2010-06-24
It was raining cats and dogs today afternoon in Bengaluru and I was watching TV and just flipping channels. I had decided to hog the TV only from evening as the match between
I don’t want to write a review for the movie as it is rather dated. However, I do want to write about the director of the movie Gautham Vasudeva Menon. After the stupendous success of Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya he has proven once again he has once again proven that he is top notch in handling any subjects. He has also proven that the story, screen play and direction (and other technical aspects) are the real strengths of any movie. If he can convert Simbhu to the docile Karthik (by Simbhu’s own standards) then the next hero to approach him for an image make over should be Vijay. He is really the Martin Scorsese of
However, he had a humble beginning to his career and his first movie Minnale was in the cans for almost a year before it was released. He ventured to Bollywood for the re make of Minnale; Rehna Hai There Dil Mein which fared poorly at the BO. He came back to tollywood and started Kaakha Kaakha which also ran into financial trouble but became a super hit when it was released. This was followed by Gharshana (remake of Kaakha Kaakha in Telugu), Vettayaadu Villayadu, Pachaikilli Muthucharam, Vaaranam Aayiram and finally Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya.
So, why am I writing all these which look like a copy paste job from Wikipedia. I was just thinking today (after seeing Kaakha Kaakha for an umpteenth time) about why I like to watch all his movies again. The answer lies in his presentation of any subject in a unique manner that has his signature stamped over it. The fact is that he uses this signature in all his movies (a la Mani Ratnam). So, what is this unique style?
- Narration by the Lead Character: In all his movies; we have the protagonist explaining the premise of the movie, his thoughts and even giving the introduction for the heroine. This started in Minnale with Madhavan explaining his rivalry with Abbas in the prologue. The dialogue “Avanukku Enne Pudikkale; aana Enakku avane Suthama Pudikkale" is still etched in my mind. He went a step ahead in Kaakha Kaakha as majority of the movie was a self narration. The Hero’s introduction of himself (sans any song or fight) as “ En
- Re use of props/places/persons: He usually sticks to his crew and lead actors. Surya and Jyothika have done more than one movie with him. Sameera Reddy is in his radar these days. Even the support characters are retained (Like the Bose character in Kaakha Kaakha). He also has this fetish to go to
- Importance to the Antagonist: I think many an actor would dream of being the villain in Gautham’s movies. The current list includes, Abbas, Jeevan, Daniel Balaji, Jyothika and Milind Soman. It is not a coincidence that all these actors have accepted these negative roles. It is because the antagonist is given equal importance and screen presence in his movies.
- Songs/Picturization of Songs and Placement: We all can say that all the songs in his movies were blockbusters and made Harris Jayaraj a household name. Gautham- Rahman combo went a notch ahead in VTV and rendered few classics. The song picturization is also given equal importance in his movies and is always a visual treat. Usually in his movies, the songs are placed very well (only exception is VTV) and will be an extension of the situation. The song "karu karu vizhikalal un kann meyye enne kadathuthe" in PKMC is just superb in this regard.
