Sharing Thoughts on Uthiri Pookkal

[P_R]

thamizharasan, Satyajit Rayar thiriyila unga karuthukaLai therivinga. aaL illaama tea aathittu irukkOm.

[tamizharasan]

thamizharasan, Satyajit Rayar thiriyila unga karuthukaLai therivinga. aaL illaama tea aathittu irukkOm.

I will.AarambichchathaE naan thaane andha thiriya. It has been a while since I saw his movies but will definitely write there.

[kid-glove]

Kid, en kaNakku tally AgudhE. Adhai nInga apdi dismissiveA odhukkittIngaLE - ada mavarasa ungaLukku andha urimai irukku but adhukku badhil sonnadhukku kOvichukittu pOvadhu nyaayamA? NamakuLLa ennangaren?

Never. Just tired.

I didn't want to say 'oru korvaiya varrudhu', coz if it does, I still have to question why a wise man like Sarath when asking for her hand cites 'thala nimuradha ponnu'. And she would be hiding behind the curtains. Makes feeble, careful attempts to catch a glimpse of him. She seems submissive, as against her sister. She couldn't help but be just that, a compliant daughter/wife/mother. And Sarath is educated & treats his wife with respect, but still the dialogue with Charuhaasan is as if he longs for that type (then what does that say about Vijayan?).

When the kid gets 'pox', V seems callous in his words. He still sends word to Sarath (though he also tries to rip money off it) He actually cares & has genuine affection for his children.

And of course, the lines in climax.

Such inconsistencies made it problematic to attach special significance / nuance(s) to conversations/words. But to go by what they are & what they do (and not always what they 'say'). And I don't think Mahendran is one for dialogues. I feel dialogues are riddled with missteps.

[app_engine]

app_e, thoo thu was this year. UP was onsapanatayaum.

please innOru vAtti parunga

Not that both these movies are directly related but I'm stating from a personal experience and you may like it better. (It's possible you still not get impressed).

If I had watched that Mohanlal movie at my first week of life at Palakkad, I would have dismissed it outright. Actually I was so bored, could not sit thru in theater etc in 'panchAgni' - which got released within a few months of me starting Palakkadan life - but won't hesitate placing that in the "classic list" now. Actually, the picturization of 'sAgarangaLE' alone can give a "run for the money" for tons of songs hailed as classics in TF.

udhirippookkaL - despite the embarassing 'appAvOda kalyANam pAru' song, is the equivalent of any great MF that I've watched. sans any star, hardly any dramatism, hardly any TF grammar, it became a hit in TN I didn't have an opportunity those days to watch nevertheless the recent internet watch had me so impressed, cry at portions etc.

There are movies that "cater to the taste / existing aesthetic senses etc etc " of audience and become successes (ofcourse not dismissing the difficulty in making them). Both N & DM are of that category.

Then there are movies that do not target any and still become success. thoovAnam, avaL app... & UP belong there. All IMHO and I'm no connoisseur of movie watching.

[Plum]

Kid, as we are discussing last two days in hub, youthnAlE wisdom konjam kammi dhaane? . When Sarath asks for Ashwini's hand, avaru youthunga.(Although he looks like a 35 plus mudhir iLaignan in the scene). You can't take into account his wisdom as a fully settled package. As for thala nimiraadha ponnu trying to catch glimpses of suitor, ennanga kid, idhellaam naan sollaNumA? Miga iyalbaana oNNunga. You luv marriage plan or arranged? If it is latter, ungalukku idhellaam inconsistency illainu puriya neraiya vaaippirukku . And consistency of words is very difficult to achieve in Life Kid. Inge hublEyE consistency maindain paNdradhu evLO kashtam theriumA? I felt that the climax lines - more than being an inconsistency - just reflects what can haapen in the mind of a person when he suddenly loses his power and everything. I think it is possible that wisdom dawns at that moment. And ofcourse he loves his kids, captured brilliantly in the sequence where he finds them sitting hungry by the roadside, gets angry and confronts his second wife, and is thawed completely in a sequence of come-downs from him. That is why the final dialogue to the kids strikes hard. You melt precisely because the kids, having lost the mother, lose the father just when he actually has realised his follies and would probably make a big difference to them. And ironically, if not for his impending fate, he would not have a clear mind that makes it so at that point. I find it quite a digestible logic but logic is the least concern there anyway. Ningallaam kannaalam kattikittu kozhandha kutti pethu valarkara timela paarthuttu opinion sollungangaren

[P_R]

pAkkaama pEsakkoodaadhunnu sollittu pEsikkittE irukkEn...

But let me just say, k-g's problems remind me of exactly the kind of problems I had with the movie.

[Plum]

Ungaladhu schoolla P-R. I'll tell you a tale from my post graduation last year. Kurudhupunal. We had this telugu guy in the class(brilliant guy, btw, class topper and all). He watched satisfiedly till the end. On the way back to hostel, romba seriousA: "I don't understand. Kamal had a gun with him and so had Dhanush. Why can't they simply fire at all the rest of the gang and kill them? Why is he asking Dhanush to kill him? "

[P_R]

Plum "life is inconsistent" ellAm engaLukkum theriyin.
But there is a difference between a creator who is consistently depicting the inconsistencies of life and one who is being sloppy and riding on the 'life is inconsistent, unpredictable'.

Of course, not recalling UP, I am not suggesting that is the case in UP.
But I am fiercely resisting the 'life is inconsistent' argument. idhai romba naaLA romba pEr sollittu irukkAn.

On what basis do you trust Kamal, Woody and not Mahendran-nu kELunga. adhu nyAyamAna kELvi. I have no answer.
k-g yEdhAvadhu internal evidence kudukkalaam.

[kid-glove]

And consistency of words is very difficult to achieve in Life

Agreed 100%. That's why I said.

But to go by what they are & what they do (and not always what they 'say').

It is naturalistic for that reason.

As for youth vs wisdom, I don't think they are linked personally. But that's for another day.

As for thala nimiraadha ponnu

Actually he says that's been the case for years. They're neighbours.

What I'm saying is that the lines mislead but images don't. We see what Sarath really is.

[Plum]

Feeyaar, I am not taking a blanket defence on inconsistency of life. I don't see sloppiness from Mahendran's side. Enakku editing paththi theriyaadhu but therinja varaikkin, I think the editing of the movie deserves mention. Enakku ennamo the inconsistency was properly handled(with the editing helping it)-nu dhaan thonudhu. Ofcourse, TV interviewsla indha pada editing-ai silaagikka andha aattukutti thuLLal synchronization with azhagiya kanne interlude solli mudichuduvaanga. Enakku therinja varaikkin, I think the editors(lenin assisted by Vijayan. They weren't lenin-vijayan yet) did a fab job in making me not feel the inconsistencies as odd. Ennaala oru sadist manager kitta work pandracheve, kaanfident sema adi vaangudhu. Arrogance submissivenessA mARudhu. This is marital violence on the woman's mind - how do you take a perfectly logical view of her reactions? Submissiveness-one weak potshot-submissiveness-another weak potshot-resignation-confdence-arrogance-submissiveness ipdi pala combination of sequences in power eqautions in life-ai pArthavanA solREn. I fully believe Mahendran has built a strong edifice there. Avare posthavam pottaa dhaan theriyum. Appo kooda nambuvingalaa theriyaadhu