHER jazzy version of the immortal Henri Mancini score - listen to it and then you will understand why IR and Kamal chose jazz as the genre for the music of ME

[kbee]

tmrrmt

thanks for the mp3. its a very good inspiration. in one of the show in colombo IR mentinoed that sometime directors/actors used to play some song and wanted IR to score similar songs. E.g. Kamal during Aboorva Sago.. music session wanted IR to have a song similar to "naan paarthathilae aval oruthiyaithaan nalla azhagi yenbaen nalla azhagi yenbaen" and IR composed "pudhu mappillaikku nalla yogamada andha manamagal thaan vandha neramada". also another director who ask for these is rangarajan. he gave so many super hit movies and songs (like vaidegi kaathirundaal, thirumalai palanichchami etc).So this is probably a Kamal's influence.

[Kanna]

tmrrmt

thanks for the mp3. its a very good inspiration. in one of the show in colombo IR mentinoed that sometime directors/actors used to play some song and wanted IR to score similar songs. E.g. Kamal during Aboorva Sago.. music session wanted IR to have a song similar to "naan paarthathilae aval oruthiyaithaan nalla azhagi yenbaen nalla azhagi yenbaen" and IR composed "pudhu mappillaikku nalla yogamada andha manamagal thaan vandha neramada". also another director who ask for these is rangarajan. he gave so many super hit movies and songs (like vaidegi kaathirundaal, thirumalai palanichchami etc).So this is probably a Kamal's influence.

KBee garu,
Those movies were directed by R Sundar Rajan. Righta?

[kbee]

Kanna
You are absolutely correct. I just was looking for the name. I know his voice well, but not his name. Thanks for correcting. (speaking of his voice, recently saw Vaidegi Kaathirundaal and he gave voice to 3 or 4 people in the villiage... funny to notice this now. not sure if ppl noticed this few years back!)

[Kanna]

Kbee,
I was thinking of replying to Arjuna's post in the other thread. But you have done it reflecting what I wanted to say him 8)

[kbee]

Kbee,
I was thinking of replying to Arjuna's post in the other thread. But you have done it reflecting what I wanted to say him 8)
Great men think a like :lol: :P

[Kanna]

Kbee,
I was thinking of replying to Arjuna's post in the other thread. But you have done it reflecting what I wanted to say him 8)
Great men think a like :lol: :P

Any news on BO results? Will it survive? My honest opinion all the four releases (yes four, including Sevvel) should gain and none should loose

[kbee]

MX is doing good. Infact MX will do more as days pass by thru word of mouth (ppl affraid to watch Kamal movie in theatre cuz of his experimentation, but thats what KamalJI is all about). Out of all 4 movies, both CM and MX carries good response from public. Sachin will run for 30 - 40 days and will be made to run for another 70 days.

[MumbaiRamki]

kbee ,
U may be right ...But that si not normally BO is determined ..MX 's opening has been poor in TN ,it is better in Banglore and mumbai ...

[tmrrmt]

Guys - it is not even one week since the movie's
release - comments similar to ME were made about MMKR
as well, when it was released - by word of mouth, MMKR
became a cult classic! even now, when MMKR is screened
on any of the satellite channels, you would find the
streets empty

commercial success or not, quality + excellence is
important - if Kamal were to go by people's tastes, he
would have to make rubbish like Padayappa, or a
Soriyappa, or a Serangappa!

let us leave Kamal to him - he knows best and besides,
he has a coterie of friends who are staunch critics of his ideas and movies, as well (like Sujata, Madhan, Ilaiyaraaja, Santhabarathy,Vasan,Crazy Mohan, K.Balachander etc) who make sure that he is on the right track

after all, who are you and I to decide what he should
make ? being a hard-core fan and critic of Kamal
myself, ME was satisfactory stuff to me - on any day,
Kamal's flicks (with the exceptions of a few) always
manage to meet the barest minimum expectations of fans
like me - that is enough

I have many European friends - commercial success or
not, when I show a movie like Guna, to them, they gape
and gasp and ask me how come such movies are not
popular outside India - I tell them, they are not
popular even in India!

all said and done, ME is doing well in Bangalore and
from what little I have heard, it is doing well in
Ahmedabad, Baroda, Kolkata etc - Kamal will not end up
burning his fingers - on the other hand, he has made
his presence felt at the national level as an artiste
who consistently crafts intelligent cinema! that is more than what he (and us fans) have bargained for

let us look at this way - Om Puri is the kind of an actor/artist, who picks and chooses his role, and not runs after them - he has clearly stated in many interviews that if he has even an iota of dissatisfaction over any role offered to him after listening to the script, he would say 'no' - this has been the case, in the last 5-6 years - and if he says yes to Kamal and does films with him (earlier it was Chachi 420), that itself is an honor and index of the kind of respect Kamal commands, isn't it ? - will Om Puri say yes to a junk movie of Rajinikanth or, a Vijay ? no

we need to understand/decide as to what we want ? cheap commercial success alone (like what Rajinikanth has been striving for in the last one decade - I used to be a big fan of his, but his attitude, as seen in the quality of his movies, put me off, and I started finding his movies immature, irritating, annoying and insulting to my aesthetic and other sensibilities), or quality with moderate commercial success ? the ball is in our court

[Cinefan]

tmrrmt :clap: :clap:

To add to that,I don't believe that the opening in TN has been poor.It's now become a fashion to say Kamal's movies have a good opening&do well only at Sathyam.It was said about 5-thanthiram,Virumaandi,VR MBBS&now MX.It defies logic.Except Sify all the other sites like Indiaglitz,thastamil.com are saying that both MX&CM have started well with CM having the edge which is understandable.A clear picture will emerge only next week for both the Tamil&Hindi versions.It's prudent to wait until then.l

[Cinefan]

http://sify.com/movies/bollywood/fullstory.php?id=13723166

Hindi BO-MX had a reasonable start but the business is showing an increase with every passing day,so it should turn out quite well.

[RajaRam]

TOP 5 movies of BOLLYWOOD.

MX is BEST in MUMBAI and METROS.
http://sify.com/movies/bollywood/fullstory.php?id=13723212

So sure winner of this summer in India is MX .

[alwarpet_andavan]

Guys - it is not even one week since the movie's
release - comments similar to ME were made about MMKR
as well, when it was released - by word of mouth, MMKR
became a cult classic! even now, when MMKR is screened
on any of the satellite channels, you would find the
streets empty

commercial success or not, quality + excellence is
important - if Kamal were to go by people's tastes, he
would have to make rubbish like Padayappa, or a
Soriyappa, or a Serangappa!

I second every word of your post. You took the words right out of my mouth :)

alwarpet_andavan

[Cinefan]

Dig:
A write up on the first film Kamal&Singeetham came together.

http://www.telugucinema.com/c/movies/sommokadidisokokadidi1978.shtml

[alwarpet_andavan]

tmrrmt,
Neenga thaan Madhavan-a?
And RajaRam is bala_chella?

alwarpet_andavan

[alwarpet_andavan]

tmrrmt,
Neenga thaan Madhavan-a?
And RajaRam is bala_chella?
alwarpet_andavan
Thirutham , Madhavan illai, Madhan

alwarpet_andavan

[tmrrmt]

alwarpet_andavan - I wont say I am not Madhan, but since I want to maintain confidentiality, I don't want to admit I am Madhan!

how about you ? I mean, your 'original' name ?!

[rooky]

ME and CM are continued in PVR for second week.
ME is released in Innovative Multiplex from Today which means additional shows in bangalore from this week.

[Cinefan]

alwarpet_andavan - I wont say I am not Madhan, but since I want to maintain confidentiality, I don't want to admit I am Madhan!

how about you ? I mean, your 'original' name ?!

Appo neenga thaan Madhan-a :?

[tmrrmt]

Cinefan - that was a VIKRAMADITYAN-VEDHALAM style puzzle/riddle question !! you find out the answer urself

Rooky and the others - there is a certain growing trend with respect to movies running for 'n' no. of days - of late (say for around 5 years or so), the average actual no. of days a movie runs in any city has come down drastically, thanks to pirated VCDs etc - therefore, it is extremely difficult to judge the commercial success/failure of a movie - just imagine, people in my neighborhood have already watched ME and CM on VCD !! how they managed to do so, is something that baffles me - so now, why wud they go to a cinema hall and spend Rs.30/ per head, when the entire family can watch the movie at Rs.15 for a VCD in the more cozy relaxed confines of a home ?

[alwarpet_andavan]

alwarpet_andavan - I wont say I am not Madhan, but since I want to maintain confidentiality, I don't want to admit I am Madhan!
how about you ? I mean, your 'original' name ?!
:)
My original name ? - Paramakudi Express!
In the kamal fan club yahoo group, i post as "Bala (Karthik)"

I think you and RajaRam are in that club :)

And Cinefan????

alwarpet_andavan a.k.a Paramakudi Express

[alwarpet_andavan]

why wud they go to a cinema hall and spend Rs.30/ per head, when the entire family can watch the movie at Rs.15 for a VCD in the more cozy relaxed confines of a home ?
To all the Doubting Thomases,

Scene 1 (First-hand info reported by Paramakudi Express):
------------
I had been to PVR-Bangalore to watch MX-Hindi (22:15 show) last night. By 9:40, both MX-Tamil and MX-Hindi were sold out. Remember, it was a weekday and a night show at that!
I wouldn't say the CM counter was empty but it was not sold out - (i assume CM night show was on).

Audience Reaction: The Hindi version had a few differences w.r.t the dialogues, camera angles etc. I was pleasantly surprised to see the crowd reaction. They were laughing their dinner out right through the first half. Just a little bit subdued in the second, i must admit. In fact, had Kamal not goofed up with the "love" bit, it would have made a SIGNIFICANT difference. In fact, people might remember the "drag" more than the laughs. Overall, in my experience, the Hindi version is well received.

The digital print was worse than the film prints i had seen at Kasi and SSR Pankajam. And the audio was surprisingly not top class at PVR.

Scene 2(second-hand info):
-----------------------------------
Abirami theatre, Chennai - last Sunday evening.
My friend had gone to watch MX-Tamil well before the evening show.
MX was sold - tickets not available even in black!
CM - Tickets available in counter and sold out eventually.

Conclusion:
---------------
All despairing Kamal fans and "overjoyed" Rajni fans, the result is not in black and white as some would like to believe. MX-Tamil is certainly even with CM (if not better in some pockets) in Chennai/Bangalore. In Hindi, MX is doing well in metros.
Nothing more, nothing less.

alwarpet_andavan

[alwarpet_andavan]

I've always stood by "The Hindu" when it comes to objectivity, accuracy and ethical journalism. I see papers like "the Times of India" as nothing more than toilet tissues.
However, the Bangalore MetroPlus (of The Hindu) is more on the lines of TOI, i should say. The indicators? - language (usage of words like Fuck, which is unthinkable in the chennai edition, TOI style "polls" etc.)
I got one more evidence last week. the MetroPlus had an article titled "Mumbai Express chugging along". It was supposed to be an interview. I don't know what personal grouse the author Anand Sankar had against Kamal. Agreed, he might have a point of view which is different from mine but his writing and attitude smacked of amateuirsm, factual inaccuracy and sheer prejudice.
Has the MetroPlus Bangalore been "outsourced" ?? :)
Adds to the long list of things i dislike about Bangalore, with TOI's near monopoly heading the list.
Chennai, singara Chennai, wait a little longer, Paramakudi Express is coming!!!

alwarpet_andavan

[Shankar]

>>The Hindu" when it comes to objectivity, accuracy and ethical journalism.<<
you must be joking AA...Hindu and ethical journalism ?!?! Try finding references to China (and their great economics, std of living) and the pro communist leaning (subtle...really..really subtle..TOI is harmless that way, we know its junk and we don't give it a damn...but these smooth killers sell their ideas so subtly that we don't realize its impact)...you'll know what kind of news paper is The Hindu. Run by a sworn communist (whose kids are well settled in the US :-) ).

[tmrrmt]

"I see papers like "the Times of India" as nothing more than toilet tissues" - I strongly disagree with you - TOI does not deserve to even be used as toilet tissues - toilet tissues ought to be clean and hygeinic - after all their use is very crucial to our 'bottomline' hygiene --))

Just look at the TOI's supplement section - it reeks of rot and pungent stuff - it is all because of the misconception that the entire gamut of IT and callcentre workforce in Bangalore like such stuff - perhaps, in a way they do like such stuff, indeed - if you casually look at the bunch of weirdos who regularly inhabit Brigade Road and MG Road (especially near Plaza theatre), with their punkish hairdos, pierced ears, tattoed forearms, sporting the dumbest looks one can ever conjure up under the sun,and even more wacko-weirdo lingo they use while conversing - yuk, perhaps, TOI keeps in mind such good-for-nothing useless lot and comes out with appropriately banal stuff to edge out competition - and I can tell you,they have done it with ease

[tmrrmt]

Shankar - actually, 'Hindu' became a pro-communist/leftist leaning tabloid after the management changed hands within the family - which probably happened around five years ago - the same guy who was running the FRONTLINE, a banner for Karl Marx and his likes, took over and since then Hindu has indeed denigrated - but the overall quality of the language is still being maintained - nevertheless, that doesn't take away the fact that they are slow poison killers

[alwarpet_andavan]

you must be joking AA...Hindu and ethical journalism ?!?! Try finding references to China (and their great economics, std of living) and the pro communist leaning (subtle...really..really subtle..TOI is harmless that way, we know its junk and we don't give it a damn...but these smooth killers sell their ideas so subtly that we don't realize its impact)...you'll know what kind of news paper is The Hindu. Run by a sworn communist (whose kids are well settled in the US :-) ).
I respect your opinion though i don't share it. But, just some thoughts....
1) Communist is not a bad-word. Uncle Sam has indoctrinated the world to make people like you belive so.
2) You would consider reading (and verify, you don't have to believe them without proof) works by people like Noam Chomsky, Arundhati Roy, Edward Herman, John Pilger, Robert Fisk (i could go on...)
I apologize to the other hubbers for digressing.
Shankar, i've said the last word on this but i'm open for a debate but in a relevant forum.

alwarpet_andavan

[alwarpet_andavan]

Thavalai than vaayal kedum :)
I posted that with the context of MX but i don't see anything useful coming out of this discussion. Guys, why don't we put this to rest.
Like i said, i'm open for a debate on the so-called "communist" stance of The Hindu (as though "communis" was AIDS and capitalism is panacea!), but this is not the forum to do it.

alwarpet_andavan

[tmrrmt]

AA - at least in this context, I stand by Shankar, and I will have to clarify what Shankar was trying to convey - THE HINDU, has become an ideology driven tabloid, earlier it was not so - once a newspaper becomes ideology driven, there is no question of having a balanced view of things, everything THE HINDU reports is through a Marxian prism with all its inherent diffractionary patterns - since it was not like that earlier, Shankar is probably lamenting the fact that Hindu has changed, much to the dismay of many people - - whether a tabloid/newspaper is leftist driven or rightist driven, it is a case of extremes both ways - the moment media is some 'ist' driven, it loses its sanctity, even if it maintains its other standards of language, presentation etc - I hope that settles it

[Cinefan]

alwarpet_andavan - I wont say I am not Madhan, but since I want to maintain confidentiality, I don't want to admit I am Madhan!
how about you ? I mean, your 'original' name ?!
:)
My original name ? - Paramakudi Express!
In the kamal fan club yahoo group, i post as "Bala (Karthik)"

I think you and RajaRam are in that club :)

And Cinefan????

alwarpet_andavan a.k.a Paramakudi Express

Nah,I don't have a single post to date in that club.

If you people want a discussion on 'The Hindu',there's a thread for it in the Misc.section.It goes as 'The Hindu's new look'.

Has anybody gone thro' the latest edition of the Kumudam.Thirumavalavan has given an interview,man that guy has a wonderful sense of humour.He says his appeal to the people of TN to reject
Tamizh virodhi'Kamal's film has been accepted&theatres are 'e- adichufying' :lol:

The same edition has the 'Kumudam BO Top 5'with CM,MX,Sachein,Tiruppachhi&Ram making up the list in the same order.

There's another article where the reporter has done a on-the -spot check on theatres,CM in Santhi has tickets selling in black for 250/-,Sachein in Albert-200/-&MX in Abirami(thank god they didn't choose Sathyam)-150/- .This effectively demolishes Sify's "MX doing well only at Sathyam"routine&Thirumavalavan's Joke.

[Jacky]

"There's another article where the reporter has done a on-the -spot check on theatres,CM in Santhi has tickets selling in black for 250/-,Sachein in Albert-200/-&MX in Abirami(thank god they didn't choose Sathyam)-150/- .This effectively demolishes Sify's "MX doing well only at Sathyam"routine&Thirumavalavan's Joke."

This may be FDFS or a First day report. I watched ME in Sathyam (2 days back) paying just 80 bucks - tickets were sold out by 4pm for the night show. Tickets to Chandramukhi in Subham were available(only a few seats for the night show)for a similar price.

[RajaRam]

In Satyam they won't allow to sell ticket in black market.

sachin 200? i don't know. because last monday I was in chennai. but theatre was free.

[Cinefan]

Jacky&Rajaram,
I don't know the veracity of the reports or when this 'on-the-spot'was done.I have only reproduced what the magz has published.

[tmrrmt]

Digression - this is coming from a HCIRF - ARR has done some absolutely brilliant work in BOSE! - the score "Emily" is mind-blowing! - the entire album will mark a milestone in his career, if they are all original - I could see shades of STARS WARS theme like feel in the piece "KADAM KADAM", the trumpet part - but overall, the album is a must listen

[MumbaiRamki]

From Kamal Hassan Yahoogroups ( Bala )
To all the Doubting Thomases,

Scene 1 (First-hand info reported by Paramakudi Express):
------------
I had been to PVR-Bangalore to watch MX-Hindi (22:15 show) last
night. By 9:40, both MX-Tamil and MX-Hindi were sold out. Remember,
it was a weekday and a night show at that!
I wouldn't say the CM counter was empty but it was not sold out - (i
assume CM night show was on).

Audience Reaction: The Hindi version had a few differences w.r.t the
dialogues, camera angles etc. I was pleasantly surprised to see the
crowd reaction. They were laughing their dinner out right through the
first half. Just a little bit subdued in the second, i must admit. In
fact, had Kamal not goofed up with the "love" bit, it would have made
a SIGNIFICANT difference. In fact, people might remember the "drag"
more than the laughs. Overall, in my experience, the Hindi version is
well received.

The digital print was worse than the film prints i had seen at Kasi
and SSR Pankajam. And the audio was surprisingly not top class at
PVR.

Scene 2(second-hand info):
-----------------------------------
Abirami theatre, Chennai - last Sunday evening.
My friend had gone to watch MX-Tamil well before the evening show.
MX was sold - tickets not available even in black!
CM - Tickets available in counter and sold out eventually.

Conclusion:
---------------
All despairing Kamal fans and "overjoyed" Rajni fans, the result is
not in black and white as some would like to believe. MX-Tamil is
certainly even with CM (if not better in some pockets) in
Chennai/Bangalore. In Hindi, MX is doing well in metros.
Nothing more, nothing less.

Bala (Karthik)

[MumbaiRamki]

Also ,the Bookings at PVR



MX ,CM- bookings at PVR from this Sat to Next Thur

CHANDRAMUKHI

Sat-Full

Sun-Full

Mon-Available in 3 shows ,almost sold out in one show

Tues-Available

Wed-Available

Thur-Available


MUMBAI XPRESS -HINDI

Saturday
There are no shows of Mumbai Express available on Saturday, April 23, 2005.

Sunday

16 25 Show -Full
10 35 ,22 35 - Available

Monday - Available

Tuesday -Available

Wednesday-Available

Thursday - Available


MUMBAI XPRESS -TAMIL

Saturday
There are no shows of Mumbai Xpress -TAMIL available on Saturday, April 23, 2005.

Sunday
There are no shows of Mumbai Xpress -TAMIL available on Sunday, April 24, 2005.

Monday
Almost Sold Out .

Tuesday-Available

Wednesday- Almost Sold out in One show and Available in other 2 shows

Thursday -Wednesday- Almost Sold out in One show and Available in other 2 shows

[rooky]

Another link for ME hindi box office Report

http://www.indiatarget.com/movies/box_office/bo_report.shtml

[rooky]

This site puts ME(Hindi) as box-office number1

http://movies.indiainfo.com/top10/index.html

[Cinefan]

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050423/asp/calcutta/story_4641005.asp

Kamal talks to the Telegraph

[K]

http://www.cinesouth.com/masala/hotnews/new/25042005-5.shtml

[tmrrmt]

http://web.mid-day.com/columns/dinesh_raheja/2005/april/107732.htm

[tmrrmt]

http://www.bollyvista.com/article/s/50?PHPSESSID=9ddaf9a6e3bfe999a437bab2a96b166d

[tmrrmt]

http://in.rediff.com/movies/2005/apr/26tamilbo.htm

[kbee]

with every movie of kamal coming up, he is only impressing me. no matter what the verdict of the people or the box office, he is trying to be innovative. I am a fan of kamal, but personally i never consider him a nice human being (for what he did to his two wifes), but now my impression and respect is only growing.

for all the people who think that the movie is not good/flop, you need a fresh air to rethink. you are probably stuck with something in your mind. go on for a vacation and take rest. while going, ofcourse take MX with you so you can relax.

[MumbaiRamki]

Kbee ,
I agree with u ropinion .But let us stay away from his personal life ..Iam also bit disappointed sometimes abt that ....We never knew whats teh truth -SO let us stay away from it ...

[tmrrmt]

MumbaiRamki - yes even I agree with that - once we start digging into personal lives of stars, we will find that with a very few exceptions, everyone has skeletons in their cupboard - just to hint a few of them

(i) a former Bangalorean who made it big in the film industry has a wife and kids in the suburbs of Bangalore, whom he visits regularly and yet maintains another wife and kids in Chennai and gives a public image of a very spiritually inclined humane person - I remember a few friends from Madras Christian College telling me that once the students of the college approached another star (who was much shorter and a good dancer, originating from deep down south Tamil Nadu and considered a rival) for some money to conduct an annual day function or something like that - and they were bluntly refused point blank - when they approached the other star, he immediately gave the money which was used liberally to buy booze and party! since then, MCC college and other college guys regularly take money from this star who devotedly watch all his movies - besides this star has a reputation for soliciting women frequently at a big star hotel located very close to the Gemini flyover in Chennai

(ii) another big star who is no more now, considered the Asian equivalent of Marlon Brando is reported to not only be a big womaniser, but also mean-minded when it came to competition - especially, when it came to another contemporary star who died recently (who incidentally, had several hits as well as wives, to his credit!)

like this, the list is endless!

[kbee]

tmrrmt

(i) is a shocking news for me
(ii) is very well known in the industry. my father used to tell lot about the big womaniser - the man who died - his lady love who died few decades before - and a comedian who loved the girl - and another HUGE star who made CM - this HUGE star's another lady love - who the bangalorean you are referring to had affair

now I will add your (i) to (ii) to make it a circle of life!

MR

Like you said, "you never know the truth"

Thanks
KBEE
Idai arindhavan paramananda ariyadhavan premanandha!

[tmrrmt]

KBEE - in this entire melee, only one man comes out clean - he is short, also from deep down south Tamil Nadu, has never acted in any movie so far, but a behind-the-scenes king - his name also has king in it!

[tmrrmt]

KBEE -add this to the former Bangalorean star's traits - his present wife herself accompanies him to the star hotel and sits while he boozes his liver out, and then she arranges a junior artiste to entertain her husband ! news courtesy, one of the front office executives of the hotel a friend of mine!

[Cinefan]

kbee&tmrrmt,
When did you convert this thread into a 'kisu kisu'column :? :D

BTW,I have a fair idea who the people you are referring to are but did not get who this "clean person,short,from deep south TN,not an actor but a king in his name" is?

This weeks Kalki has an interview with Kamal.It starts of with a" MX vetrikku pin avarai santhithom" statement. In it's Q&A column,someone has asked "Tamil new year padangalai varisai paduthavum".Answer is "Pei ottuvabarai Bike ottubavar mundhivittarame?(Pitch-il aduvabar,sorry run-rate romba slow)

Both these statements contradict the Rediff BO report..

There is another news item saying Crazy is back into Tamil films with 'Idaya Thirudan','Payanigal Jakkirathai'&a film with KAMAL.

[rajasaranam]

tmrrmt and Kbee

Forumhub'a kisu-kisu hub'a maathiteengalae :wink:
Apram antha 'King' cleana irunthalum avanga wife pathi oru kisu-kisu romba naala ulavuthae, visarichu sonna nimmathiyaa irukkum :(

[Jacky]

:thumbsup:

[Cinefan]

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20050502&fname=Rajnikant+%28F%29&sid=1&pn=1

Read this article guys.I always knew S.Anand had a major grouse against Kamal(he tore apart Virumaandi&Anbe shivam dismissing them as attempts in Narcissim)but to accuse Kamal&Rajni of not promoting younger talent is baseless&prejudiced.Becos both of them are over 50,he wants them to retire!He finds fault with Kamal doing films without breaks&advising Aamir to do the same :o

The whole article is an exercise in extreme prejudice but still I couldn't resist posting it here.

[Jacky]

I'm sure these guys didn't have the OOs to criticize Amitabh who at 55 did Lalbadshah and Mrityudata...running around the trees with Manisha.

[Jacky]

It was pathetic that Big B was immediatly promoted to Father/Father-in-law roles. At least ppl here still pay to watch RK and KH.

[thumburu]

Music4ever,
ungal mandaikaichalai naan kulira vaikkiren. The song that has the phRASE resembling "route " of "yele nee yetti po" is
"sooderi pochaa" from Kalaignan song
"kokkarako kozhi", sung awkwardly by kamal , with superb prelude, interlude and postlude chorus

[Cinefan]

http://sify.com/movies/tamil/fullstory.php?id=13728161

Sify's BO report-CM is super hit,Sachein has fallen badly(but still continues at No2 :? ),MX has derailed all over,even at Sathyam is sliding-Chennaite's plz confirm.

[kbee]

i talk to my cousing in Coimbatore and its rocking in CBE. Most of the people saw MX alone, thinking it will not be a "family" movie, but now they are bring the whole family to theatre. dont buy into sify news. if you pay them they will give good review.

forget about if CM is doing better or Sachin is doing better. MX is a good movie and to some extend a "classic" movie. I will give you statistics once the DVD is released.

[alwarpet_andavan]

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20050502&fname=Rajnikant+%28F%29&sid=1&pn=1
Read this article guys.I always knew S.Anand had a major grouse against Kamal(he tore apart Virumaandi&Anbe shivam dismissing them as attempts in Narcissim)but to accuse Kamal&Rajni of not promoting younger talent is baseless&prejudiced.Becos both of them are over 50,he wants them to retire!He finds fault with Kamal doing films without breaks&advising Aamir to do the same :o
The whole article is an exercise in extreme prejudice but still I couldn't resist posting it here.

Cinefan,
Remember the post i had made earlier about MX in the Bangalore MetroPlus by a moronic rabble-rousing loser called Sankar Anand (or was it Anand Sankar?) ? - [That it started another "Hindu" thread is a different matter] :)

The guy you are talking about is the same guy i think because he was the one who "murdered" Virumaandi in Outlook.
I don't know what his problem in life is!!!!
I'm tempted to ask what Collin Farrel asks Forest Whitaker in "Phone Booth"
C.F: "You couldn't get it up with your wife last night, could you?"
Vakkali avan mattum kai la mattna na ratham paakkama poga mattaan!!!!!!!

alwarpet_andavan

[alwarpet_andavan]

http://sify.com/movies/tamil/fullstory.php?id=13728161

Sify's BO report-CM is super hit,Sachein has fallen badly(but still continues at No2 :? ),MX has derailed all over,even at Sathyam is sliding-Chennaite's plz confirm.

I don't think it's sliding at Sathyam. Will confirm soon after talking to my Chennai mates

alwarpet_andavan

[NormalMan]

[tscii:b25676902f]
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20050502&fname=Rajnikant+%28F%29&sid=1&pn=1


These were my comments I posted on Outlook's site,

Dude, you have a serious problem and you should get a life. Your article was not only illogical and obscure; it was a deliberate and vehement attack not only on the icons, Kamal & Rajini, but also on the Tamil movie watching community. Tamil audiences are not idiots. They have always encouraged talented entertainers for ages, Sivaji, MGR, M.S.Viswanathan, Ilayaraja, Rahman. If they dislike something they will reject it outright. Baba, Aalavandhan were perfect examples. Who said they are not letting go of Kamal & Rajini. If there is a worthy successor, they will. None of the heroes today can do a comedy flick or a serious off-beat movie like Kamal. Nor anyone can give a stylish entertainer like Rajini. Every damn hero today is trying to impersonate either of these 2. So before you starting writing any donkey pooh, think thrice what your flea brain want’s to write.

If the editor of Outlook by any chance i reading this, please go through all the view by readers and reconsider giving the pen to this useless guy, S.Anand.[/tscii:b25676902f]

[vijayr]

I wrote a post in Outlook giving my strong comments too the day the article appeared. The guy is obviously prejudiced and has serious jealousy problems towards the 2 big stars. His logic in blaming the 2 superstars for young actors aping them is funny. He should try to redeem himself by writing another column bashing Simbu, Vijay, Ajith and the likes for their lack of originality/individuality

[kbee]

I just read the review in outlook. Each movie is like giving birth to a baby (from producer and directory point of view) and who the hell is he to say that the baby is not good. He is proabably someone trying to find a role in Tamil cinema and couldnt get in. I think he is a psyco or confused person. He need to get treatment either from Vasool Raja or from Dr Saravanan.

Guys, in general one more thing I found out. Never pay a penny for any magazine. They just bullshit. I bought a Time magazing a month (or two) before, because in the cover it said

"What sleep has to do with your health - New Facts"

since I am a person who doesnt sleep well and thought it might be of education value to me, I end up buying this and when I turned to the page inside it said

"There is no relevant study/proof associating sleep with health. Infact there is no new facts found in last decade that related to sleep and health".

Same with CNN and BBC. When we had a train accident last week BBC quoted this due to "India's antique railway system". When Japan train crash happened they are quoting "Its shocking in a country where the train system is most advanced". What do they know about Indian railway system. This is the largest single employer in the world and they better know the fact before they blabber their mouth. I decided to shun these magazines. I am more happy with "The Hindu" and "dinamalar" than BBC and CNN.

Back to the reviewer "Net Net he is a Nut"

[app_engine]

kbee, while I mostly agree with your observations on the media, I can't defend Indian Railways...may be they're the #1 employer in the world, but only those employees (& their kith and kin) will have anything positive to say about it:-(

(being a Mumbai `Express' thread, I think this is not so much of a digression:-))

[tmrrmt]

Hi - guys - below is my posting in OUTLOOK!

---------------------------------------------------------------

Hello - that was perhaps the most silly article I have ever read in the Outlook since I started reading it!

Tell me, Mr.ANAND.S., were you ever denied an oppurtunity to act in a Tamil movie ? looks like your angst is outright personal, and smacks of bland cynicism

So far as a product endures and sells, the producer keeps making it - isn't that what every industry is all about ? at least, we have quality products, in 'Mahanadhi', 'Guna', Sati Leelavathy', 'Anbae Sivam' 'Virumaandi', and now 'Mumbai Xpress' - would a Hollywood critic chuckle in dismay, if a Martin Scorcese, or a Harrison Ford, or a Mel Gibson keep making quality movies, way past their 50s ?

Not only does your article indulge in mindless bashing, it seems to be obsessed with the single-minded objective of finding a fault whether it exists or not - that is not proactive journalism, that is stooping down too low, only to garner attention

Whether you like it or not, someone like Kamal Hassan is a creative genius who has been consistently giving fare that is above the ordinary, barring a few exceptions, like ABHAY, which have been outright rejected

Why, one Mr.Amitabh Bacchan was romancing around with Manisha Koirala, when he was way past his 50th year ? even today, AB does a half-a-dozen films a year - that is his job/profession - if the people like the product, they will watch, if not, they will reject the same - your duty is to give objective reviews, not shoot from the hip - in fact, your article reminds me of some of the bone-headed arguments/statements of one Mr.George Bush

Go, have a life - muck thrown around without purpose, always
comes back - look into a mirror you will know it
----------------------------------------------------------------

[tmrrmt]

And Mr.Anand, what next ? Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid are growing old, so it does not matter whether they are performing or not, they should be forced to retire -

IBM should stop making hardware equipment, because it has been in the field for far too long

Brittania and Cadburys should stop making biscuitsand chocolates respectively, because they have been doing it for a long long time!

You are nothing more that a Don Quixote with the thinking ability of a freshly cut cucumber!

[Cinefan]

Well,Well,hubbers here have done the right thing by posting their comments at 'Outlook'instead of the 'The Hub'here.Guess,I too should have done the same. :)

[jaiganes]

funniest thing was that the national award winner for the previous year for acting was an actor from this industry which is in decay according to Mr.Anand. Anyways the old tamizh adage that the tree bearing fruits will attract stones has been proven again. As an antithesis to what Rajini says in Baba, let us not elevate this guy beyond his current level (which is abyss) by taking him on. Definitely we don't see Rajini or Kamal confronting this guy.

[alwarpet_andavan]

tmrrmt,
Veluthu kattiteenga!
Anand S is one big loser in life, rest assured

alwarpet_andavan

[alwarpet_andavan]

funniest thing was that the national award winner for the previous year for acting was an actor from this industry which is in decay according to Mr.Anand. Anyways the old tamizh adage that the tree bearing fruits will attract stones has been proven again. As an antithesis to what Rajini says in Baba, let us not elevate this guy beyond his current level (which is abyss) by taking him on. Definitely we don't see Rajini or Kamal confronting this guy.

Neenga solradhum vaasthuvamana pechathaan irukku!
Let's try to purge this guy from our colelctive consciousness :)

alwarpet_andavan

[Kanna]

Jaiganes,
"funniest thing was that the national award winner for the previous year for acting was an actor from this industry which is in decay according to Mr.Anand. Anyways the old tamizh adage that the tree bearing fruits will attract stones has been proven again"

u're absolutely right!!

[Cinefan]

Dig:

http://www.cinesouth.com/masala/hotnews/new/28042005-1.shtml

Kamal to inagurate Jaya TV's malaysian telecast today.


End Dig

[kbee]

What the hell he is doing in malasia. He is supposed be in NY for VV. May be he got a good deal if he flys thru malasia!:)

[Kanna]

Yup, It would have saved some money for Kaja Mohideen bhai to fly Kamal through Malaysia :)

[Cinefan]

Or maybe Jaya TV decided to take the responsibility of flying him to NY thro' Malayasia. :D

[multinamatheyan]

http://www.tamilcinema.com/CINENEWS/Hotnews/2005/april/290405.asp

Mumbai Express renamed Mumbai Minnal by a theatre owner.

I feel Kamal burnt his finger by taking on these fools head on.

I am sure the fear of violence at the theatres would have affected the attendance.

Webulagam says, Express is walking, but Kamal made a lot of profit.

[K]

If you listen carefuly to the song "Tuvakam Engey" the unpicturised song from Mahanadhi You will find the interludes and music pices froM Mumbaiexpress Theme so it is old wine in a new bottle :)

[rajasaranam]

K,

it is a much older wine that it had some bits from 'TIk Tik Tik' theme music too :)

[krish244]

The theme music of ME is really good. Treat to listen to some live instruments and the effect (those drums, bass portions, etc) it creates. Sad to see that its not been aired much. I have seen lots of theme music in Channel V or MTV, I dont why this theme music has not been aired. Its just not been marketed well (nowadays i dont see ME promos on MTV, Channel V at all, whereas promos of lucky and other movies still appears).

Krishnan

[tmrrmt]

Hi - watched MX with my family yesterday (Sunday the 1st of May) at Sampige, Bangalore - tickets were available but it was soon houseful - on enquiry, learnt that all evenings have been hosueful since its release and on holidays, all four shows houseful, so far

[tmrrmt]

krish244 - not just the theme music, the entire album is pathbreaking stuff - I know one Ms.Paula Jeanine Potocki, a well-known jazz vocalist and performer from the New York-Boston circuit - and she has listened to one piece (the 'Kurangu Kaiyyil malai'song, so far) and (having already ben exposed to IR through NBW, HTNI and I24Hrs), she says the one piece she has listened to, is brilliant stuff! what more is required than a commendation from a renowned jazz artist ?!

[Kanna]

Small digression...

Kamal on Inspirations

http://tamil.galatta.com/entertainment/livewire/livewire.asp?n=kamal2.txt

Kamal speaks about the inspirations and how the makers of Doubtfire and Godfather got inspired from some other movies!!

:)

[Cinefan]

Hi - watched MX with my family yesterday (Sunday the 1st of May) at Sampige, Bangalore - tickets were available but it was soon houseful - on enquiry, learnt that all evenings have been hosueful since its release and on holidays, all four shows houseful, so far

But still the distributor who's also distributing Sachein is replacing MX with Vijay's film at all theatres including Sampige from 6th May.

[Kanna]

Cinefan,
What about CM?

[Cinefan]

Cinefan,
What about CM?

Hasn't lost many theatres.Both of them released in an equal no of theatres,didn't lose much in the second week(Both),MX lost 50%in the third week&looks like it will run only at PVR&Innovative(hopefully)from this Friday.CM is going pretty strong.That's the reason the distributor of Sachien(facing a theatre shortage)finds it convenient to replace MX(which he has distributed)with Vijay's film.Also he would have recovered his investement on MX&there is no pressure from Kamal or his fans to run the film.of course,if MX had been blazing the cinema halls,he would have been forced to continue but since the film anyway was doing only abv.avg business,it's being removed.

[NagaS]

athennappa spelling Sachien ?

NagaS

[jaiganes]

Saw Mumbai Xpress and was disappointed with so many "biased and intellectual reviews". The movie is a good one, a good satire on money crazy society and how an innocent man gets more than what he wants (money & relationship) while seemingly more brilliant people fail in their blinding quest for money. The chaplin effect is very marked in Kamal's screenplay. The scene leading upto the climax is so ingeniously planned and executed, I for a moment was wondering how I missed the "presence of scissors" in manisha's bed. If that was cool then "Ragasiya police" and "underwear cops" and "sexena" were just nice pieces of misdirection !! Pasupathi has shown that if somebody gives him a good role, he can show his full talent. Vaiyyapuri has enormous confidence of kamal and he has not let kamal down. So too has Nasser, who shows that his talent in comedy is no small measure. Santhana bharathi as chettiyar is too good and Manisha koirala is apt. Koavai sarala has done a negative role in a comic way.
In digital format, long shots are somewhat blurred while colour toning also is somewhat funny.In the crane scene (:thumbsup:) the crane is 'too yellowish" against the shadow hidden backdrop. Is it intentional? I dont know!! However the crane scene is too much. Watch out for kamal saying to pasupathi that he is fine and the stylish way he climbs up the crane and starts operating it.
Special mention for the kid and the horse in that particular order.

Special mention must go to Ilayaraja for "kurangu kayyil maalai".
However the music during chase scene is not clearly audible and the noise is too loud and abrasive and could have been avoided.

[dude]

Small digression...

Kamal on Inspirations

http://tamil.galatta.com/entertainment/livewire/livewire.asp?n=kamal2.txt

Kamal speaks about the inspirations and how the makers of Doubtfire and Godfather got inspired from some other movies!!

:)

Idukku peru daan "sappa kattu" :-) Avan copy adichan, ivan copy adichan, adhanaala naan adicha thapilla-ngra range-kku pesaraaru...

[tmrrmt]

Guys - in today's Times of India, a big size professionally done advt has been put up for the audio of Shyam Benegal's BOSE

WHY THE HELL DIDN"T KAMAL DO THE SAME FOR MX AUDIO ? I find it bizarre to say the least - having worked and extracted such jazz-rich stuff from IR, couldn't Kamal have at least done some sensible, aggressive marketing for the same ? forget the results/outcome of the marketing - at least the satisfaction of having done it would have been there and who knows, at least the audio might have created ripples

how and why Kamal resorts to such quixotic thinking is beyond me!

[Cinefan]

Naga-Numerology paduthum paadu.

Jai-Nice review,where did you see the film-Chennai or Bangalore?

tmrrmt:I read kamal's interview to Kalki,he says he was so disappointed with the way music companies treated the music of MX that he wanted to prove that the album can be sold even without stocking it in music shops.That's the reason why there were no ad's put up,the intention was not to sell it to the public thro' the normal route.Yes,you can argue with him about these tactics but under the circumstances where he started a audio company at the last min,it would have been very very difficult to put the distribution in place.

[tmrrmt]

Cinefan - but post release also, there is hardly any marketing going on - besides, is there some way we can get an update on the album sales of MX (both Hindi and Tamil versions) ? are there MX (Hindi version) MP3s ? I heard that in Andhra at least both the audio and the movie (MX) are doing well - can anybody confirm ?

[sureshmehcnit]

MX hindi version audio CD is released by Venus music and it is now available in stores for 99/-

[Cinefan]

Cinefan - but post release also, there is hardly any marketing going on - besides, is there some way we can get an update on the album sales of MX (both Hindi and Tamil versions) ? are there MX (Hindi version) MP3s ? I heard that in Andhra at least both the audio and the movie (MX) are doing well - can anybody confirm ?

Telugucinema.com had an article where it said MX has bombed&CM is doing very very avg business.

http://www.telugucinema.com/c/movies/bo_apr2705.shtml

Post release marketing:I think Kamal has proved a point&is already onto VV.He recently mentioned that like the audience he gets bored very quickly&moves forward to his next venture immediately.I am sure MX is out of his system.

[tmrrmt]

http://web.mid-day.com/columns/khalid_mohammed/2005/april/107618.htm

Genius Khalid Mohammed who gave us the timeless masterpiece FIZZA is at it again!

[Cinefan]

Khalid is another S.Anand.There was a time when he was literally eating out of Kamal's hands(ever read his wonderful interviews with Kamal for Filmfare),then came a spat(don't know the details)&suddenly Govinda became a better actor :lol: .he is a journalist -filmmaker gone wrong.What kind of integrity has he got if he lets personal prejudices colour his writings?Anyway no one takes his reviews seriously these days&there was a time when he was the King among reviewers.What a fall.

[Kanna]

Dude,


Idukku peru daan "sappa kattu" Avan copy adichan, ivan copy adichan, adhanaala naan adicha thapilla-ngra range-kku pesaraaru...


All are copy cats in one way or other, you, me, everybody in this forum, and everybody in this world!!!

Nenja thottu sollunga illainu???????

I don't know why the hell people are complaining when it comes to Kamal!!

[tmrrmt]

http://movies.indiainfo.com/reviews/2005/madhan-mumbaiexpress.html

am now an official reviewer for India FM!

[Kanna]

Madhan,

Keep it up!!!

:clap:

[dude]

Dude,


Idukku peru daan "sappa kattu" Avan copy adichan, ivan copy adichan, adhanaala naan adicha thapilla-ngra range-kku pesaraaru...


All are copy cats in one way or other, you, me, everybody in this forum, and everybody in this world!!!

Nenja thottu sollunga illainu???????

I don't know why the hell people are complaining when it comes to Kamal!!

Neega kandippa kamal fan daan-nu prove panniteenga. Kamal invoked a couple of names. You have gone one level up and involved everyone in the world :-D

When kamal can make such a big hue and cry about his next movie for which he has bought rights from a spanish movie, isnt it natural to question him about the earlier ones that he "suttufied" without paying any money...

[Kanna]

Dude,
Ippo dhan therinjudha naa Kamal fan-nu?

BTW, those movies are mere inspirations - never copied - so, he doesn't have to pay any.

Didn't u notice the link which clearly says "Inspirations"?

[Jacky]

tmrrmt,
Barring a few scenes Kamal looked like a guy short on performance. Certainly not short on talent. Fans who observe the nuances of his acting will only find Avinashi insipid.

[dude]

Dude,
Ippo dhan therinjudha naa Kamal fan-nu?

BTW, those movies are mere inspirations - never copied - so, he doesn't have to pay any.

Didn't u notice the link which clearly says "Inspirations"?

I dint know I was supposed to know that earlier. Are you that famous? Anyways, this started as a small digression. Lets end it here.

[Kanna]

Dude,



Are you that famous?

Not at all. Thought you would have seen my earlier posts in this thread.

[kbee]

http://www.hindu.com/2005/05/03/stories/2005050314730300.htm

[irfansong]

It is a very great comment on thalaivar's immortal music....

The soundtrack - being a veteran music afficianado connoisseur, I cannot but gasp at Ilaiyaraaja's unexhaustible bag of tricks! The audio MP3s of the movie have by themselves given a feel for the movie and after watching the movie, let me assure one and all, lock, stock and several barrels, anyone other than Ilaiyaraaja for the movie, it would have been an actual "Bhandar aur phool maala" experience - the intelligence with which the tracks have been used to gel with the storyline and script is something upcoming film music composers ought to learn from!

[Cinefan]

http://movies.indiainfo.com/reviews/2005/madhan-mumbaiexpress.html

am now an official reviewer for India FM! :thumbsup:

[mythila]

MumbaiExp is a fantastic slapstick that tamil filmdom has not got for quite sometime. I rate "kurangu kailyil" as the best song in the album which has been put to use effectively at many places. The sore point is the half-baked romantic(??) angle. Kamal could have been bold enough to chop off this like how he showed his boldness in rushing the climax scenes. I watched the film at Satyam and the audio was really bad. I would like to know if the audio is any better in Bangalore multiplexes.

[Cinefan]

MumbaiExp is a fantastic slapstick that tamil filmdom has not got for quite sometime. I rate "kurangu kailyil" as the best song in the album which has been put to use effectively at many places. The sore point is the half-baked romantic(??) angle. Kamal could have been bold enough to chop off this like how he showed his boldness in rushing the climax scenes. I watched the film at Satyam and the audio was really bad. I would like to know if the audio is any better in Bangalore multiplexes.

I saw the movie in a slightly second class theatre(Poornima)here&the audio was good.

I agree with you about the romance angle between Kamal&Manisha,it didn't gell at all as Manisha was till the end shown to be money crazy without any 'feelings'towards Kamal.Instead,she could have been just a character who ends up being a partner in Kamal's business like the others.The bond should have been restricted to Kamal&the boy.

[alwarpet_andavan]

It is a very great comment on thalaivar's immortal music....
The soundtrack - being a veteran music afficianado connoisseur, I cannot but gasp at Ilaiyaraaja's unexhaustible bag of tricks! The audio MP3s of the movie have by themselves given a feel for the movie and after watching the movie, let me assure one and all, lock, stock and several barrels, anyone other than Ilaiyaraaja for the movie, it would have been an actual "Bhandar aur phool maala" experience - the intelligence with which the tracks have been used to gel with the storyline and script is something upcoming film music composers ought to learn from!
irfansong,
IR's music is immortal indeed. The first time i saw the movie was for thalaivar and the movie itself, the second was for the atmosphere and the third was for IR.

alwarpet_andavan

[alwarpet_andavan]

mythila and Cinefan,
Yeah, the romance bit stuck out like a sore thumb and was a real speed-breaker. It had no place not only in a movie like this, but it didn't gel with the script, IMO. What a difference it would have brought to the BO fate of the movie had those scenes been pruned and replaced with better taut ones!

alwarpet_andavan

[Cinefan]

What a difference it would have brought to the BO fate of the movie had those scenes been pruned and replaced with better taut ones!

alwarpet_andavan

You think so.I don't think 15-20 minutes being slow can change the BO prospects of a movie.Anyway this happens in the beginning of the second half,the movie picks up later.It's just that something was missing in the second half which left the audience with a sort of incompleteness.Can't put my finger on it.Overall the mixed/extreme reactions were inevitable for this kind of a movie.I saw some in the lower class enjoying the movie while the fancy car kind said 'Horrible'&vice versa.Anyway the verdict is out.As long as we enjoyed the movie,Kamal&the distributor/theatre owner combine have a made a profit(however small it may be),it should be OK.BTW,what is the real BO performance.None of the sites have a real picture.You have any idea?

[scorpio]

"something was missing in the second half which left the audience with a sort of incompleteness."

You've put it very well Cinefan. Actually, I was expecting for something to happen in the climax but suddenly a group of people in black suit were cutting the ribbon and inaugurating something and credits were shown. Before I could decipher that the film has ended, I was pulled out of the seat by my husband. Felt so stupid!

[Cinefan]

"something was missing in the second half which left the audience with a sort of incompleteness."

You've put it very well Cinefan. Actually, I was expecting for something to happen in the climax but suddenly a group of people in black suit were cutting the ribbon and inaugurating something and credits were shown. Before I could decipher that the film has ended, I was pulled out of the seat by my husband. Felt so stupid!

I think one of the reasons for that is that the 'ele ne ettippo'song was cut.The film starts&ends with the song.since it was butchered,the film ended in a hurry.BTW,how did you find the movie-independently&when compared with CM&Sachein?

[alwarpet_andavan]

Cinefan,
About 15-20 minutes not making any diff with the BO results - not true always. Lemme explain. If someone had asked you in the interval how the movie was, i bet you would've replied in true Sun TV style, "Soopper saar"! :)
Sometimes, we tend to remember the -ves (not always, but sometimes) more than the +ves. Of course, i'm just speculating :)

And abt the BO status, your guess is as good as mine. However, i trust one reliable source - Kannan of kamal fan club yahoo group. He says the movie took an incredibly bad opening across TN and is doing only average - above average business in the metros. In 3 words, not a hit.

alwarpet_andavan

[scorpio]

One good thing about MX was that it brought out a very good dialogue writer in Kamal. He has taken extreme risks in many stunt sequences too. As I always think of, Kamal's comedies are always a bar higher than what a normal tamil rasigan expects and this explains the reason for a 90% empty theatre last saturday where I was watching the movie. We have been conditioned and programmed by umpteen movies to expect a sweet heroine who instantly falls in love with the protoganist. A poorly etched out heroine is certainly a negative point for MX. I wonder why didn't Kamal care about his getup (better not to talk about Manisha's sagging face). He appears with a small thoppai and looks jaded compared with his smart looks in VR MBBS.
My kids laughed thru' and loved the movie and told me they liked MX better than Sachein and CM. But, considering our smooth relations in the hub, I would refrain from answering the question from my perspective! :wink:

[scorpio]

"Sometimes, we tend to remember the -ves (not always, but sometimes) more than the +ves. Of course, i'm just speculating"

Andavarae!

Seriya sonneenga. I still remember my sheepish smile and confused looks in not understanding that the movie has ended! That disappointment erased all the laughs I had thru' the course of the movie and added to that, I got 'tubelight' label from my children! :cry:

I went for last saturday evening show (prime time). Though it was not a popular theatre, hardly 60-70 persons watched the show in a hall strength of atleast 300-400.

[vatsa400]

I second Scorpio's opinion, I was pleasantly surprised not shocked by the Kamal Manisha episode. To me, its something unusual in Indian movies. I think the movie's minus point were the dialogues (It could have been better though it was good, the movie could have been a classic if dialogue was great) and censor cuts, I think the title song cut (which is a news) and the cut (I think) in the end could have made a huge difference. Its about life in Mumbai and people in general. I feel the title song is like wraps the movie. I hope Kamal and IR venture into this kind of comedy another time.

Vatsa

[vatsa400]

oops

I feel the title song is like wraps the movie

should be

I feel the title song wraps the movie

[kbee]

I hope Kamal and IR venture into this kind of comedy another time.
Vatsa
Kamal has got the copyright for one spanish movie. Though the movie has strong message, the movie is comedy. Hopefully after VV, kamal will do that.

[Cinefan]

AA,
I would agree with you,after the first half,I was sure it's going to be a big hit.There was a S/W engineer sitting next to me who was from Trichy.He had come alone for the movie&was so excited after the first half that he started expressing his feelings to a complete stranger(that's me).But at the end of the movie,that excitement had dissipated.The way a movie ends&the mindset of the audience when they come out is very important.Some times rank bad films become big hits because the last 1/2half hour was very good.Any reason why the film took a bad opening(excluding I think Chennai&some cities).it's becoming common for Kamal's films these days.In fact Anbe... was a bomb from day 1.

Akka,
You can express your opinion.I promise it would not make any diff to my attitude towards you.I&MOST of the Kamal fans here are not fanatics.

[Cinefan]

http://www.cinesouth.com/masala/hotnews/new/04052005-5.shtml

Mumbai BO report of MX-not sure about the veracity.

[scorpio]

Cinefan,

If you still want to know how I felt about the 3 movies, here it is -

My first choice would be Sachein - Though the story is a rehash, it had a feel-good factor running thru' out the movie. I was never a VJ fan but I have to accept honestly he carried the role exceedingly well as Sachein. It was entertainment guaranteed for 3 hours.

Second is CM - I have to accept brand Rajini still shines. Chartbuster songs and a good screenplay that ties all loose ends in the climax gives a sense of completeness.

Third is MX - Agree with you that the first half raised my expectations. Second half was pathetic. Couldn't digest what made avinasi fall for ahalya! I only remember Kamal racing thru Mumbai with Daddu and ahalya with 2 crores. The next scene, we see 'riboon cuttng' by the black brigade. What happened in between?? Did the honest avinasi give back the money to Sevagan and Rao? If not, why didn't he? What made Ahalya all of a sudden to love avinaasi? Why did Sevagan become a busines partner with Avinasi about whom he literally knew nothing! So many loose ends and questions. Has anyone seen the Hindi version?? Was the ending same??

It is really good to see Kamalhassan fans maintaining their cool in TFM page unlike baseless arguements and personal insults hurled in Tamil films section. I can only wish Vettaiyadu becomes a blockbuster!

[Kanna]

Scorpio,



Did the honest avinasi give back the money to Sevagan and Rao?


There was a mention during the song sequence that they all became partners with the money Avinashi has got, which means the money was not taken by Avinashi alone, and it was shared by all, therby maintaining the character of Avinashi that he's not after money.

[NagaS]

When kamal and manisha with the kid are on the bike, (pre-"subam" scene)

1. Sevagan's money is with manisha, in her bag ... But as far as sevagan is conerned, that money is eaten by the horse ... So he can't ask kamal / manisha to return it

2. Rao's money is with kamalhasan, But it is to be given to manisha anyway (for ransom purpose plus her share of 15 lakhs)

So, totally kamal and manisha can endup with 2.25 crores without having to answer anybody !

May be (and as per what they say in the ribbon-cutting scene) kamal tells the truth to all and makes them business partners, In such a case, others have to agree ;)

NagaS

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

can anyone opine abt the theme music of MX, it reminds me the How to name it & Nothing but Wind periods plus some intresting bits.

As its TFM page, i hopw atleast one will respond on this

[Kanna]

Sakala...,
The first time hearing didn't attract me at all. But subsequent hearings changed my perception. I don't think it's of HTN and NBW genre, but definetly nice piece of work from the maestro

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

Sakala...,
The first time hearing didn't attract me at all. But subsequent hearings changed my perception. I don't think it's of HTN and NBW genre, but definetly nice piece of work from the maestro

not all the pieces in NBW and HTNI was nice, sa, but i feel somewhat that effect was there, i also felt a nice blend between those days and current days......overall i gave a pleseant experience......on multiple hearings, same with Kurangu kayil and Ele nee ettippoo

even MX albumis not a hit i feel its a good try and for me the Album is OK, u can join this album in IR's Notable ones

[Kanna]

Sakala...

Peru romba perisa iruku, Vijay nu podalama?? :)

I agree with you cent percent. This is one of the good albums of IR. The songs stay in the mind after multiple hearings.

[alwarpet_andavan]

can anyone opine abt the theme music of MX, it reminds me the How to name it & Nothing but Wind periods plus some intresting bits.
As its TFM page, i hopw atleast one will respond on this
Maestro had composed this piece way back in 1999 (if i'm not wrong). He has many unused treasures like this. He's used Guitar Prasanna's guitar riffs in this, which was originally recorded for one of IR's private album, which of course, was not released.
Parts of it reminded me of NBW, maybe because of the trademark, (a)typical unconventional drumming patterns used by the maestro.

alwarpet_andavan

[tmrrmt]

alwarpet_andavan - do I know you ?

[alwarpet_andavan]

alwarpet_andavan - do I know you ?
tmrrmt,
"Theriliye pa..." (Nayagan style :)
En kekkareenga?

alwarpet_andavan

[Kanna]

AA,

Enna kaelvi idhu, neenga rendu baerum (tmrrmt) yahoo groupsla membera irundhukittu indha kaelvi badhil avasiyama?

Idhu enaku eppadi theriyumna, I'm also a member of that group

[Kanna]

Any body has the list of Kamal's sondha kural songs? If not, I'm planning to compile it. Please respond...

[Cinefan]

Any body has the list of Kamal's sondha kural songs? If not, I'm planning to compile it. Please respond...

Roshan&others have done a compilation in some thread,she will tell you which one.

[alwarpet_andavan]

AA,

Enna kaelvi idhu, neenga rendu baerum (tmrrmt) yahoo groupsla membera irundhukittu indha kaelvi badhil avasiyama?

Idhu enaku eppadi theriyumna, I'm also a member of that group

Adhaane enakkum purile :)

alwarpet_andavan

[Kanna]

Thanks for the info cinefan!
I'll ask Roshan

[e_hari]

My cousin an ardent kamal fan, who is usually spot-on on his remarks, did not like ME. He said it was a waste of time. I have not seen the movie yet, but after seeing all kind of extreme mixed reviews, it looks like, my expecation has done down a lot. It is fair to say, recent Kamal comedy movies were a big let down. I think Thenali probably is the last decent comedy movie from him.

Thanks
Hari

[kbee]

ask him to see again. he will undestand it better. it took twice viewing for me to appreciate the movie. Its different. if you expect double meaning comedy or explicit comedy dialogues you will be disappointed. Like kamal mentioned, the story involves around serious people, what happens around them make you laugh!

[app_engine]

thenAli was not a great `comedy' either, most were `forced' situations which were dry, no spontaneous laughter...that being said, I should acknowledge it was a very good film and I liked it so much mainly for the beautiful ilankai thamizh and a couple of `narration' scenes where Kamal excelled...Moving personally as I had spent a few weeks with a Srilankan refugee family...

[e_hari]

Kbee,
He did infact see it two times. In Madras, We normally see any kamal movie atleast three times ( even his bad movies). Anything more than three times, normally means it was a good movie. Last time, When I was in Madras, Hey Ram got released. We saw it three times in a week. It was a classic movie.

app_engine,
I said, Thenali is only a decent movie, not great. It had its moments. It was more funnier than its original What about Bob, IMO. Srilankan Tamil really helped there. It was dragging at parts, unnecessary sidetrack like Jayaram character suspecting his wife Devayanai with Kamal did not help and a below average music from Rahman. Overall the first half was very funny and Kamal really got to the skin of the character.
His later movies like PanchaTandiram, and Pammal K Sambandam were just OK to miserable. His last comedy classic was avvai Shanmugai.
I saw sadhi leelavathi in the Sun TV last week. It was a well executed movie. For a change, the movie started very slow, and picked up the pace later.
Thanks
Hari

[kbee]

I saw sadhi leelavathi in the Sun TV last week. It was a well executed movie. For a change, the movie started very slow, and picked up the pace later.
Thanks
Hari
I know people are going to jump up and down over this. I saw SL too last week in SunTV. Like you said the movie started very slowly until Kamal enter into the picture, but then it was dragging a bit in between. It became a classic movie because at that time it was one of the best comedy ever released. Now comparing that to MX, MX started very well and slowed down as soon as manisha comes to picture and starts again. the problems with MX are

1. title song cut
2. manisha-kamal scenes too dragging (you feel like its half hout, but only 10 minutes + 3 min song)
3. no "proper" closure to the movie

If kamal corrected atleast the last 2, the movie would have been one of hte best from kamal.


Regarding other movies... thenali is a crap, but lot of ppl buy the DVD so, PKS is in between not good not bad, and PT is decent - specially "Vai Raaja Vai" song. I cant believe Deva did such a good work for KH!

[Dragun]

The Ramya Krishnan-Simran competition song was decent too.

[Chelian]

I watched the movie yesterday....
and Honestly I must say that the movie is aboutt bad - average!!!
I didnt expext this from Kamal.
The video images are horrible.
IR's contribution is totally wasted.
One of the worst comedy movie from Kamal

[kbee]

Chelian, thanks for the contribution. really appreciated

[Cinefan]

Since a discussion on Kamal's comedy movies are going on, here's my 2 cents:Avvai was his last classic comedy.Kadhala...&Thenali were unimpressive in the theatres but made for great viewing on TV.I think that's the reason kbee sells so many DVD's :D .PKS&PT were avg mainly becos they dragged at times&created an impatience in the minds of the audience.VR MBBS was an avg remake&in MX Kamal lost a golden oppurtunity to create another classic.What a build up till the interval only to lose it in the second half.So, it's been 9 years since his last great comedy,I hope the next time around he think's 100 times b4 saying yes to a script.

[tmrrmt]

My two cents - after Avvai, all of Kamal's comedies have been rushjobs - especially, after Kamal had spent a lot of money and time on HEY RAM, he probably didn't want to waste much time in preparing for a movie - hence the feeling that they were not good - but PKS and PT were IMO good, thanks mainly to Crazy Mohan

but my gut feeling is that VV will be good, since much of Kamal's burden in scripting the story has been taken over by Gautam Menon, who himself is by now well on the road to becoming an accomplished film-maker - I think in terms of commercial returns, VV will do what Shankar's "Indian" did -
but as compared to 'Indian', whose production values and overall feel gave one the feeling of a desi-Jerry Bruckheimer flick (JB is Hollywood's Subhash Ghai and Shankar rolled into one), VV will be much more refined and classy in treatment and also accessible to the commoner

[Kanna]

"I cant believe Deva did such a good work for KH!"

Deva had given the best for Kamal surprising the latter's notion that Deva is bad in RR

[Cinefan]

but my gut feeling is that VV will be good, since much of Kamal's burden in scripting the story has been taken over by Gautam Menon, who himself is by now well on the road to becoming an accomplished film-maker

Read the Sify article about rumours of Kamal re-writing the script&the trade expressing apprehensions of whether the 15 cr movie would be viable esp after the "derailment of MX".I for one don't believe the rumours but why is it that everytime Kamal works outside his gang,such talk spreads.In fact even during the shooting of 'Indian',there was news about major fights between Kamal&Shankar.It's another thing that the film came on time&created a dhamaka at the BO.

BTW can someone give a true picture of MX's performance at the BO with statistics.

[tmrrmt]

Cinefan - forget SIFY - they cannot even type English properly on their website - third-rate mediocrities

By any yardstick, MX is not a failure - in terms of loss to the producer - my brother who is in Gurgaon (South of Delhi) says, a few days ago, they mutliplex hall in Gurgaon district screening MX was full for the afternoon and evening - that was a weekend of course, but it still, considering the low budget and the overall market of the movie, it is not as big a failure as is being made out

During the making of INDIAN, KH for sure had some serious problems with ARR, but not Shankar - even if KH rewrites the script, what is wrong ? Kurudhippunal's original script by Javed Akthar was slightly modified by KH and the result was brilliant, wasn't it ?

about all these rumors, there are two possibilities - (i) for some reason or the other, KH has had a spat with several press guys, who vent their bad blood this way, (ii) perhaps these rumors are themselves a well-planned orchestrated fabrication of KH himself, his hand at unconventional publicity!

[Cinefan]

about all these rumors, there are two possibilities - (i) for some reason or the other, KH has had a spat with several press guys, who vent their bad blood this way,

he def had a spat with Khalid Mohammad.S.Anand also has a major grouse,it shows in the way he writes about him.The others???He is one of the few top actors who actually gives exclusive interviews to diff sections of the media.Just look at Rajni,when was the last time a magz had his interview.Still they hype him&his films like anything.I think Kamal also should adopt a touch-me-not attitude.These guys fall all over a person who insults them&take the cooperating guy for granted.

[Kanna]

Cinefan,



Just look at Rajni,when was the last time a magz had his interview


I have a vague idea about an interview to AV some 10 years back. If that's not the case, then in my living memory, I could not find one!!!

On the other hand, if you take KH, despite giving several interviews to diff. mag. at regular intervals, those DOGS ALWAYS SPIT VENOM ON THIS LEGEND OF THE CENTURY.

F**K OF THOSE IDIOTIC JOURNALITS

[gargas]

on the ananda vikatan topic...

am missing out the vikatan review and the marks awarded to ME. can anyone post that? :?:

[thumburu]

I doubt Gautam menon's credibility after the unpardonable mishandling of the key climax in "kaaka kaaka". He reduced the otherwise slick, stylishly made movie into the regular "ondikki ondi, othaikku othai" fight between hero and villian at the climax, undoing all that hype about the efficiency of the encounter specialists. What was the third encounter specialist and the police crew doing when our great hero was crying over his dead wife? If only they had nabbed the criminals , the movie would have shone differently, highlighting the team spirit in the police force.Gautam menon clearly underrates the intelligence of the viewing public and the climax clearly shows he opted for the easier , cliched option

[thumburu]

please change "what was" to "what were" -sorry for the error

[Kanna]

Thumburu,
But Gautham has established himself as a commerical director with a flair for giving classy stuff, more on the lines of Kamal. If you ask Kamal to divide the line between Commerical and Art films, he'll grow wild. I think that's one of the reasons why Kamal and Gautham came together for this flick.

[kbee]

about all these rumors, there are two possibilities - (i) for some reason or the other, KH has had a spat with several press guys, who vent their bad blood this way,
Its only SIFY.
MX was full in all the shows in all Saturday and Sunday shows in NJ, which means close to 2500 ppl saw in NJ. The trend now a days is that bad movies runs well, e.g. Thiruppachi Vs Mayavi. Since everyone is trying to be Rajini the movies now a days are like late 80s rajini movies (crap) and has violence all over. The only exceptions to tihs are Surya and Madhavan. After Kamal, we should support on of these two. Vikram just started his career (I mean active career) and already
near retirement age! so we have to go with Surya/Madhavan.

Having said all these, I am excited very much for VV, because I am planning to see KH and the unit during their suiting in Nort East. If anyone know any info, please share with me. I am trying to find thru other channels also, but any help from friends here is really appreciated.

[kbee]

on the ananda vikatan topic...

am missing out the vikatan review and the marks awarded to ME. can anyone post that? :?:

CM - 40 (Rajini not at his best)
MX - 41 (Dragging in second half made this movie a non classic one)
Sachin - 43 (Vijay back to love stories)

[tmrrmt]

Kbee - I suggest you call up Rajkamal's office in Chennai directly and find out!

[tmrrmt]

Kbee - I suggest you call up Rajkamal's office in Chennai directly and find out!

[app_engine]

I think Chandrahasan of Rajkamal visits this forum, and has even posted before...

[prabhudas]

Finally this week end MX is going to be released in NY and hopefully I will not miss it. Kbee is right, when I watched virumandi in that horrible theatre in NJ it was fully packed , because I didn't like the theatre I thought it was not worth driving all the way there.
Any way as another ardent fan of KH, my 2 cents...

Kamal "ghost directing" new as well as so called well established directors ( KSR, Sundar C ) is nothing new, and if not 100% true there is definitely some intervention ( and media mostly portraying it as interference) by KH in close to 80% of movies especially after apoorva Sahodarargal's huge success and winning three National awards. Apparently his indulgence or interference is mostly in the form of ideas and suggestions and not messing with the script as long as this is not his home production. In his home production despite him not being the director for a few of his own movies and being a able script writer for his own movies, he does intervene in direction ( which Kh doesn't call intervention but assissting the director, this was told by himself in an interview, but imagine assissting santhan Bharathi or PC sriram who directed 2 of his movies which clearly speaks of KH all over the place in those movies). The only Rajkamal movie which he scripted but took back seat was " devar Magan" and the Bharathan KH combo did wonders in BO and coming out as a greatest classic in Tamil movies.

IMHO, I personally don't have a problem with KH giving suggestions, improvisations during movie making, especially for the enormous talent in him with the acting and subtlities in the charactrisations, every small new hero these days with few hits demand changes, demand specific MDs and particular style (copied songs) totally taking the audience ( I mean sensible crowd , not the retarded crowd in TN which makes every Vijay movie a hit) for granted, people arguing about these heroes knowing the mass media likings and making sure BO hits is total absurd if one looks at the progress of tamil movies, this is what I was referring to one of the Kbee posts that 80's tamil movies were way better than the current ones except for technical proficiency ( we had lot of old and new directors ( Mahendran, BR, MR, KB, RC Sakthi, Rudraiyya, Balu M, even the mediocre Durai, R sundarrajan, K rangaraj, did give some decent movies trying new and some thing differently staying away from the mundane formula based movies with 2 rapes, 5 songs one with silk smitha/anuradha, 4 fights etc... barring SPM and other KSR kind of nonsense masala directors, who still produced the crap out of Rajini making him the superstar not because of his acting talents but for being Vasool Raja)

I remember reading a snippet and discussing with other KH fans during "Nayakan" movie making how KH despite having known MR for long time offered himself as a brand new face to be directed under MR with no "nose poking" in any aspect except sitting with MR for RR with IR ( I don't know how much true that was like the Sify news).

Ttrmt,
I think Drohkaal's story was by Govind Nihalani, I don't remember Javed Akhthar's role in script , correct me if I am wrong, (I don't know if the tamil version showed credit to Javed Akhthar for the original story) personally Kurudhipunal was great no doubt, but Drohkaal was much better especially the narration ( with out our KH's usual heroine kissing dramas)

Coming to comedy flicks by KH, in his own interview he refers MMKR as the benchmark for his and any tamil comedies ( I personally agree it was indeed a great KH comedy, all those who had confusion watching movie should watch it again and again, I mean it was not a perfect movie, hey for a neatly scripted comedy with that unimaginable 4 characterisations with the 110% support by every small character in the movie that was really nice), I for some reason have liked all his comedies to the core including PKS ( Don't put word in my mouths!! :rotfl: ),
his average comedy hits like SL ( BaluM) and KK ( Singeetham) also had great comedy sequences.

I didn't watch PKS in theatre may be I might not have liked it that much in theatre but all other comedy movies after Avvai Shanmu I have watched in theatre and many more times on DVD and all of his post APPU comedies had Crazy as the writer the biggest plus point , including the Mouli directed PKS and we all know how hilarious his dialogues are, and that was one of the concerns when MX was anounced without Crazy, but still MX probably has come out well with KH as dialogue writer I think ( saw few clippings in SUN TV review, the whloe Ramesh arvind sequence in telugu was too good, a little bit of Seinfeld kind deviation from central conversation, pramaadham.... Brahmandam....dialogue sequence), the only reason I liked all his comedy movies to the full extent is that I haven't seen one single tamil comedy movie in many years with his kind of perfection, narration and the casual chacterisations and tongue in cheek dialogues , Crazy has penned for few non Kamal starrers but none strikes to me a good one. KH's own production "Nala damayanthi" was much big let down , I enjoyed PKS much more.
Any body watch KH interview last Sunday in SUN TV? Is it only me or any one else have noticed his almost voluntary sort of tics , I mean nose wiping and nose picking while looking at the camera, I have watched him in many TV interviews almost 90% of them with this and why can't he talk in simple plain Tamil instead of his Pure Tamil many times confusing the interviewer himself ( we all know he is a voracious reader and trying to update himself constantly), despite all of these, Kamal is terrific actor Indian Film Indusry ever produced or will ever produce ( especially for his versatality). I have to prime myself tonight with one of his comedies to gear up for MX.
Just curious, which are the NON KH decent full length comedies in tamil in the last 15 years, I mean all those Malyalam remakes ( friends, Leysa Leysa ) are good but definitely not even close to Kamal comedies,

Prabhudas

[kbee]

I don't know if the tamil version showed credit to Javed Akhthar for the original story

Yes, in the title it says "Story - Javed Akhthar"

[e_hari]

PrabhuDas,
Great writeup.
It is no secret most of the Kamal home production and pseduo productions ( like Guna, Thenali etc), his input is significant and over-bearing. But with big directors ( Bharathan, Balu Mahendra), you can find subtle differences that his contribution is not big. The movies where he involved more than usual, you can always find long single shots. The scene coming to my mind are, the hospital scene in Guna, numer of scenes in MMKR, in Thenali where he first meets jayaram and the climax in Hey Ram, when SRK and kamal met again.
You can see less long single shots like that in movies like Devar Magan or Sathi Leelavathi or Indian. Another common thread in the movies, which I find fascinating is, his ability to make all the actors small or big perform better. Who can forget janakaraj in Aboorva Sagothargal, or nagesh in Nammvar, or Pasi Satya in Anbe Sivam, or Atul in Hey Ram, or Hanif in Mahanathi, or Pasupathy and Abirami in Virumandi or Sarath Saxena or that bald guy in Guna and Nasir in all of his movies. He has great ability to create scripts with great characters and extarct performance from them. It is fair to say most of the above actors and other actors, their fine performance came in Kamal movie. Still people say, Kamal always try to dominate other actors in his movies, which is BS.
He can also inspire people like Crazy, Madan ( Anbe Sivam) to write such a great dialogues.

IMO, Kamal is a better director than actor, not withstanding how great his acting credintals are. Hey ram, and Virumandi are good example for good direction.

As you mentioned he is a complete movie maker in every sense - Closest example being Charlie Chaplin, or Hitchock. There is not a single film personality in indian movie industry can come closer to him. He is a adequate singer, and If I believe some sources, his music knowledge is good for a actor.

But his biggest problem to me is, he sometimes confused with his self-induced desire to balance out commercial and artisitic elements in his movie. He still for some strange reason fascinated by car chasing scenes, which you can see unnecessary included in the movies like Sathi Leelavathi and Allavandan and other movies.

His comedy movies are very difficult to act, since it is not only based on just dialogues or physical comedy. It needs lot of co-oridnation and timing among actors, which sometimes very difficult to execute or connect with the audience. In thenali, the scene, where Kamal meets Jeyaram could have been disaster with lesser actors.

But still, I feel that most of this movies,if subjected to outside analysis by some of his other movie friends ( BM, BK), It would have ended up better product in the box office. Because, when you are seeing so many movies and thinking about movies all the time, like he does, You may not realize that average movie goer may not be ready for certain things.

It is sadly true that for last 15 years of so, Kamal survived in the industry because of his own talents and his own money. He had very few outside movies and being a big actor and respected script writer/director , or for any other reason, not many directors and producers were willing to take him.

Only because of his multifacted talent, he is still surviving in the industry as an influential person, otherwise he would have ended up like Jaishankar or Vijayakumar or later sivaji, doing villan or character roles and ended up tarnishing all the good work done by them before in their career.

Thanks
Hari

[prabhudas]

e. hari,
I very much agree with your findings,

But his biggest problem to me is, he sometimes confused with his self-induced desire to balance out commercial and artisitic elements in his movie., I think this was the big reason for the failure of "Guna" 'Hey Ram" and " Anbe Shivam" ,

About his direction abilities, personally I feel he is just fantastic in comdey movies with great script better than any veteran comedy movie makers but when it comes to serious movies I think he falters a lot especially trying overstuffing things ( as aptly told by KB in a function), I think he gets carried away either during serious script writing or movie making with some extra ordinary situations with some obsession and ends up with a product which is too heavy and confusing, I am sure if he himself watches all his serious movies again he definitely would realize.
I remember somebody writing in the past in TFM forum comparing his direction abilities with MR, where Kamal is like a overenthusiatic highly studious student with too much hardwork but lacking some brilliant sparks typical of MR, on the other hand I can't imagine MR giving a pure comedy.
In a recent interview by Nasser,, he was mentioning how different it is working in Rajkamal production with KH especially the seriousness involved with every body having their own copy
( printed or xeroxed ) of the entire script from smallest to largest roles, to get a better product ultimately .


His comedy movies are very difficult to act, since it is not only based on just dialogues or physical comedy. It needs lot of co-oridnation and timing among actors, which sometimes very difficult to execute or connect with the audience. In thenali, the scene, where Kamal meets Jeyaram could have been disaster with lesser actors you bet, I wonder if there will be one single actor in future to come with this kind of talent,


It is sadly true that for last 15 years of so, Kamal survived in the industry because of his own talents and his own money. He had very few outside movies and being a big actor and respected script writer/director , or for any other reason, not many directors and producers were willing to take him.

The reasons IMHO, his egos ( which anybody of his calibre and talent will have) and his failure to accept the reality of BO ratings , if he really worries about making good movies and progressing in his film career with landmark movies he should just stop comparing himself with the all those stars unfortunately who are better saleable ( From Rajini to to the wothless AH Vijay) and just do movies with pure perfection with lesser budgets and I am sure there is always a place for him in every sincere tamil film Fan.



otherwise he would have ended up like Jaishankar or Vijayakumar or later sivaji, doing villan or character roles and ended up tarnishing all the good work done by them before in their career.
E hari, it was mostly their own choice ( JAi, Vijaykumar, both were not comparable to Kamal in any standard except they both had some success, otherwise they were very ordinary actors), but with Shivaji ( again his own choice), I wonder why he really ended up with such unforgettable roles in 80's and 90's except the two gems ( Mudal mariyadhai and Devar Magan), even his "Padayappa" role was useless, any senior actor could have done that, and I can't just imagine KH ending like that and I seriously doubt especially because of his super inflated egos ( unless he stoops to this for keeping his bank balance positive) and if that happens, I will probably ending watching tamil movies on theatres ( although it doesn't matter for anybody, just my 'aathankam' for being a ardent fan of him)and he should seriously think of of just becoming a producer and Director instead at that point.
Almost more than a decade ago, one of my Kannada friends told, the only way Indian Cinema can show their recognition to KH is honoring him with Dada Phalke award at an earlier age than any others and be a one of a kind role model for his enormous talents in portraying a variety of role with such versatality ( from 16 vayadinile to Moonram Pirai to Sagara Sangamam to Swathimuthyam to Nayagan to you name it)

Prabhudas

[kbee]

he should seriously think of of just becoming a producer and Director instead at that point.

I doubt if he will seriously do that. I am 100% sure that he will do more directional / production than acting after 5 years, but he will always act, most likely like Jack Nicholson type of role.

As far as his directional skills goes, he is a step ahead of his Guru KB. He will be one of the best directors from India, only after Satyajit Ray, Shyam Benegal & Ritwik Ghatak (or even at par with them based on what he does)

[tmrrmt]

First of all, I stand corrected - it is Govind Nihalini who scripted and directed DROHKAAL - Javed Akthar scripted ARJUN (Hindi), the original of SATYA

But as for the comparison between Drohkaal and Kurudhipunal, I refer to an interview of Govind Nihalini, in which he has accepted that KH's treatment was more slick and better

Those were excellent inputs from Prabhudas and co. - personally, I feel that KH's entire gamut of efforts over the last one decade have centered around his main ambition/obsession - MARUDHANAYAKAM - I will justify this stand of mine as follows:

His physique - right from Hey Ram, he has been working on his physique so much that with Abhay (Alavandhan), he reached the pinnacle of his muscled appearence - after Abhay, for a few movies, you cud not see the paunch and it is back there again after Virumandi - he selectively chooses scripts and roles that will motivate him to consciously work on his physique - he agreed 'Vettayadu' IMO strictly for this reason and by all means, we can see a fitter Kamal - the reason for the slow steady buildup of his physique coincides neatly with his choice of scripts (in PKS he does a stuntman, in Virumandi, he does a big bully kind of a villager) and also his ultimate goal of pumping up a big frame for Marudh - btw, the 30 min of Marudh that was shot happened just before Hey Ram and that was when he began his body building in a big way

A host of French + British actors, some stunning battle scenes planned, plus in 1997-98, at least two biggies Demi Moore and Kate Winslet were approached(!) such biggies are not going to act for peanuts - plus, big time marketing all over the world (keeping in mind Kamals's ambition to make it big in N.America) itself will take up a huge budget

Hence, KH has been juggling comedies (for both creative and box office satisfaction) with serious movies (to make sure that critics do not go bonkers calling him not capable of doing serious films anymore and fans are kept satisfied) - all said and done, Kamal is not that bankable a star like Amitabh or Rajini - hence getting a financier to back a big venture is difficult to start with

Kamal as a person, from what (little) I have understood, has some strong very, very strong likes and dislikes - that is a fact - not taking money from some sources (if money was his main need to complete MARUDH, he could have simply done a KAUN BANEGA CROREPATI kind of junk show on TV in Tamil, or better, acted in commercials! he is too hardened a professional to resort to such cheap stuff) not working with some people, if it is his home production - for Hey Ram, when he fell out with LS, he cud have easily picked up the phone and dialled ARR's number - believe me, the movie wud have done business at least for ARR's name in the north - but he went back to IR - what does that say ? - perhaps in the Indian scenario, these factors, prevent him from making money easily, unlike someone like Amitabh who stooped down to the level of associating with Amar Singh (a cheap Samajwadi Party thug) to bail him out of the ABCL mess and then doing that junk, mind-numbing KBC show, which was the biggest, glossiest fraud ever inflicted on the Indian masses since Independence !

Kamal's ultimate ambition is on the Oscars - or at least recognition at the global level - look at some of his other traits - when Sanjay Dutt's
Munnabhai MBBS was remade as Vasool Raja MBBS, he immeditely worked on MX, another comedy, penning it himself and making a statement that 'it is better than Munnabhai' -what does that tell you ? Kamal's supreme
self-esteem (some call it inflated ego) made sure that he made MX to tell people "hey look! I might have done a comedy remake, but see I can do better on my own" ! BO success or not, with MX, he has also put his name across national TV networks, websites, newspapers and of course theaters - two mangoes in one stone!

even the shoot of VV in New York must be planned in parallel with negotiations with some production house(s) in the US - this is how I see it - he wud be doing another bilingual (Hindi and Tamil) and after getting himself a big national market, go for the kill with Marud, since by then, production houses wud be convinced of his CV and also his market pull

among all this, somehow is personal life got messed up - but then, that is none of our business

PS:his training for ABHAY cost him his back, with a major surgery on his lumbar vertebrae!!

I can only give one small anecdote to justify the respect that KH commands in the industry - couple of years ago, when I had met IR at Prasad Studios, the moment KH's name was mentioned (for some reason or the other) in our discussion, IR's eyes lit up like a child's eyes would while seeing a grand spectacle in the sky!! I was taken aback - it was pure genuine, unadulterated admiration + respect - that, the greatest composer of the century this side of the Atlantic, should become starry-eyed the moment KH's name is mentioned, speaks volumes of KH's standing in the industry - for me, that is more than enough

Care a damn to hard-nosed useless critics

[tmrrmt]

OK guys - now on to some interesting and heartening feedback I received from Ms.Paula Jeanine Potocki, a renowned JAZZ artist based in New York, who listened to MX

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 08:08:53 -0400 (EDT)

Subject: Re: Mumbai Xpress from India

From:"Paula Jeanine" <info@paulajeanine.com>
Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book
To:tmrrmt@rediffmail.com

Thanks so much for the Music of Mumbai Xpress (that is the name, is that right !!?).

Richard and I have been enjoying them. Who is the pianist?

I regret that we were not able to make the connection with the maestro
to this date. We plan to return to India this December: perhaps it could
occur at that time? I know Richard is particularly interested in collaboration with the maestro.

By the way, Richard's site is www.richardmusic.com

All is well here, a fine spring morning. Best to you.

Paula
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[alwarpet_andavan]

I can only give one small anecdote to justify the respect that KH commands in the industry - couple of years ago, when I had met IR at Prasad Studios, the moment KH's name was mentioned (for some reason or the other) in our discussion, IR's eyes lit up like a child's eyes would while seeing a grand spectacle in the sky!! I was taken aback - it was pure genuine, unadulterated admiration + respect - that, the greatest composer of the century this side of the Atlantic, should become starry-eyed the moment KH's name is mentioned, speaks volumes of KH's standing in the industry - for me, that is more than enough
Care a damn to hard-nosed useless critics
You actually met IR???????? Man, i envy you!

alwarpet_andavan

[Kanna]

Prabhudas,


Crazy has penned for few non Kamal starrers but none strikes to me a good one. KH's own production "Nala damayanthi" was much big let down

I think the dialogues for that film was by Mouli himself and not Crazy

[MumbaiRamki]

tmrrmt ,

1.Superb article !

2.what does ur tmrrmt stand for ?and what do u do ?

[baroque]

tmrrmt,
fantastic article Sir, i enjoyed reading it. You actually met namba Ilayaraaja! Wow! Great! you are fortunate!
I invite you to join our Ilayaraaja Yahoo Group and share your thoughts, experiences about our Maestro with us.
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/ilaiyaraaja/
thanks. Vinatha.

[prabhudas]

Kbee,

Having said all these, I am excited very much for VV, because I am planning to see KH and the unit during their suiting in Nort East. If anyone know any info, please share with me. I am trying to find thru other channels also, but any help from friends here is really appreciated.

There are couple of things I wanted to share before that, do u know when KH and GM team will be in NY ( North East for their VV shoot)?,
I will try to get some info ( if my family friend is still in touch with Goutham Menon, I am waiting for some communication from my freind) I have small proposition, if KH is here during the week end of July 4th, I can contact NY Tamil Sangam office bearers to have a sort of small function with some sort of felicitation to KH and at the same time have an unofficially official promo for the launch of TIS in USA ( from what I see that the release may be postponed to June in India as per some posts). Now there are lot of small hurdles,

1. We have to make sure when and how long KH will be here, Tamil Sangam will be more than happy to sponsor as long as their is no money involved for KH's visit to NY and definitely it will attract more people than the actual original TIS promo held here last year because of popularity of KH.

2.The time may be short as it needs to be plannned properly

3.I don't know how willing KH will be to participate in the event ( I mean his personal attitude, there were some skepticism during IR's visit here also as many thought that IR being media shy and very firm about limiting any sort of media publicity )

4.Budding star Srikanth (April Maadhathil, Manasellam fame, a talented actor in my opinion) a sincere fan of IR is visiting USA and Canada in the coming months , we can rope him together , however, I do not have direct contacts with him but I have heard he is very easy going guy to oblige.

I am away for a visit to Bangalore from mid June to end of July, if at all if any of the above mentioned, at least the info on GM I can gather in the next few weeks I will update you, and if u are interested I will introduce to NY Tamil Sangam Vice President and we will see if this can happen.

Prabhudas

[tmrrmt]

MumbaiRamki - My name has CUPID hidden in it and also happens to be the first name of a former Indian medium fast bowler (whom Sir.Viv Richards referred to as the fastest off-spinner he has played against) - am a very very long-time TFMDFer (been visiting since 1998)

I am qualified in a field in which Louis Pasteur, Robert Koch etc were pioneers - at the moment I am training in a field which is at the interface of biology and computers -
soon likely to be either working for an agency that sees beyond this planet, or, working to create a device that will use a component co-discovered by one James Watson!

besides these, I listen to music, mostly IR (of course) and lots of creative stuff from around the world, and am a voracious reader

Have you read the book "SCARLET PIMPERNEL" - I have fashioned myself along the lines of the protagonist in that classic - you might meet me/converse with me on the roadside, but you would not know/realize that I am the one who is posted this on the TFM DF!

Most importantly I am a part of a hidden network of associates spread around the globe that silently promotes IR's music in a big way!!

[MumbaiRamki]

tmrrmt ,
Anniyan style intro thaan ponga !!!

[tmrrmt]

Hi prabhudas - were you previously in Mumbai and then Pune and then onto Australia ?

[prabhudas]

Madan,
No, I was in Bangalore now in NY

Prabhudas

[tmrrmt]

prabhudas - in which part of Bangalore are you likely to be staying when you visit in June ?

[prabhudas]

tmrrmt,
In Banashankari 1st Stage ( previously known as Bank Colony, it is after Hanumanth Nagar and near Srinagar)
Prabhudas

[tmrrmt]

Digression -

ANYONE from Bangalore interested (and training for) in the May 15th International Marathon run in Bangalore ?

let me know - maybe TFMDFers can meet up and run in a group -

[mythila]

Very good analysis by e.Hari. I have also wondered about Kamal's fixation for car chases
IMO, the comedy standard of MEx is far superior when compared to Avvai Shanmugi. Many scenes of Avvai were "mugam suLikka vaikkira" type . Now Kamal should take the high road of giving decent comedy flicks like MEx, play his age if at all he continues to act, improve and work more on the characterization of heroines instead of just showing them as props, completely do away with intimate scenes with the heroines. Kamal should remember such scenes do not reflect our cultural ethos and hence will not go down well with the mass.

[rooky]

The movie is doing quite well.

Sify for all its bias on Rajni,said ME "slipping" for the second weekend, then had to rollback its words;said "surprise comback" for third weekend and says "Has bounced back" for the last weekend.This is just an indication about how MEs' collections made them eat their words.

http://sify.com/movies/tamil/fullstory.php?id=13738468

In bangalore,CM and ME were released in close to 10 theatres and now Cm is running in 4 and ME in 2 theatres.we can't expect them to do business for more than 4 weeks in bangalore.

[alwarpet_andavan]

Kamal should remember such scenes do not reflect our cultural ethos and hence will not go down well with the mass.
mythila,
Just to name one, have you read "Kumarasambhava" written by Kalidasa (please pardon me if i'm wrong)? It will show what our "cultural ethos" was all about. Of all the persons, i'm talkin about Shiva and Parvati!

alwarpet_andavan

[thumburu]

Bangaloreans, please write which theatres will show Mumbai Express Tamil version this weekend. Last weekend, tickets were not available at PVR multiplex. I desperately want to watch it. Thanks.

[jaiganes]

DIGRESSION:
tmrmmt/madhan,
I have opened a separate thread on Bangalore Marathon in miscellaneous section. We can discus this on that thread and coordinate, if we are running in a group.
END - DIGRESSION:

Kamal has at last tied up with Jaya TV to launch a prize contest for viewers of MEX. there is gonna be 1000 persons chosen and a special train to chennai from Kanyakumari. Anyone knows more on the contest?

[mythila]

AlwarpetAndavan, yedhukku paavam kaalidasaiyum ,
thiruvaLLuvaraiyum drag pannanum?
Sex is definitely not an anathema provided it is portrayed in an aesthetic, deft manner.
But I can vouch for our Tamil film makers TODAY and sadly that
includes Kamal too that they just cannot hamdle sex
[courtesy Boys, New to name a few. Why?
Kamal's AaLavandhaan,Heyram had few unwarranted scenes
which were bordering on crudity. Even some of the 70's films like Marupiravi(dealing with oedipus complex),
Arangetram, Sila NerangalilSilaManidhargal,
AvalAppadithaan were refreshingly mature and sensitive.
If at all Kamal insists on depicting sex,
he can take cue from his worthy predecessors

[alwarpet_andavan]

AlwarpetAndavan, yedhukku paavam kaalidasaiyum ,thiruvaLLuvaraiyum drag pannanum?
Sex is definitely not an anathema provided it is portrayed in an aesthetic, deft manner.
But I can vouch for our Tamil film makers TODAY and sadly that
includes Kamal too that they just cannot hamdle sex
[courtesy Boys, New to name a few. Why?
Kamal's AaLavandhaan,Heyram had few unwarranted scenes
which were bordering on crudity. Even some of the 70's films like Marupiravi(dealing with oedipus complex),
Arangetram, Sila NerangalilSilaManidhargal,
AvalAppadithaan were refreshingly mature and sensitive.
If at all Kamal insists on depicting sex,
he can take cue from his worthy predecessors
I agree with you regarding TFM using sex to sell their movies and doing it in a crude form, though what is crude for you/me may not be so for someone else. Also, the reason i mentioned Kalidasa was not to degrade him or his works but to elicit the point that love scenes are very much part of the Indian ethos. And DR showing it in his films may be considered crude by some, but it is incorrect to say it is not part of our cultural ethos. Bigamy existed in our culture - Murugan with Valli and Deivanai. As is very often quoted (sometime inappropriately, IMO) ours is the land of the famous KS.
It is a different issue if the love scenes in DR's movies are speed-breakers, but i felt some scenes where vital to the script, especially Hey Ram.
I would say the movies/serials showing women as pawns or mere objects of sexual liberation in the name of making "bold" movies, movies endorsing/condoning dowries are more sexually retrograde. Not to mention the vulgar dialogues, gyrations and dance steps escaping the selective and bureaucratic scissors of our esteemed censor board!
I'm sure you'll agree with me at least on the last two points.


alwarpet_andavan

[rooky]

Thumburu,

ME is running 4shows at SAVITHA,Sampige Road Malleshwaram Bangalore 560003.Phone: 23444135 apart from PVR

[kiru]

..that love scenes are very much part of the Indian ethos. And DR showing it in his films may be considered crude by some, but it is incorrect to say it is not part of our cultural ethos. Bigamy existed in our culture - Murugan with Valli and Deivanai. As is very often quoted (sometime inappropriately, IMO) ours is the land of the famous KS.

alwarpet_andavan

Oh Come on Man..dont lose the context which mythila gave..avvai shanmugi was crude and vulgar if not voyeuristic..older men ogling at older woman. Mrs. Doubtfire was wholesome, trust our guys to mess things up further. Atleast mythila was polite about KH, my wife uses a uncomplimentary moniker for KH ..(starts with p in tamil :-( , ofcourse only in private conversations).
I am with mythila when she says, that Kamal should do away with intimate scenes. The presence of these scenes is not crucial to the flow of story in an indian film. Hollywood uses them to show the depth of relationship between mostly unmarried people (sex as an indicator of the strenght of relationship - now you know where the white guys are making a mistake). In the Indian context, atleast theoretically physical relationship does not exist outside marriage and when married, it is very easy for the audience to understand the loss/death of the spouse as drastic. It is really sad, even Mani Ratnam has to resort to these sort of cliches (in k. muthamittal).
Kamal's onscreen antics with his heroines are down right silly and peurile. No wonder he never became a super star like Rajni. Mind you, he has good acting and directorial skills and I admire him for it. But the man has a weakness for things like this (like Clinton) and it is getting worse as he loses more hair and control over his waistline.
There can be no excuses for this onscreen behavior of Kamal.

[njv]

avvai shanmugi was crude and vulgar if not voyeuristic....
my wife uses a uncomplimentary moniker for KH ..(starts with p in tamil :-
hmm... kiru kiru kiru kiru ena kirangara kiru kiru kiru kiru ena kirukkura

[tmrrmt]

kiru & mythila: interesting inputs on KH's onscreen leelaigal! what surprises me is, despite the apparent puerile nature of such sequences, none of the costars, who have been a part of KH's movies have ever gone public and complained about KH or his insistence in having such scenes/sequences!! isn't that intriguing ?

in Hey Ram, only the scenes involving Rani Mukherjee were over the top - the ones with Vasundhara were justified, for the simple reason that Saketh Ram is overcome by lust only in an inebriated condition and loses his sense of discretion - until that point of time, he is an unwilling partner in his second marriage thrust upon him by his family - besides, the entire drinking, making merry after getting drunk was a part and parcel of the ethos of the members of the earliest version of a certain group whose name starts with 'R' - this is substantiated by certain passages in the book 'Freedom at Midnight' - KH has nicely brought in this element in the character of Saketh Ram and his indulgence in booze and(followed by) lust!

in this context, MX comes as a sea-change, since the vulgarity element is almost non-existent - but alas, a movie without vulgar comedy has been described by many scribes as outright silly!! bizarre indeed

there is a saying in Tamil, the English translation of which is "Above the age of forty, it is the dog's brain that functions in a man" (Naarpadhu vayasukku mela naai buddhi!)

[thumburu]

rooky, thanks for your valuable input :)

[thumburu]

despite the apparent puerile nature of such sequences,
none of the costars, who have been a part of KH's movies
have ever gone public and complained about KH or his
insistence in having such scenes/sequences!! isn't that intriguing ?
- Not for us audience or the heroines who have been subjected to severe (wo)man handling by our manbumigu late Puratchi Thalaivar.
Kamal, being our sole hope for the redemption of Tamil cinema , all these "aadhangams" are directed at Kamal and not at some juveniles like Dhanush or that boys hero
(whatever is his name)

[multinamatheyan]

>older men ogling at older woman. Mrs. Doubtfire was >wholesome,

Really? How about the scenes where the bald headed producer falls for the older Mrs. D. And how about the scene where the old bus driver eyes Mrs. D, and Mrs. D shows him 'her' hairy leg?

Vellaikaarn snencha athu thappaa irukaathu ilayaa?

>Hollywood uses them to show the depth of relationship >between mostly unmarried people

Not always true.

>In the Indian context, atleast theoretically physical >relationship does not exist outside marriage and when >married,

Theoretically is correct. The world does not become dark becase the cat closes it's eyes.

>No wonder he never became a super star like Rajni.

Becoming a Super Star like Rajni has nothing to do with his on screen antics. It has to do with catering to the masses.

Mahendran and Balu Mahendra never became as succesful as KS Ravikumar.

Today, Dheena's songs become super hits, while IR songs are cherished by very few.

You know this. But, I guess your eagerness to prove your point blinded you.

I am not defending everything Kamal does on screen. I am only pointing out the holes in your argument.

Thumburu,

kaikira maraththukku thaan kal eri.

[njv]

Its just that Kamal is bold and he doesnt hide anything. He has not done anything what KB, BR, BM or any other did. Its all well known what "Purathci Thalaivar" and "Nadigar Thilagam" did. Finding a purity in movie industry is very difficult, with few exceptions (like TR, IR). In one of interview, Kamal himself told that its very difficult to act in romantic scenes and he has to use two or three under garments to control himself.

On top of that we all know what SS did. There are rumours that I read in this forum itself that he is still indulging (I doubt because he is too old now and couldnt even give a dance step, so it would be hard for him, except he can do what Clinton did)

Having said all these, Kamal has to avoid these type of scenes because girls who used to like (and love) Kamal, once married start using the "P" word, just to save themselves from husbands and to save their daughter the feeling that they had while watching these scenes.

[vijayr]

"kiru & mythila: interesting inputs on KH's onscreen leelaigal! what surprises me is, despite the apparent puerile nature of such sequences, none of the costars, who have been a part of KH's movies have ever gone public and complained about KH or his insistence in having such scenes/sequences!! isn't that intriguing"

If they did then they probably wouldnt be in business. But some like Roja(sour grapes for her I think) did say that she didnt want to do a film with KH because of the mandatory lip-to-lip. Or Kamal manages to "convince" them that it is necessary for the film. I think having those scenes is Kamal's way of catering to his front bench fans. In an otherwise poignant scene in Mahanadhi, that sudden lip-to-lip kiss seemed forcefully inserted. I dont buy all these land of Kamasutra(isnt that Kamal's line of defense BTW?) and our elders did it and all these arguments. Doesnt justify fully Kamal inserting such scenes in a blunt manner in films where they arent vital to the screenplay in any way. He can take a movie on extra-marital relationships or about even sex and have all the scenes he wants. It would'nt feel out of place. Its just that Kamal cannot make a movie keeping B and C center audiences in mind and suddenly include "scenes" that would befit a Hollywood movie in order to keep his front benchers happy.

BTW, Kamal not becoming a superstar doesnt have to do anything with these kind of scenes. MGR was a superstar and avar paNNaadhadhu edhuvum Kamal paNNidala :-) Rajni in NetrikaNN? He is still being praised for that role:-)

"Vellaikaarn snencha athu thappaa irukaathu ilayaa? "

irukkaadhu, because of our cultural mindset and how we perceive white people. Because of how their films have always been and because of the audience they make those films for.

This is a somewhat subjective topic.

[vijayr]

" In one of interview, Kamal himself told that its very difficult to act in romantic scenes and he has to use two or three under garments to control himself. "

did he really say that? When? :-)

[njv]

It was probably few years before I read in one of tamil weekly. appellam internettum kidayathu oru mannu kidaiyadhu

[Kanna]

Vijayr,



Kamal paNNidala Rajni in NetrikaNN? He is still being praised for that role:-)


Who said??????? I can show you thousands of females who hated him for that role!! My family members don't like that film at all

[multinamatheyan]

njv,

I don't think we should drag the personal lives of SG, SS, MGR into this.

The arument is about what Kamal does on screen. Not what he does or does not do in his bedroom.

Vijayr,

You are right. This is a highly subjective matter.

[e_hari]

Can some one please enlighten me?. Who is SS?.

[app_engine]

hari, the first S is Super:-)

[kavin]

wondered when people were going to pounce on the bait. it took about 24 hrs after mythila's post and its heading i don't know where.

There are many ways that one can analyse this and draw conclusions or react strongly.

1. the integrity of an actor is not absolutely irrelevant. intimate scenes are necessary, but the audience can see through an actor who misuses his position as an actor.

2) Considering his personal life and disasters in marriages, does the onscreen 'leelaigals' escape adverse attention. his personal life can only be an indication of his real character

3) Does he believe that he has this self appointed role of liberating the tamil populace of their sexual repression? if so is this the kind of sexual role model our youngsters need?

4) Is he exploiting the young actresses who are desperate for attention, in other words an on-screen form of 'c' couch? kamal pretends to be 'arty' when actually he creates situations which require such scenes.

5) the audience once upon a time appreciated his antics and probably liked to identify with him, but that audience has grown up and matured and expect him to grow up as well. It is this group who are responding to him with growing distate which I think he needs to be aware and redefine himself.

these are my five pence on this topic

[app_engine]

One post talked about Kamal restraining from unwanted scenes of intimacy in films with reputed directors...it is totally untrue...the simplest example is the `silukku' scences of moondRam piRai...an otherwise classical movie spoilt by the unwanted scenes:-( Fast Forward key is a blessing when you watch such movies with family...

mukkal munagal took off in a big way in sakala kala vallavan, a Kamal starrer, another bad influence in TF...

a reasonably decent film, thenAli, with excellent ilankai thamizh, became intolerably irritable with those devayAni scenes (suspecting husband'Oda imaginationAm...kuppai)

It's understandable if sigappu rOjAkkaL had sex/violence, because it was meant for a specific audience who goes to see thrillers and obviously won't view with children...but why should he insert such kuppai in `family-entertainers' like moondRam piRai or thenAli?

Kamal is mentally sick when it comes to the picturisation of `intimacy'...too much of emphasis on flesh:-(

[app_engine]

India is poised to top in HIV charts of the world and it's almost certain that TN will be among the top five states within the country:-(
Dirty influence by MGR-Kamal-Rajini-kumudam etc...

[app_engine]

Add sivaji to that list, I recently took the vasantha mALigai DVD with great expectations...kuppai with so much emphasis on flesh again...spoilers of culture in TN...

[genesis]

Kamal is mentally sick when it comes to the picturisation of `intimacy'...too much of emphasis on flesh:-(
And Violence.

[njv]

We need some good oil to run app_engine smoothly

[njv]

`silukku' scences of moondRam piRai
blame balu mahendra not KH


`mukkal munagal took off in a big way in sakala kala vallavan, a Kamal starrer
blame IR not Kamal


a reasonably decent film, thenAli, with excellent ilankai thamizh
I didnt know that


Kamal is mentally sick when it comes to the picturisation of `intimacy'...too much of emphasis on flesh:-(
Kamal is mentall sick and the rest doesnt have brain at all :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[multinamatheyan]

Point 1:

Kavin said "Does he believe that he has this self appointed role of liberating the tamil populace of their sexual repression"

App Engine said "spoilers of culture in TN..."

I say "Does App Engine think he is the protector of TN culture" ?

ithu eppadi irukku?!


Point 2:

"audience has grown up and matured"

Kavin, the whole point is the opposite of what you said -
the audience, evidently, have gorwn more conservative with old age - because they don't want their teenaged daughter to do what they did when they were teenagers - you catch my drift?

The audience has also grown senile with old age. How else do you explain, someone blaming India's HIV crisis on Kamal?

I wonder what the Africans would blame it on! The damn monkeys making out in public??

If people become bad by watching Kamal movies, how come there is no record of people becoming good by watching MGR movies or Rajni movies? After all, as someone pointed out earlier they are Super Stars and Kamal could never be one.

Blaming Kamal for scenes in his early movies like Sakalakala Vallavan is really stretching it. What next, blame Kamal for promoting pre-marital sex in Kalaththoor Kannamma?

Come on guys. Grow up!!

[vijayr]

"it is totally untrue...the simplest example is the `silukku' scences of moondRam piRai...an otherwise classical movie spoilt by the unwanted scenes:-("

app engine, Balu Mahendra has to take the blame for it, not Kamal. He followed it up with "NeengaL kettavai"(probably meaning this is what the audience of the 80s wants - in frustration) - a silk smitha special. But probably BM himself was forced to compromise by the producers/distributors at that time(?). He has conveyed his mixed feelings on this sometime back. Moondram Pirai, of course, was a flop.

As for Kamal's other 80s masala movies like Sakalakalaavallavan, andha oru nimidam, Kaaki chattai etc. which had all those scenes, how much of it was Kamal's intent is just speculative. Sometimes, on screen, it does look as though he enjoys it really. (Hardcore Kamal fans may say thats because he is a really involved actor :-))

But as for spoiling culture etc. lets talk about bad megaserials, midnight masalas, some Satell. TV shows,,really bad vulgar movies of the 80s/90s etc. before we even come to Kamal. To me, that side of Kamal is just a minor gripe when compared to what he has contributed to Tamil cinema. But there are others, like say KS Ravikumar(in films where he himself acted as hero), SA Chandrasekhar, SP Muthuraman and several others in the 80s, who didnt contribute anything except vulgarity. They are the bigger culprits.

[prabhudas]

This thread is really becoming too cool now..I agree totally with Vijay and App engine... this is extremely subjective mostly reflecting individual opinion based on their own upbringing, background cultural integrity, openmindedness, readiness to accept or integrate with changes in culture etc etc..

MNT,
We can go on and on back and forth forever ( we , because I agree with your responses 100%), IMHO, taking cinema medium seriously to influence one's own ideology, principles, behaviours, virtues etc... etc.. is far fetched and too much, common guys, it is a entertainment media created by us which is constantly progressing over the years in different aspects, yesterdays dramas....then to W/B movies to Colorful outdoor locations, the dushyum dishyum, the graphics kalakkal ( as the SUN TV likes to call) to the DTS, digital effects to probably many more to come.

I think till we have some sort of conceptualisation of the different genre of the movies ( like the hollywood) catering to different taste we will have to either tolerate or ignore the inappropriate, excess, unwanted , irrelevant, movie spoiling cheap ( both sexual and non sexual oriented) scenes. And depending on the tastes and acceptance different scenes in the same movie sometimes may be of different appeal to different audience.
Just an ex.
The comedy scenes in SS's CM, is total crass merely because these kind of jokes ( double meaning) has been beaten to death from Bagyaraj to Pandiaraj to parthiban to the lowest class comedian and some think they didn't like because they didn't expect this kind of comdey from SS ( I don't know what they mean not expecting this from SS , in otherwords they are Ok if some other actor does the same , adhuve avaru 45 second air le kaal thooki 360 degree round adichaaruna they can accept that, but not from any other "sullan") any way I am going off topic now I think..

I don't justify kamal's kissing scenes , it looks like he has some kind of obsession with those situations at a subconscious level and unfortunately fails miserably in aptly using them in an appropriate manner in movies that would really warrant, one such movie would have been " Guna" where he is obsessed about Abhirami all along
and even in a mentally deranged person the sexual instincts are always there (except when they are on medications for therapy, sad thing, I mean the side effects) and probably "devar Magan" with Panchvarnam to forget his past relationship with Banu yet Bahrathan, Kamal combo came out neat with "Injiiduppazhaga" song, thanks to IR.

If anybody is interested watch a kannda movie by name " kaadina benki" by a talented actor/director Suresh Hebliker, a fantastic movie about Oedipus complex in the hero affecting him so badly that even in bed with his wife he has the obsession about his mother failing in his sexual relationship and to outgrow which he becomes a voyuer himself , just a jist, but very well narrated without any obscenity despite the sexual content depiction.

I perceive cinema and related media as a relief mode in my routine daily life just to sit and relax if they are of my interest ( and my interests are not very rigid and keep changing just to see what is different or innvative or creative, many of them may be creative yet boring some may be interesting but sickening etc..) I am not a teenager yet movies like " american Pie" sometimes I watch and enjoy as a time pass casually ( with my wife not with the kids ofcourse), at the same time when I had to watch "boys" Shankar's movie ( before the movie review) with a group of 14 family members in a theatre in Bangalore with my teenage neices and nephews I could see my wife and few others kind of "nelinjing" with some sort of embarrassment (again because of the way we have been brought up)
see another reason in Hollywood is the strong and effective movie making specifically catering to KIDs and lots of times interesting to adults also ( Lion King being one of the best IMHO) and it is this part of Cinema ( movies specially for children) which none of the Indian movie makers are really either even think or plan to make and the result is a final product with mixed ingradients presented as wholesome entertainment crap.... :banghead:

I feel many times the so called "sexual scenes" if used as needed and in a proper sense they are way better than the umpteen number of Rajini movies belittling the women characters ( the villain natured) to the lowest possible way ( pombale nna adhu pannanum ithe pudunganum kind of nonsense dialogue..) I just can't imagine :roll: how the so called fans tolerated and continue to tolerate such kind of outrageous acts and portrayal about woman, now I am not taking cinema too seriously but these kind just do not give me a refreshment or relaxation hence I try to avoid them

now coming to Kamal's comedies, how many of us will be willing to see a Kamal making a " Budget Padmanathan", " kandha kadamaba..) and many of those vivek, pandiyarajan,vadivel kind of movies, I must be joking right, ( I can only think of Maharasan as the only movie, despite kamal doing his job 100% perfect with his typical cheri vaasi) yet there is constant churning out of those kind of low class comedies by many , some of them even making money all because of the patronage by people and it is very hard to educate an uneducated to ask them avoid patronising such movies especially when even educated think in the lines of " Kamal as one of the spoilers of culture in TN"
:rotfl: :rotfl:
Now MX could have been way way better despite being one of best by kamal, if
1.The second half had better script
2.Crazy was part of the team , I meant Kamal-crazy both writing the dialogues, otherwise we would have missed a Kamal as a comdey writer

The last best clean comedy I can remember in Indian cinema is Kundan Shah's "jaane bhi do yaaro", an outrageously hilarious movie made more than 2 decades ago with Naseeruddin Sha and the other Ajit Vachani, even Kundan Sha couldn't come out once again with such great comedy, If MX is not as close to this movie definitely a good movie

It is really outrageous quoting HIV crisis relating to Kamal and other media people, there is always a cheaper availble medium available all the time ( MTV etc...) if they really think it is media which causes this, it is total absurd... think of other probably more sensible and true reasons guys ( Poverty, illitracy, human exploitation , both male and female) there is crisis in our thinking which probably needs more immediate attention

MNt,
point 2 is very much appropriate......
a more better example probably more meaningful and thoughtful influence of media ( and this is scientific fact, as published by WHO funded project) is the smoking on screen in movies by movie stars influencing teenagers ( the highest risk category to develop habitual smoking) was not by anyone else but by Indian actors and that too SS raced way ahead of many followed by King Khan, a disgrace indeed and attrocious
I am damn sure if Indian Government allows Tobacco industry to advertise in TV media with super heroes like sachin, Dravid, Shewag as models, the statistics will skyrocket with out any question, for the enormous fan following they have.

Prabhudas

[prabhudas]

Another dig..
I watched" april maadhathil" movie just recently on DVd, there is this hero who is shown constantly smoking ( srikanth), and at one instance the director's creative genious (not totally sarcastic) comes out with this explaination with the heroine why he only smoked but never drank beer, "because I always enjoyed watching my father with a cigaratte in his hand with a style sitting in fron of the galla petti in my father's Biriyani stall, and I always wanted to become like him when I grew up and eventually it became a habit", there may be some element in it a sort of role model opportunity, but u see how these cinema guys can create illusion even in the way they justify few things.. it was a Ok movie in any case with some nice songs and some nostalgic moments of college life

prabhudas

[tmrrmt]

the credit for bringing in virasam/vulgarity in Indian cinema should go to ex-doyens like Raj Kapoor, MGR etc

In KH's case, honestly speaking, except for a few unwarranted insertions of sequences, most of his onscreen dalliances are reasonably acceptable, since his movies have other note-
worthy, interesting elements

As for SS's comedies - give me a big break! his comedies are meant to cater to people with primitive intelligence - pardon me for saying so - am yet to see subtlety in SS's humor, the exception being 'Thillu mullu' (remember the immortal scenes involving Thengai Srinivasan and SS!) and that was becos KB was at the helms, and we saw SS not acting as SS, but as KB's sincere student!

The acceptance of the banal, derogatory remarks/ dialogues/ themes of SS movies directed against the opposite sex is mainly due to the patriarchal system of our society, in which even today, many sections feel comfortable with the male dominating the scenario (unfortunately, in this same society, at the other end of the spectrum, neo-feminist liberals, repeatedly miss the woods for the forest, by going to ridiculous extremes of asking for reservation for women in Parliamentary seats!)

But IMO, SS's days of throwing silly tantrums such as referring to women as men's slaves are over- perhaps his career too - one cannot underestimate people's sense of logic and intelligence forever - at least that will give a breather for youngsters with fresh ideas in the film industry

So far as KH keeps thinking fresh and comes up with clean comedies, and intelligently aesthetically crafted serious cinema, he will survive

[njv]

But there are others, like say KS Ravikumar(in films where he himself acted as hero), SA Chandrasekhar, SP Muthuraman and several others in the 80s, who didnt contribute anything except vulgarity. They are the bigger culprits.

Vijayr sir correcta sonneenga. SA Chandrasekahr is a "rape specialist". In all his movie, the story revolves around a rape scene, this includes his latest Sukran. His son Vijay now is spoiling hte industry now (following Rajni's footstep). As long as these kinda ppl rule tamil industry, tamil movies wont reach even canes film festival.

[njv]

tam yet to see subtlety in SS's humor, the exception being 'Thillu mullu' (remember the immortal scenes involving Thengai Srinivasan and SS!) and that was becos KB was at the helms

Nothing like that. Thillu Mullu was a well made copy from Golmaal hindi movie and the original hindi humor was carried over. I have yet to see a true (original) comedy by SS / KB. Even some of Nagesh comedy movie by KB had Chaplin influence, but neverthless they are gem, purely because of Nagesh.

SS's only comedy I can think of starting from his "childhood" until CM is the "Paaambu" comedy. I dont know in how many movie SS will ride on the snake. Compared to these idiotic comedy (tmrrmt you nicely put it, but I can do that), even the worst movie of KH (many of you might think Aalavandhan as worst movie, but there was a movie Maharajan or something starring KH and Banupriya, the worst movie if KH I saw) had better comedy

In comedian's term
SS comedy = Vadivelu comedy
KH comedy = Vivek comedy

you decide

[tmrrmt]

Digression:

GUYS!! I clocked 2 hrs and 13 minutes in the Half-Marathon Category (22 Kms distance) in the Bangalore Lipton International Marathon, held yesterday, the 15th May, 2005, Bangalore

Compared to the topper (1hr and 5 min, appx), this was nothing great, but given that I started training only from April 10, 2005 (came to know of the marathon only then!), I feel elated!

THe sheer joy of running and completing the distance and to be cheered and welcomed at the end by a crowd of 8000 plus has no equals!!

Next time around, it will be the New York/Boston/London full marathon for me - all set and preparations underway

It was an awesome inspiration and a humbling experience to see our army jawans/hawaldars/servicemen coming topper in the first 20 in each category - Hats off to our army guys - one should be there to see these guys run off their hearts in relatively hot conditions in Bangalore, on tar roads, with bizarre uphill portions most of the way (Windsor Manor, Mekhri circle, Hebbal flyover, to name a few)

It was an overall terrific experience and I personally request every TFMDFer to run/participate in marathons

at the end, for my part, I managed to spread/create some awareness about IR and TiS to several of my co-participants/runners! my little bit

[tmrrmt]

Some more Digression (in continuation of the above)

when I felt like giving up, I tried the 'auto-suggestion' mechanism of focussing my mind on something other than running - I chose music and that too IR's classic from the 80s and played them in my head and wow! it worked great and I completed the distance - of course, the pain came much later in the evening

[Cinefan]

Wow,I go out on a week's vacation&the entire tone of this thread has changed :) .It nice to know that there has been a healthy discussion going on.I also missed an opportunity to run in yesterday's marathon&meet some of the hubbers esp tmrrmt. :D

I think I will have to spend my time at the hub today catching up rather than posting.

[krish244]

tmrrmt, CONGRATS to you on completing the Half Marathon category! Its indeed a great achievement! WISH YOU ALL THE VERY BEST for the next one! BTW, one song that came to my mind instantly (with respect to jogging) is the all time classic PARUVAME PUDHIYA PAADAL (Mohan, Suhasini). Interludes will rejunevate all your cells :-)

thanks

Krishnan

[thumburu]

Congrats to madhan on his marathon feat. I might have hummed the IR song "poonkaatrile" from "paatu paadava" movie. My!!! such a wonderful rare gem of a song.
I boarded the "Mumbai Express" this weekend at PVR and this time I was all ears to savour the rerecording and IR did not disappoint me even one bit. Few remarked that there was no bgm at all. But I say it is all pervading seamlessly through out the movie. The tempo, and the tonal variations Raja gives to the "kurangu kaiyil maalai" theme song at various places in the movie is just brilliant and something which Raja alone is doing till date. Few scenes with exceptional bgm include the car accident chaos scene, crane (as mentioned by many), mumbai express train chase , kamal's byke chase scene( sadly the wonderful music here is drowned by the byke screeching sound. Well done Kamal-IR. Keep up the good work.

[MumbaiRamki]

Thumburu ,
let me compile the scenes where there was an excellent BGM ..

1.The scene wehere Kamal explains to teh Traffic Police that Pasupathi is a deaf ..etc

2.Kamal's intro scene in Bike

3.Crane scene

4.The scene where Kamal and Manisha run behind Dattu when he attempts sucide

5.The scene where Pasupathi hits Kamal with a club .

6.Scene where Kamal explains hi slove to Manisha in the night with Dattu's support .

7.Mumbai Xpress Train Chase

8.Bike Race Scene

9.The initial scene where pasupathi ,vyapuri ,...sorry A & B discuss the plan

Also ,if u obeserve

1.No character blantantly shows soem expression ,which would suggest this is a comedy scene - The acting is downplayed by all characters .

2.BGM does not that 'twee...' twiwwing ' kind of sounds which u will see inc omedy films ...

[alwarpet_andavan]

Wow,I go out on a week's vacation&the entire tone of this thread has changed :) .It nice to know that there has been a healthy discussion going on.I also missed an oppurtunity to run in yesterday's marathon&meet of the hubbers esp tmrrmt. :D

I think I will have to spend my time at the hub today catching up rather than posting.
Cinefan,
Ada amappa!
And congrats to tmrrmt!

alwarpet_andavan

[alwarpet_andavan]

In an otherwise poignant scene in Mahanadhi, that sudden lip-to-lip kiss seemed forcefully inserted. I dont buy all these land of Kamasutra(isnt that Kamal's line of defense BTW?) and our elders did it and all these arguments. Doesnt justify fully Kamal inserting such scenes in a blunt manner in films where they arent vital to the screenplay in any way. He can take a movie on extra-marital relationships or about even sex and have all the scenes he wants.
Vijayr,
Neenda natkalukku piragu sandhikkirom. No hard feelings from my side :)
I felt the same way about that scene in Mahanadhi. However, i wouldn't say all of DR's love scenes are unwanted. And as you've said, it's a subjective topic and what might be a wanted or even essential scene to me or tmrrmt (Hey Ram, for e.g) might be totally uncalled for to others. The point i'd made in my reply to mythila was, whether the scenes are necessary or not, Dr is certainly not "spoiling" Indian Culture or Thamizhar Panbaadu. As was mentioned very correctly in some posts here, mega-serials, SS dialogues along patriarchal lines, cheap "budget" comedies etc are the more to be blamed.

alwarpet_andavan

[satish]

Folks,

Was the Mumbai Express CD released? I only find the tape everywhere. I don't find the CD even in Landmark, Chennai..

Thanks.

[alwarpet_andavan]

Folks,
Was the Mumbai Express CD released? I only find the tape everywhere. I don't find the CD even in Landmark, Chennai..
Thanks.
Heard the CD is released for the Hindi version

alwarpet_andavan

[kiru]

First, let me congratulate all those who ran the marathon. I also liked that IR's music has been a source of inspiration and that there was opportunity to spread awareness about TIS. This is great. Hats off to you guys.
Coming back to the topic of Kamal's intimacy scenes in the movies. I think most of us here including mythila who initiated this point, do respect Kamal for his acting and directorial abilities. These so-called scenes seem to be precluding people from watching the movie as a family together. Prabhudas mentioned about the need to evolve genres like in Hollywood. Why not Kamal take the lead in this and produce good, wholesome artsy movies without these scenes ? Leave these scenes, probably required by market conditions to the less talented, who need crutches like this (which many of us here avoid like a plague).
For Hey Ram, I think, Vasundhara Das, was booked only after accepting to these scenes. She said, she decided to take the deal because it will give her a break in the movies. I am not sure whether this falls into the category of exploitation but you guys decide. Kamal, always, had this , kadhal ilavarasan' image. But it is going into the territory of 'kAmam' and that too when many of the heroines are probably not much older than his daughter.
Many may not agree, it is these kind of antics on-screen that are one of the factors for mass-acceptance of an actor. I remember reading an article what kind of things makes a superstar in the indian milieu. I think one of these things is, you really dont want to be indulging too much in acts like this.
I do know that 'glamor' and 'covert sexuality' has been part and parcel of the indian film history. But the dangerous trend is, this 'covert sexuality' is becoming too overt. The distinction between heroines and 'bad girls' (like silk smitha) is getting more and more vague as the heroines are doing all the dancing in skimpy clothes routines which was the job of the 'bad girls' earlier. This sets a bad role model for young women. I think this is probably more serious than the allegations on Kamal, but that does not mean Kamal's actions cannot be criticised.