This was a conversation I was part of, a couple of weeks back.
TV: Hey! I saw VTV....it was dumb! I didn't like it! and that fellow ...
SK: really? I am surprised! I kinda liked it..
MM: hmmmm....
TV: I just found it dumb. I could not accept the guy and his acting.
SK: Trust me...this is easily one of his better performances. He has downplayed his acting and performed pretty mature.
MM: hmmmmmm......
TV: haa..maybe. But I did not like the movie.
SK: I don know, maybe I liked it because of trisha. She was fabulous in the movie!
MM: hhmmm...
TV: Yeah she did look good!
SK: Saree look actually suits her swell!
MM: guys! Enough!
For those who are not able to make any sense of the conversation - well the whole conversation was about the movie Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (Will you Cross the Skies for Me?) a tamil movie. Me and my friend TV were having this conversation and it did surprise me that our views differed. For most of the time both our tastes seem to be quite similar. But then what surprised me this time around was the complete contrast in our tastes, which led me to think why did I like VTV so much?
I saw VTV in Coimbatore with my friends AGR and VB. I had no clue about the movie except that it had Simbu and Trisha in the lead roles, A.R Rahman's music and Gautham Menon at the helm. Therefore I walked into the theater with zero bias or whatever. And these are the things from the movie that I immediately took a liking to -
Chennai - Any movie set in Chennai, as in real Chennai not just in the story or the sets, gets me excited. Love for Chennai probably? And coupled to the fact that I hadn't been to Chennai in a year (then), it was just expected.
Simbu- Anybody who has seen Simbu's movie would vouch for the fact that for the first time this talented actor has delivered a controlled mature performance. Case in point - Compare Simbu in VTV, Thottijaya and Kovil to Simbu in Dum, Manmadhan, Silambattam, Saravana, Vallavan, Kaalai; and you would get my point.
Trisha - Never a big fan of Trisha, my opinion changed after watching her in Sarvam, another very beautiful movie with hardly any substance. And it is such a pleasant surprise to see heroine in saree for the majority of the movie. :) Her character was confused - but in some ways she more than made up for it.
Music-
A R Rahman. I guess that is enough for most people to understand.
The bike -
Q : How many time have we seen an Apache in a tamil movie before VTV? Not an RTR but the Classic Apache 150, that too in Blue??
A: Zero.
Silly, but I loved seeing my bike on the big screen. :)
Now after listing out the reasons, I finally decided to watch the movie again. I did realise my first appreciation of the movie was slightly clouded by the above mentioned reasons.
The movie seems to be full of confused characters. Either Jessie is in love or she aint, but why does Jessie go through so many emotional tumults when there are none?
Agreed, Gautham Menon loves to shoot urban movies, but the inclusion of a few swear words in certain dialogues seems like a deliberate effort. So deliberate that it seems fake.
The movie does drag in the second half, and why is that? Because the characters love to just talk and talk and basically give a recap on what has been happening in the past 3 hrs.
And then, as a friend of mine, VK said, Gautham Menon should stop taking movies based on his life and his failed dreams, as nobody is really interested in his own stories.
So there again we have movie with some style, but hardly any substance. Which is probably why TV didn't like it. And as for me, its time I started watching some quality cinema. Also, these are the movies I watched in a movie hall in the last 3 months beginning with last movie seen.
Singham - Chennai
Raavanan -Coimbatore
Singham - Coimbatore
Sura - Coimbatore
Prince of Persia - Bangalore.
YIKES! what was the thing about quality cinema again??
Cheers!
sai
P.S - In case you are wondering why MM is all "hmmmm" in the conversation, it because he is from Delhi, doesn't understand South Indian movies and cant stand South Indian movie discussions.
P.P.S - I have taken a fancy to using abbreviated names for my friends. Please do not mind. ;)
