Madhai Yaanai Kootam - Raw and Dark.

The first scene opens with a death scene; the interval block pauses with a death and finally the movie ends again with a death. Could you imagine a Tamil Movie like this ? Well, there is. It came before two years - Madha Yaanai Kootam. This is the movie I watched last Friday. Well, I won't say Madha Yaanai Kootam is breathtaking, it lags a bit in the second-half and has an unwanted love portion. Nevertheless, a promising debut from Vikram Sugumaran for his raw portrayal of Thevar community's lifestyle in and around Theni.

Madha Yaanai Kootam is not a usual community-based Tamil Film, which, either glorify the violence or sing paeans to the heroes but show their vengeance, bloodshed, betrayal and the effect of it on their families. The entire movie is so dark; even cinematography intensifies this mood by the gloomy color tones used in the funeral sequences.

The foremost strength of the movie is its casting. Besides Viji and Oviya, all are lesser known faces. This makes us get into each characters skin easily and we get completely involved with the movie. Among the casts, one man stands out. He is Veera Thevar (Tamil author Vela Ramamoorthy). In fact, he doesn't have much dialogs but comes throughout the movie and gives us a solid performance. His body language, the way, he has worn the dhoti with rolled up sleeves, and his eyes convey all the emotions and expressions without much dialogs.

As like in Aadukalam, Vikram Sugumaran's struggle for perfection in bringing Madurai accent, Thevar community customs in the funeral sequences, petty fights during those moments has come out brilliant in the movie ably supported by the composer Ragunanthan and the Lyricist Yegadesi.

Montage songs - Mukkulathu Veerarayya, Unnai Vanangaatha Neramillai, Enga Pora Magane - nicely helps the story telling and the characters details.

In the climax, there is a scene where Viji poisons a character and comes out of her home to report this to her brother. This shot has been filmed beautifully with a single Long Take in the lines of Ganja Karuppu's betrayal in the movie Subramaniapuram.

Ilaiyaraaja and his Title Scores.

Navin Mozart has pulled off uploading "The Greatest Title Scores of Ilaiyaraaja" which none could imagine. I wonder how much painstaking effort would have gone in selecting the best movies and carefully cutting the Title Themes. This around 2 Hrs of Title Scores gives us some of the best musical experience in our life. Prior to Ilaiyaraaja none of the composer in Tamil Cinema has given a Title Score that is relevant to the movie. His scores are like Preface to a Novel-which helps the viewers to expect what from the movie, by capturing various moods of the movie from the Title Score itself. For Eg. in the Varusham 16: the theme is same but comes in various moods with happy mood in the flute and then gradually moving to melancholy mood in the full orchestration. This gives a picture of the movie's journey to the audience. Take any of Ilaiyaraaja's Title Score. It carries the weight of the entire movie. This is what that makes Ilaiyaraaja a class apart from the rest of the composers.

When listening to these 50 Title scores, all one can wonder at its versatile and rich orchestration conveying apt emotions based on the movie.

Esp.Japanil Kalyanaraman(What a grand orchestration all of a sudden),Nooravathu Naal nail-biting percussions followed by Bass Guitar, Nilavu Suduvathillai(What a Stunning Bass Guitar intro), Kickass and funky Paayum Puli, Ninaivellam Nithya, Netrikan - Solo Violin Piece and the sudden outburst of Violins in Vikram.

Finally, a solo Cello piece was so haunting but I couldn't recollect the movie name. When found it was so surprising that the piece was scored for a Dabba movie like Kannukulle. Ivar Manasukulle Ennapa Irukku.

I - Few Observations.

After Boys, Shankar's 'I' takes the credit for getting trashed from fans to media. Pre-release, the movie didn't create much expectation from me. Just for the Brand-Shankar, I (pun unintended) had some hope of watching the film. Luckily or sadly, that too washed off after reading the scathing reviews coming from all-sides. Thankfully, it did save me few hundred rupees. No worries, after all within next two months I could come alive in Jaya TV.

Well, I am writing this piece is to share my angst against certain myths prevailing in Tamil Cinema, which have been brewing in my mind for years :

Tamil Cinema nurtures few absurd myths that I'm wondering who started or where it came from. If I'm not wrong KT Kunjumon encouraged this trend in his films-Gentleman, Kadhalan, Kadhal Desam, Ratchagan- by erecting lavishing sets, rich-milieu, glossy songs, aerobatics done by the cars and bikes in the climax.

1. Influenced by his first producer, Shankar supplemented this trend in each of his films except the ones he produced. Consequently, it has become a custom for both media and fans to go hysterical whenever a Shankar's movie is heading for a release. No complaints but when one closely observes these discussions, he could easily conclude what's the fuss about-filming in the great locations hitherto which weren't explored in the Cinema, CG works, grand sets, glitzy costumes specially made for the heroine.

I really wish to know that how far these extra decorations help a movie in its story-telling? Ultimately, creativity and the art of film-making takes a back-seat when a director tries to capitalise too much on the technical stuffs. Just because a film's budget exceeded 100C doesn't guarantee a bit for its quality esp.when it comes with no aesthetics.

2. Changing a get-up doesn't mean an acting. A great actor justifies his role by appropriate dialog-delivery, body language, underplaying/overplaying emotions based on the sequences. Donning various appearances, shedding 20 kgs or raising six packs are useless when there is no soul in acting. In the name of acting, already we've seen enough fancy dress competitions in the movies like Dasavatharam and Citizen. Some of the great performances that has come of from Tamil Cinema are all simple down-to-earth roles - Varumayin Niram Sigappu,Mullum Malarum, Uthiripookal, Aadukalam.

As Sujatha says in Boys : Don't make music, take it from life. - Don't make movies/acting, take it from life.