Oh is it? :oops:
Actually Baba padame enakku oru soft corner, lighta. Especially Rajini's appearance, characterization (if you discount the obvious superhero distractions). Oru madhiri free-a senjirukkara madhiri thonum. To me, it's > Baasha, Padayappa etc...
Equa, summA oru idhukku sonnEn.
You were on the money when you said Gnani doesn't have any opinion about mainstream cinema in the first place. And that was reflected in his expectation in the question to Kamal back in the 80s, couched in a "பெரிய intellectual 'ம்க்றீர், இப்படியாபட்ட படமெல்லாம் பண்றீரே...சும்மா தானே?" expectation (one of the more interesting interviews in the book though).
சிறுபத்திரிக்கை உலகம் அப்படி தான்.You kinda understand why they say what they say.
In fact there is an old interview where K.Balachander responds to interviewers Balakumaran-Subramanya Raju, saying: "நீங்க எல்லாம் ஆளுக்கு அம்பது ரூபா போட்டு மாசாமாசம் பத்திரிக்கை கொண்டு வந்துடலாம், சினிமா அப்படி இல்லை." Not a new POV. But He said that without condescension or with a feeling of artistic inadequacy (i.e. the complusion to pander). The tone of the answer was be matter of fact.
And the old kaNaiyAzhi reviews go straight to Satyajit Ray, Adoor etc. ஸென்ஸிபிள்' ன்ற வார்த்தை அடிக்கடி தட்டுப்படும் :lol2:
Kamal's views were always clearly anchored to 'popular aesthetic'. Something that is often missed.
Yes, I've to clarify that I also didn't mean to classify Baba as an indifferent work (though I don't think it's top rack material for ARR). I quite like some of the songs here, but even besides that, I don't think the songs sound indifferent like "injerungo," "mUnRezhuththu kettavArththai" (leave aside the rehashed songs).