Monday, December 27, 2010

Manmadan Ambu: The cracker that almost burst


I walked into the cinema hall looking forward to light hearted entertainer. The good part is I got to see one. The bad part is this creation has some gaping holes that stay in your mind, like a bitter aftertaste.

The film begins on a high note, with dramatic entrances of the main stars (a stunning Trisha, an
overweight Madhavan and the evergreen Kamal Hassan) and slick movement between scenes. Most of the story takes place in Europe, where Ambujakshi (played by Trisha), a top actress is holidaying with her school friend Deepa (played by Sangeetha) and Retired Major R. Mannar (Kamal Hassan) is spying on Trisha. The movie scores for its contemporary shades - Trisha holidaying with her school friend Deepa and Deepa's two children in Europe (in today's world, friends are like family), Kamal Hassan skypes with his friend whose chemo treatment he is raising funds for. Humour and drama interweave together comfortably.

The music is catchy and extremely hummable. I especially loved "Who's the Hero", the jazz-like tune which accompanies Kamal Hassan's entrance. It is a perfect integration of character, situation and background music. The cinematography is tight and makes clever use of metaphors to signify movement and mystery at key points of the story.


Trisha pitches in an understated performance which is demanded of her character. However in some scenes she lacks the fire and passion her character Ambujakshi (real name) aka Nisha (screen name) claims to espouse. Madhavan starts off with a bang and then proceeds to deteriorate steadily not only in sobreity but also in quality of performance. His character is a mess and he ends up looking like a bumbling fool who sets new standards for stupidity. Sangeetha is competent as Trisha's school friend Deepa and mother of two young children, bringing in just the right amount of pizazz and compassion without sounding like a wilting rose at one extreme or a bitter divorcee at the other. Vishwanath, Deepa's son's act is the only one which shines - from the curious child to the budding detective. My biggest regret is not seeing more of Usha Uthup, who plays Madhavan's mother. She is rivetting in the few scenes in which she appears to cooperate with her son's choice of life partner in Trisha but secretly conspires to separate them. The evil stepmother to the hilt, only that in this case she is the biological mother. Her role shows great promise but has been terribly shortened.

The build up after the second half pointed to a delectable comedy of errors involving all the lead
actors, reminiscent of past works by Kamal like Magalir Mattum, Panchatantram, Sati Leelavati.. the list is quite long! Maybe it was the movie precedents or just great expectations, but the end petered out like a damp firecracker. Madhavan's eternally drunk act crossed from being endearing to being plain irritating. The romance between Kamal and Trisha was half baked and ratified by their staring into each other's eyes in the last scene.

MMA is definitely worth a watch. For the scintillating music, a gorgeous Trisha and for the promise of seeing Kamal Hassan in a role of the most endearing kind - the underdog with great strength of mind and body.

Friday, December 3, 2010

It's here!

It was how you felt just before you got your final exam marks in school, or before entering that interview of your dream company in college. It's how you feel just before bungee jumping off a cliff, the fresh air brushing your cheeks while you take a deep breath and gather your courage.

Just imagine every one of these moments stretched to cover a much longer period of time, like 6 months or a year. There's life zipping past on its motorbike, and there's you on it, all set to tackle the speed, complete with goggles, helmet, black leather jacket and thumbs up sign. It's exhilerating, momentous, thrilling. Your mind is on overdrive at this time, absorbing events and people at twice its normal ability, if not more. In fact your brain is so much on overdrive that you need to lull it to sleep every night by counting sheep jumping over a fence or reading inane romances. Life is a 24 X 7 News ticker.

I've been at it for the past 9 months or so and I have only one thing to say about it: I'm lovin it!