Rekka & Remo [2016 : Tamil : 2h20m : Romance (Action, Drama)]
Two youngsters living in distant lands are pulled towards the main objective of life - Love.
The God of Desire directly initiates romance in SK's life, whereas situation supervises Shiva to find his other half in a place he never would look for. Caught between emotions and ambitions, the two youngsters have to sail through the storms of the future, guarding their romantic episodes, as a flag swaying high in the violent winds of the present.
SK (Sivakarthikeyan) does a kind of dual role in the film Remo - One, an youngster who aims to become a film star and two, as a nurse named Remo. SK cross dresses to portray a 'plastic playmate' right from the shelves of Barbie doll. As adamant as he is, waiting for a break to enter into the celluloid world, he drops everything behind when he sees Kavya walking on the breezy street. From here on, his only aim is to convince her to marry him. Without any suspense, he directly jumps into a cosplay act, so that he can be as close as a nurse to the doctor Kavya, in the hospital where she is practicing medicine.
'Treasure of the People' Vijay Sethupathi is Shiva in Rekka, whose main activity is to be the chauffer for his supportive father. He unites couples in romance or elopes those who are forced to marry, during his free time. Age is not a criteria for him, but only Love, as he even kidnaps an aged pair to celebrate their marriage anniversary, a prestigious event their family members fail to honour. A terrible situation puts him in the neighbouring city, a place widely known as 'terror' in Tamil Films, where he has to kidnap a "politician-rowdy-don-mafia-goon-godfather-killer-kingpin-etc"'s daughter. Amidst the danger, Shiva finds the girl with whom he had already decided to travel along for the rest of his life.
In both the films, Rekka & Remo, the ladies our heroes fall in love with are already engaged. And yes, the respective grooms are not good people, thus the acts performed by Shiva & SK enlarges to a certain heroic level where not just romance but liberation of woman from the cruelties (of the society) is silently exploited.
In Remo, a tiny episode that looks quite forced to activate a stunt sequence, plays briefly narrating an episode claiming that both kind of youngsters, one who is anti-social and the other who is sacrificial, co-exist. It all depends who really the person is and not what he is, that decides his action.
In Rekka, Shiva is suddenly caught between three women - his sister, his childhood guilt and the girl whom he loves. Inside a closed area (read elevator), he has to decide with whom he is going to walk out with - his blood relation or his life or his future. All woman in life are important and they cannot be ordered with priority, our valiant Shiva realises and from here there is no stopping him.
Bakiraj Kanna, the writer/director of Remo, does not shy or hide that Remo is indeed an extended work to Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) American Film based on the novel Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine. Remo is undoubtedly Miss Doubtfire. To add the Indian Romantic flavour, Bakiraj looks at Bollywood and picks all the dew drops from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, year 1995 SRK starrer (there is also a lyrical line in Remo 'Local Sharukh Khan' credited to Sivakarthikeyan in Remo OST). Bakiraj Kanna add nostalgic moments in his original transcript in interesting manner - one of my favourite scene in the film is when SK along with his friends (Sathish & Rajendran) tie up the nurse doll (Remo) to a street light pole and beat it with a fat piece of log; I found if quite hilarious when SK (influenced by alcohol) threatens the doll taking it seriously.
Rathina Shiva, the writer/director of Rekka, projects his film as a parody to Okaddu, the year 2003 Mahesh Babu’s telugu film. He plays with the building blocks of his narrative, interchanging the main with the sub-plot. Rathina Shiva blows out a situation where he makes his hero Shiva casually walk in middle of a heavy population of goons. Moreover, a desperate girl running from danger readily gives her hand to a total stranger - this aspect is mercilessly explored, making Bharathi (played by Laxmi Menon), willingly walks away with Shiva. She is a mockery of the typical 'cinema girl' who is sure that the hero will save her (a well-played character). She even urges to inform her relations that she is eloping with the hero and the hero waits patiently at the door steps watching the goons at the gate. And in the end she urges the goon to put a knife around her throat to motivate the hero, a hilarious scene. Shiva throws the goons to the ground, kicks them when they bounce back, lifts them and hangs them over the electric cables. Yet again, Rathina Shiva does not shy about it, and ends the whole mind blowing sequence with an awesome dialogue, "These guys are yet to update themselves".
The highlight of Remo is the attire of the nurse character. The handsome SK, turns into a gorgeous young lady. SK sizzles in a nurse gown with an awesome hair-do, pink lip colours and dazzling ear rings and he (read she) looks absolutely gorgeous in a pink outfit. A tiny episode around Remo gets developed, where she (or he), starts to face the hurdles of young woman face in the society. As SK had fallen in love with Kavya, Remo gets an instant admirer too. Moreover, Remo couldn't hold on to the makeup. He suffers and searches for locker rooms to at least remove his wig. The pink beauty visits Kavya at her resident. Hesitant to embrace her mother, but hugging her father portrays the natural character versus artificial nature. Such tiny instances sound quite loud in the film which are enjoyable. There is a funny scene in the hospital where a senior attendant doubts Remo and asks him, well asks her, to examine (read medical check) an aged patient. Remo frisks him and declares the patient is clean (as in clearing a physical security check). Another aged patient stands in the line to be frisked by Remo. Such hilarious moments paints the proceedings making Remo's presence lovable in almost every scene.
The highlight of Rekka is its stunt sequences. Wonderful acrobatics. All stunts are done real time with traditional rope tricks over cushion floored mat. The stuntmen willingly hit at whatever they are been thrown at. The climax fight happens inside a parking lot. The ring is actually the cars parked around, and few men fight with each other inside a tiny space. Not only the two villains (Harish & Kabir) and the stunt artists, but Vijay Sethupathi also crashes into a body of a car, exploding its frames and windshield and sending pieces of broken glasses around. Deadly action sequences performed with much risk and with an amazing coordination. There is a small belt knife fight which is interestingly choreographed and performed by Harish and Vijay Sethupathi. Recently I consulted a book to know about traditional martial arts to use them in one of my personal work [The Way of the Warrior: Martial Arts and Fighting Styles from Around the World by Chris Crudelli (2008)], and I was surprised to note the Taoist fighting style (sans weapons) been adapted for the stunt sequences in Rekka. During a brawl, an effective technique can be used to take the energy force of the attacking opponent and use it against him. A defence called "Push Hands" is a reflexive method where one can knock out the opponent in the brawl with just the palms and wrists using the force from the attacker himself. A fabulous portrayal of action in Rekka, think the stunt master is a fan of IP Man movie series (Chinese film on Master Yip Man starring Donnie Yen).
My Most liked scenes in Rekka & Remo:
Remo and Kavya are surrounded by henchmen. Remo turns quickly, spins and runs away, performed identic to The Mask (year 1994 American film starring Jim Carrey).
Shiva walks behind teacher Bharathi in a mall and few goons try to grab her. Shiva stops them all effortlessly, Super Style.
Rekka & Remo, with their tangy narration envelop the audience into their story world respectively and successfully keep them entertained until the end. Reserve humour and acrobats for this weekend, and certainly not in any specific order, try to watch both the films in a cinema hall near you.
Rekka & Remo - Rekka of Remo (Wings of Cupid)
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