My take on Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya

I was genuinely disappointed inspite of judiciously avoiding pre-judice…and I felt

a) VTV took a plaintiff story and made it look even more plaintiff thinking *yet another love story* tagline would work!

b) And VTV sucked-up the viewer’s patience big time with a huge hole after 2/3rd of the movie and I was literally counting for the climax!

I am neither biased against love stories nor against Gautham Vasudevan Menon (GVM). I can explain!

The movie starts off with usual boy meets girl stuff. We think, okay, this is fine, nothing overboard or askance…let it go!...

The movie continues to be the same…we still are fine…just that some of the dialogues under the guise of falling for the girl looking 3rd grade…though it is simbu who utters them, I can see GVM behind each of them. This I thought is not what you expect from a director of GVM’s caliber. This was exactly like how Shankar posed himself as *youth* and did stuff in Boyz…which wasn’t warranted for a Shankar film, leave along a youth film…!

There is no major substantiation/reason to say why Simbu falls for Trisha except the *attractive girl* logic…which doesn’t make it look like the Love that the movie advertises that it portrays! I for the little cinema that I know of, would have expected substantiation of the love factor with prudent scenes or instances which were missing!

Onto the next irritating piece in the puzzle…Trisha…I feel it an irony when people say Trisha is good looking. Bull waste! Good looking aint just good costume. It is personality, attitude, the character weight… If it was not for character depths / attitude / personality, Mallika / Gopika wouldn’t have even made a mark in the movie *Autograph*. Their characters are stil vivid in memory 6 years on now, without Nalini Sriram’s costumes…J…Agreed Nalini shouldn’t be credited with this folly. It is the Invoicer. When Shankar could invoice so well from Nalini for Sivaji – The Boss, we tend to feel GVM played a tad too deep on the good looks aspect. Even so, the half-straight, half normal hair looks completely unkempt, a diagonally opposite personality feel for what Jessie is portrayed to be!...Instead there could have been a half normal and half curly hair which would have suited the oomph factor which seems to completely surreal…!

On the dialogues again, they have been the biggest down-ing factor for this movie… they are sooo long and so draft-verison-ish. I always got the feel that it was the first cut version of dialogues that it made it to the re-recording…because, I for most of the scenes felt the dialogues except for a countable few lacked finesse and the crispness of *potato chips*!!! This costed dearly for the movie’s feel good factor as you always end up irritated what with few 3rd grade lines interspersed!

Music as perceived on screen…my goodness…the less spoken the better! Music, per se has been reviewed at length in my previous blog entry – simply put – it is godly, except for the comment that I had earlier on – there could have been more variety in the music that was invoiced..! I stand by that. I also read in some place that ARR should have been on hurry to catch a plane on his way to completing the re-recording. I would second that. Where are the beautiful interludes juxtaposed in the story, that would tell a story on its own!!...If re-recording was second-class, the song picturisation was definitely third grade.

For the lovely song that Hosanna is and for the lovely impact it had on your ears, it seldom is remembered in the movie primarily due to a basic cinematic fact that viewers are less attentive in the first 20 mins or so and that’s why screenplay pundits clearly demarcate the lighter stuff and intro stuff for this time. What was the logic to put the best song of your album in the first 10 mins?!!! Man…criminal waste, according to me..:(

Omana penne – Simbu’s attire never fitted the hats / hoods he had on…! I thought the hat never fitted with the rest of the costume, neither did the hooded visuals of the song which also looked very casual. It is 300 % more responsibility on the director to ensure that such master piece sound tracks are given due supporting credit by way of fitting visuals. Because master piece sound tracks have their powerful / potent story telling capacity, if the movie differs from the initial feel that the audio release brings in, the viewer is disappointed and is beginning to get disinterested. And boy, that final Malayalam interlude of Kalyani Menon, who on earth would shoot a bathing scene that too on some exotic western world beach for an authentic Malayalam lyric replete with fitting instrumentation. If it was any solace, trisha emerges with a bath robe that is Malayalam looking silk! That’s the remotest close encounter that this song had with God’s own country other than the verse – Omana penne!

Oru Naal Sirithen – what a number it was shaping up to be on headphones…The song was completely misplaced wrt feel. Any sane person who listens to the audio can figure out the feel the song conveys… that too on a platter. Angst, a lightly haunting feel, painful at that! Alas, the song is placed at an exactly opposite sequence in the movie when Simbu successfully meets up with Trisha in her house after the marriage and they kind of formally complement the love they have for each other – mutually. Rahman’s passionate rendition fitted Simbu’s lips only the first time when Simbu reacts with a lot of zeal on the tiny boat which is almost rocked by his enthusiasm! For whatever little knowledge that I have of cinema, if I can churn up so much of filmi gyan, I would expect that GVM knows this on Day 1 ! Why am I having to key such long statements for so basic an aspect!

Un Nanban illai – I thought the song did not have contrasting aspects like the ARR song nor did it have anything great to rave about! I don’t remember a thing about that song now…hahaha…J. Good for GVM!

Aromale – I thought this song was pretty nicely fit into the scheme of things in the movie…! For a moment if I can juxtapose this with the fact that GVM mentioned in the audio release that this was a Free supplement volunteered by ARR, I wonder how this aspect would have been shown on screen by GVM without this song! Anyways, what is good should definitely be appreciated! And GVM deserves a pat for this song and it picturization

Anbil Avan – equally fitting was the placement of the song in the movie and it was very obvious that it should have been the marriage song like my comment in my audio review. What irked in this piece though was the dance by people on the park. How many more movies would GVM use the same clichéd technique. Sir, please improvise!

Vinnai Thandi Varuvaaya – the feel of the song was snugly captured in the sequence and the song / video did mutual justice!

I have endeavour-ed a music-video review above purely, because this was touted to be a *Academy award winner’s musical, fitting rewarded with a genuine love story*! I now feel tired of this!...and few more milstones to comment on before I retire on this topic///

If there were a few good things in this mediocre love story it was
a) Simbu – Simbu has been stellar in his performance, the least to say! rightly like GVM’s comment in one of run-up shows, Simbu walks away with more than 2/3rds of the credit in the movie. I would have to admit that 1/3 of this 2/3rds credit should be GVM’s for etching the character, but the bigger aspect of essaying the same needs mention. TR’s blood is alive and kicking (!!) in simbu who has been able to bring in a fierce yet completely subtle performance on-screen. Appreciate it!

b) Climax – This is probably where I realized I am watching the movie of a film maker who gave us Vettaiyadu Vilayadu / Vaaranam Aayiram / Pachai Killi Muthu Charam. None of that wizardy was evident until the fag-end of the movie when he played us upside down with the Real Life – Reel Life mix-match, though it was predictable at the Brooklyn bridge sequence!! Hatz off GVM!

Sorry, I was long and hard here, but so many mistakes cannot happen in a critically acclaimed director’s movie. Most of my comments are not my observations (which could be questioned, btw)…but are basic aspects any movie maker should care to cover!

Good Luck with *the* Asal Hero movie next! Hope we don’t have as many things to feed-back to you on!!

Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya - Vinnai Thaandi Varamudiyavillai !!

Vinnai Thandi Varuvaaya - Sound Track Review

The double-bill kid kept the home crowd waiting for close to a year before he could unleash some of the Oscar magic. Quite frankly, Jai Ho is surely a parody to identify the master's musical prowess. There have been much much classier and maestro-personified compositions even in 2008, but then it requires that missing link of Kamal Haasan's movies...THE ENGLISH FACTOR that sealed a couple of pages in Indian Cinema History to the credit of ARR. Yeah, understand, bragging abt ARR and Oscars will need a bigger platform, lets get back to what I intended here....

terse, the album is neat and has the Grand stamp that one recognizes as *an ARR musical*, nevertheless, not delving into details of the individual sound tracks means I am doing injustice to my feelings. So here is justice to my feelings and injustice to your time...!

Omana Penne: Benny Dayal at his usual best and i believe he becomes more pepped up when the composition is of the Master. He has done hara-kiri with his voice and all of that sounds very good though digitized at places...the malayalam interlude in the song though not fitting into the groove the first time you listen to it, finally nails the song to its glory. Maybe all of this is an expectation from the script penned by Gautham Vasudevan Menon (GVM, hence forth here), but still trying to drive-away the sheen would be far-cry when it comes to The Boss. Instrumentation is gala in this song and I believe this is one of the personal favourites of mine. 4/5 for this song according to me.

Anbil Avan: Have been reading about this song from @chinmayi and was expecting Chinmayi to sound differently here as well as has been her pattern in ARR's songs. But to my pleasant surprise, she sounded 100 % herself and it does sound cool...with an aura of western tint and contemporary appeal! The orchestration in this song sounds like a marriage song and Devan's voice jels very well with Chinmayi's and makes for a good duet. The best part for me in this song is the place where the Christian choir music slowly transforms itself into the Murhurtham music of Hindu marriages. Again, though this seems to be the theme of the song, setting such high standards for musical genius is hard to ignore wrt credit! I for all of my gumption reward this song as well to the Mastery of ARR rather than to GVM who has pitched for this in the first place!! Super is just an understatement for this song and I wouldn't hesitate a 5/5 for this song. Excellent!

Vinnai Thandi Varuvaaya: Maybe I am ill-equipped from a musical perspective to appreciate this title song which typical bodes to be a constant background score rather than an individual track, however I haven't been able to appreciate this track one bit, Sorry! 2/5 is benefit of doubt for the musicality that is un-perceivable to the simpleton that I am in music!!

Hosana: Wow! That should have summed up my thought about this song. Probably the most popular song of the year as yet and should be a chart-buster (as if the other tracks aren't going to be...:)...) Though the first lines in the song remind you of a *Vaaname Yellai* song of the yesteryear, it quickly fades out when you hear it again. The orchestration here again comes to the fore and I can assure you a trip to Pandora if you listen to this song (start-to-finish) with your eyes closed and with a good set of headphones. I did that and can see how Pandora looks alluring though I havent had a dash with AVATAR yet!! The Blaazee's bit is his usual and has contributed on the positives for the track. Can I say, 4.5/5 for this song. Yes, it is! And of-course, enroute, Thamarai's excellent lyrics have been eclipsed!

Nee Nanban Illai: A very Robaroo-Rehna Tu kind of a composition (I thought!) so typical of Rahman and so fresh I should say. Nacchunnu irukku...vera enna solla?! Some of the orchestration reminded me of similar stuff in *Good-Bye Nanba* of Ayutha Ezhuthu, anyways that was only for the first time and you get lost into the maya of the contemporary. Stuffy song I should quote. Def. 4/5

Oru Naal: With the little musical knowledge I have, I believe this song fits the bill for the word *QUIRKY MUSIC* as used / uttered by the master himself in the Audio Launch function. I thought this was a nice experiment. The male and female tracks crooning to different genres of music, but still keeping up the same overall integrity in the song, I thought was excellent finesse! As usual ARR picks a winner of a song to sing in any album, and this sure is one!... Quirky is the factor that makes me feel a 3/5 for this song, though I believe it to be outstanding!

Aromale: The Boss has graduated from debut-ing singers and is now debut-ing Music Directors as singers!! I heard ARR say that GVM had shot this song in a very subtle way on-screen and hence ARR thought it would even out if the music score is exotically extreme! It certainly is even by Alphonse's passionate rendition. Add on the chorus by the leading singers and you have a true winner of a song in hand. This exotic mix is the oomph factor i should say in AR Rahman's music. I wouldn't hesitate a 5/5 purely for the passion and energy the song carries in addition to being closely knit to the storyline (seemingly so!!!)

As an aside, I am RT-ing a tweet that I posted recently on my twitter account. - Here it goes,
@prakasr - my wife complains - ARR undermines the lyrics in any song with superlative music. Proof... Thamarai's usually glowing lyrics, are hard to notice in the soulful music of VTV. I tend to agree.Boss, talent does draw such flak.:)

this should explain how things are slated when it comes to brushing with such himalayan talent and its more of a trade-off for people to get to work with the maestro!! I think GVM has been damn lucky and smart enough to cash-in on the Academy Award winner tagline for the sound track credits. But I thought GVM should have ordered for some variety in the stock he invoiced from the Academy Award Winner. Almost all songs, get the same feel and I only pity GVM for going overboard with the love feel. I personally would have expected some variety in the album, but that puerly my take, maybe the movie demanded this, lets wait and watch the stuff unfold on the screen. I am reminded of how bold GVM has used the tag line - * love story... Yet another time *...

Keep hooked on you guys! Yet another medal onto the captain's uniform!!!

P.S.: I wouldn't feel embarrassed for this thingy being branded as a Rahman Glorifier and my praises being unwarranted. If that's what you call, so be it...I would simply smile and say, Sir Ji / Mademoiselle - please get hold of Jodhaa Akbar's sound track and listen to all of the tracks if time permits and if you are really struck for time and have to rush, just listen to *Khwaja mere Khwaja*. There ends the argument in my favour...:)....:)...!

Khwaja Mere Khwaja!!

எல்லா புகழும் இறைவன் ஒருவனுக்கே !! 

 

இது நம்ம அல்லா ரக்கா ரஹ்மான் சொன்னது, ஆஸ்கர் விருது வாங்கினபோ. மனுசனுக்கு எவ்வ்ளோ humbleness!!! 

 

ஷால் வீ லர்ந் ஃப்ரம் ARR ? 

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