Sindhanai Selvar Dr.Kamal HaasaR - favourite movies,scenes 2

[Plum]

Joke-na, I expect more along the lines of " 'Panchthanthram', 'VRMBBS' ellAm Kamaloda endha philosophyya paththina padam ".

[Nerd]

Joke dhaan, Udhayanidhi sonnadhukkaaga, MMA-la lots of ridiculous muyaRchchi comedy scenes vechchaaRE adhai sonnEn. Kamal said this in an interview - (not verbatim). "Producer konjam lightaa mudikka sonnaar, adhanaala I had to change my script". My point was US sonnadhukkE change pannRaarE, appuRam enna idea / flaasafy ellaam.. appO avar UStalin lever director-aa? Ellaam andhandha sichuvEsan etc., generalize panna mudiyaadhulla..

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

UStalin sonnathu slight aa mis-understanding aagi irukku! He didn't tell that ending comical aa pannaa nallaarukkum etc. he said, comedy(yum) irunthaa nallaarukkum. US oda intha suggestion thaan kamaloda script ai sopil pannuchi ngra kathai ellaam solli yaarum MMA vai suffort pannaa velaikkaavaathu. Becos, this UStalin suggestion ellaam discussion tayathulaye solliruppaaru and there r evidenced its being considered very well in beginning itself. Initial scenes itself, that taxi driver asks for a nadippu saans. Which is being used in the very end of the climax. Ithu maathiri sila evidences irukku!

Athu poga, expect kamal's flashback scens which are minimal, mostly slight comedy anganga vanthutte thaan irukkum

As I said, ennai porutha varaikkin, weekend la, entha slight espettation um illaama paathaa mattum MMA enjoyable. Otherwise, disappointment thaan.

[equanimus]

Joke dhaan, Udhayanidhi sonnadhukkaaga, MMA-la lots of ridiculous muyaRchchi comedy scenes vechchaaRE adhai sonnEn. Kamal said this in an interview - (not verbatim). "Producer konjam lightaa mudikka sonnaar, adhanaala I had to change my script". My point was US sonnadhukkE change pannRaarE, appuRam enna idea / flaasafy ellaam.. appO avar UStalin lever director-aa? Ellaam andhandha sichuvEsan etc., generalize panna mudiyaadhulla..

Nerd, isnt that precisely my point?

adhvadhu, being forced to listen to some inane suggestions to "improve" his screenplays and movies, and sometimes commerce dictating that he actually has to acqueisce to those suggestions - idhaiyellAm ivLO nAL poRuthukkittu oru kolai kooda paNNAma irukkArE - apdinnu dhAnE sonnEn.

(Context to this thread is that some suggestions here for the "improement" of Mahanadhi precisely are the same level as typical S Dhanu suggestions, and the Udhayanidhi suggestion for improvement of MMA, that you pointed out. If these hubbers were Kamal's producers, I would love them to make the same suggestion to Kamal during the shooting, and would love his detailed thoughts on these suggestions recorded and played as a "Making" video without editing for profanity )

Compared to others, it's true that Kamal is on his own trip, but way too much is made out of Kamal making "artistic" films without "commercial compromises" etc. A lot has been said about this, but the elitist notion of "oh he's all for pure art and we support him but the frontbenchers love other things" never seems to die down. Isn't Kamal a proper commercial filmmaker by any standard? Indeed he's the hero in the true sense of the word in all his films. Even in Mahanadhi. (This is one of the primary reasons why I insisted on the idea of a "head," which is clear in the film but most people, even those appreciating the portrayal, keep pretending that his is a proper realistic portrayal of a middle-aged man, father of two kids, and so on. But I digress. I'll come back to this in a subsequent post.) To anyone who knows how Tamil cinema works, it should be clear that Kamal also goes through story discussions with producers just like any other filmmaker/actor. He's no Woody Allen. To further clarify, I'm not suggesting Kamal first writes a film all for himself and then strikes a trade-off with the producers. My point is he himself writes keeping his audience in mind. Hey! Ram is a commercial film in its own way. So is Kuruthippunal. These are all films in which Kamal plays characters in the larger-than-life mould of commercial cinema BUT as he envisions them.

Let's come to the crude idea of looking down upon mainstream conventions and elements as mere commercial compromises. With this viewpoint, one would have to disapprove of most of Tamil cinema's greatest films as they all operate in this very mode. Most of us fans who wax eloquent about the dismal flop that Hey! Ram was, haven't yet bothered to watch a Garam Hawa, have we? So, we ourselves are "in" for Hey! Ram for various reasons, not just because we stumbled upon a pure work of art!

[equanimus]

To clarify, I am with Plum when he says the audience doesn't know a priori what all it would like, so a filmmaker worth his/her salt shouldn't constrict himself/herself to such preconceived notions. This is again something MOST if not ALL filmmakers do, not just a few blessed ones like Kamal. But on the other hand it's also true that Kamal would like to know what all would touch his audience that he could exploit by keeping it in his films.

[KV]

Related digression:
An excerpt from Kashyapar’s interview published in The Hindu, last week:
“The big need in Indian cinema is to look within. Dibakar Banerjee and Vishal Bhardwaj stuck to the roots. I was the one who strayed. It is Tamil cinema which inspired me to return to my roots,” says Anurag, all set to display his gangs in Cannes. He clarifies it is not the mainstream masala fair from the South, which is inspiring Bollywood these days, that hooked him. “I got hooked to films like ‘Subramaniapuram', ‘Adukulam', ‘Paruthiveeran'…works of directors like Bala, Ameer Sultan and Vetrimaran. Watching these films, I realised I come from North India where many such stories exist in small towns and villages and I am stuck in cities.”

Looking at the movies he mentions there, one can easily see that he isn’t talking ‘art-house’ flicks. At the end of the day, I think, it is how interestingly you’ve told the tale you’ve chosen to tell, the ‘extra ingredients’ to make it saleable notwithstanding.
Haasar manasu vechcha, solla vara kadhaiyum seri, sollra vidhamum seri, rendumE oru special level la vandhudum. enna, avar manasu vekkardhu dhaan….
(no, not hinting at KH working with these young guys... adhu vEra panchayathu)
Visvaroobam... ovvoru pookkalumE sollgiradhe...
/end-dig

[equanimus]

KV,
Thanks for the link. From his interviews on this film, one can see that Kashyap yearns for such a successful mainstream film that also rises above the run-of-the-mill.

My point here is, Kamal also squarely operates in mode. The mainstream character of his films (narrative, various plot elements and so on) is crucial to any meaningful discussion on them. Including Mahanadhi. To ignore them (or even treat them as irrelevant or as necessary distractions) is to miss many things that are key to the film.

[venkkiram]

Equa says we can find commercial aspects in hey ram. If ramaraanalum song falls into that category, I see that KH fails miserably in that idea.

[V_S]

Watching these films, I realised I come from North India where many such stories exist in small towns and villages and I am stuck in cities.”

This is my biggest complaint about current bollywood/hindi movies. I don't know why they stuck with films based only in cities since long long time. They definitely need to come out of it. It sounds so monotonous and tedious. Very glad that Kashyapar read my mind. Also very proud to hear about our films. Thanks KV for the link.

[P_R]

But Hindi language is like that no.
Hinterland baashai vERa maadhiri dhaanE irukkum. adhu ellArukkum puriyumA?