Film / Documentary - Recently watched & worthy of some discussion

[mappi]

The tongue is like a sharp knife, kills without drawing blood
- Buddha



Four Friends ... wait, let's restart ... A mysterious man lands up in Mumbai, gets a gun from the black market and looks for Mudhaliar, the Mumbai God-Father. Soon, an attack puts Mudhaliar wounded in the hosiptal, but he will live. The mysterious man watches Mudhaliar who is now waving to his devotees from the Hospital terrace. Thus begins a tale of the hunters and the hunted - how their roles mingle and make them stand before each other without a clue who is hunting and who is chasing.

Yagavarayinum Na Kakka (YNK), a home production from Adhi Pinisetty-the actor, is a Thriller. Written & Directed by his brother Sathya Prabhas Pinishetty, the film locks itself inbetween Suspense, Mystry & Drama and rides on with it's wonderful title. YNK is loaded with awesome cast - Mithun Chakraborty [Nariyal Wala from Agneepath (hindi)] & Pasupathy (who jointly played with Adhi in the film Aravan), including Adhi taking the prime spot by narrating the story of Saga (meaning Friend), the character he is playing in the movie. There are several artists playing brothers & sisters, parents, friends, goons, side-kicks etc., making the whole story crowded with characters who are vital to the sub-plot.

Satya Prabhas uses fragmented narrative style in a very convincing manner. He juggles with the ample sub-plots, takes in or out the events, when and where he finds suitable, without hindering the flow and allinging them well with the flash backs & forwards. Its a complex narrative structure and when the suspense is releaved, it gets riveting - the way its visually told is gripping. The mystry and the way its gaurded thru memory bits, makes the movie interesting as the writer jumbles up various sub-plots and arrange them in an order that slowly extracts the story.

For some reason I was reluctant to watch 'Mirugam', but when I did I was glad to see a promising artist, Adhi. Eeram was under my favourite genre, so I liked it instantly. In YNK, Adhi remided me of a gangster character called 'Baby Face' from a spanish film. If anyone out there looking to make a gangster film, just put Adhi inside and make him do nothing terrifying, he will still look terrific. His physique bends well in the two well choreographed stunts. He looks massive at the same time like 'a rabbit before the headlights' whenever the respective moment demands. Pasupathy casually plays the 'Don with a heart'. Still love his awesome accent. Mithun Da as Mudhaliar is pacific at the same time undisputed, that mix is a terror and when you include his sunken eyes, he immediately becomes the only one to be dreaded. His short dialogues folds the screen into darkness. It's sad that these guys don't do much films anymore, but at the same time glad that they are still rocking.

The director should have kept away from romance. How many more films are going to be made where a female is going to get slapped or been given a moral lesson on how she should lead her life ... or with all these clichés. Not going to rattle much on that, think the message is passed. As for the technics, you cannot miss any of them as all the work was so neat including sharp cuts, sets & the way each scene was filmed. 'Oozhi Koothu' song is pulsating & 'Thozha Thozha' is gloomy.

YNK is a 'non-hasty' film, well stuffed with thrills and twists.

Yagavarayinum Na Kakka : 'Ab Tera Kya Hoga Saga'*

*Adapted from Hindi Cult Film Sholay dialogue 'Ab Tera Kya Hoga Kalia' meaning 'What will happen to you now, Saga?'