Prabhu Ganesan - Charismatic, Affable and Underrated.

[Vivasaayi]

[Plum]

Vivasayi, Joe: yup, it does sound like that to me.

[sarna_blr]

http://www.saravanakumaran.com/2009/...g-post_06.html

அதனால, அதிக ஹிட் கொடுத்த முன்னணி தமிழ் நடிகர், பிரபுதான்.

[groucho070]

http://www.saravanakumaran.com/2009/01/blog-post_06.html

அதனால, அதிக ஹிட் கொடுத்த முன்னணி தமிழ் நடிகர், பிரபுதான்.

Very amusing, Sarna.

But he was doing supporting roles there. Lent his weight (pardon the pun) to the films as good character actor, though I thought he was mostly uninvolved in Chandramukhi and unintentionally made "Enna Kodumai" ithu a joke (though in that scene, he did okay).


But one thing for sure, he really makes a good addition to other heroes. His earlier work with his peers are mostly hits I believe. Yes, I am talking about the early ones he did with Rajini, Kamal, Sathyaraj, Karthik, you name it.

[Plum]

Well, the EKSI bit has become a joke. But his performance in Chandramukhi wasnt. His was perhaps the only performance that stayed true to the original. If you notice, there are hints of impotency about Suresh Gopi's character - an awkwardness when there are conversations of conjugal bliss and even the final moment when Mohanlal literally throws Shobana on him, a highly embarassed reaction.

Also, character wise, Shobana's nagavalli Also, psychologically, merely being in the "storied" bungalow alone cannot cause that Nagavalli personality on Shobana. Why should she fix Suresh Gopi as her villain the ambalathar? There are enough hints in the story that the tales she heard from her grandma influencing her nagavalli behaviour are only the visible symptoms. It could be the lack of conjugal attachment with the husband and the boredom which might have helped her form this tale of the ambalathar taking her away from her lover. There is more than a hint that the dancer-beau is a representation of an intimate lover which she wants her husband to be and instead, Suresh Gopi is more attached to his business(which is shown int he movie- him ignoring Shobana and attending to his business on phone) and turns out to be the stumbling block for her to find her the intimate lover in him.
These are, as in a fine movie it should be, hinted.
I thought Prabhu caught on this and gave a subtle hint in his performance with his body language w.r.t Jothika.
Sadly, people only saw EKSI and demeaned his performance.

In the land of visually-challenged, a man with vision is an aberration

[Plum]

I thought all that psychological underplay was what made Manichitrathazhu a master-piece.
Chandramukhi made it mumbo jumbo. For Jothika to visualise Rajnikanth as the villain, there has to be a psychological underpinning if they wanted to present it as Multiple personality disorder. It is not like anyone has a MPD just like that - there has to be an underlying reason. This is where I found Chandramukhi unsatisfactory - it is clear that P Vasu hasnt got it at all. He had to make Rajnikanth/Vishnuvardhan villain because you dont have that breathtaking cameo otherwise. IMO, in that case he could have combined Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi's role into one and made him the psychologist-husband but looks like PV didnt understand why Shobana had the other personality at all.
Even Shankar did a good job of underlying motivation for Ambi becoming Anniyan(the remo bit was an aberration though) -

[groucho070]

Whoa! Plum, never thought of it that way.

First thing, I had not seen the original. Hope to one day.

Then, it's a P. Vasu movie, an arguable bad director, so I usually switch off the brain to watch it. So, I just enjoyed Rajini and Vadiveloo's clashes.

I also learned recently that he was also responsible in attempts to destroy the memory of many great Malayalam flicks with his hopeless remakes.

The only film of his I enjoy is Mannan (for obvious reason), Nadigan (for obvious reason) and Malabar police (for obvious reason). I even hesitate to revisit Chinathambi despite Prabhu, Gounder and Ilayaraja.

But you are right in some extend, he was a bit animated...but that's all the credit I give to this wonderful actor who has delivered some truly majestic performances.

[sarna_blr]

In the land of visually-challenged,

few posts in last two pages proves this :P

[Plum]

sarna_blr, sathyama puriyalai how you are interpreting my words. hope you are not offended or something.

[Plum]

groucho, chandramukhi paartha paavathukkagavadhu manichitrathazhu paarthu paavathai kazhuvanum neenga