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

[P_R]

venkkiram, I think this is precisely the problem. The moment we hear "commercial," we think of things that were incongruent, did not cohere with the overall narrative flow, stuck out like a sore thumb, etc. (How well placed this particular song is, is a different debate. Here let me just assume it is indeed misplaced.) The larger point one misses is the commercial aspects of the film itself, the film as a whole.

There are many things that make Hey! Ram a commercial venture as a whole:
* An eventful life with many coincidences (seemingly everyman protagonist getting in touch with many influential people ranging from the Maharaja to Gandhi himself (!), chance meetings with old friends and so on), generally a thick plot that is characteristic of Indian commercial cinema.
* A mythical narrative in which the protagonist is taken across the length and breadth of India thus attempting to cover the historic event in its totality. (A more realistic film would have been set in just one of the regions affected during the partition.)
* The two love angles that are key to the plot and Saket's transitions.
* The Hindu-Muslim friendship angle that is again a classic trope and key to t.
* And the most important of all, the very idiom of the film. Where the last hour involving an attempt to kill Gandhi operates as a thriller (!), usage of songs in general a pronounced score to express various emotions, the transitions of time etc., hero's physical transformations.

idhellAm nAn yOsichchu solREn. As a writer-director who's been (involved in) making commercial films for several years, Kamal-ukku idhu dhAn instinctive-AvE varum.

Exactement!

[Plum]

venkkiram, I think this is precisely the problem. The moment we hear "commercial," we think of things that were incongruent, did not cohere with the overall narrative flow, stuck out like a sore thumb, etc. (How well placed this particular song is, is a different debate. Here let me just assume it is indeed misplaced.) The larger point one misses is the commercial aspects of the film itself, the film as a whole.

There are many things that make Hey! Ram a commercial venture as a whole:
* An eventful life with many coincidences (seemingly everyman protagonist getting in touch with many influential people ranging from the Maharaja to Gandhi himself (!), chance meetings with old friends and so on), generally a thick plot that is characteristic of Indian commercial cinema.
* A mythical narrative in which the protagonist is taken across the length and breadth of India thus attempting to cover the historic event in its totality. (A more realistic film would have been set in just one of the regions affected during the partition.)
* The two love angles that are key to the plot and Saket's transitions.
* The Hindu-Muslim friendship angle that is again a classic trope and key to t.
* And the most important of all, the very idiom of the film. Where the last hour involving an attempt to kill Gandhi operates as a thriller (!), usage of songs in general a pronounced score to express various emotions, the transitions of time etc., hero's physical transformations.

idhellAm nAn yOsichchu solREn. As a writer-director who's been (involved in) making commercial films for several years, Kamal-ukku idhu dhAn instinctive-AvE varum.

Lovely. Very well put. Especially the refutation on instinctive reactions to the word "commercial". Write more.

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

Venki, paraparappaana chasing, something like fight, appadi paathaa, the Calcutta riots and the one which happens during cerfew, we can say commercial. Even the love angle, as said by equa, is a engaging one. Of course, avangavanga taste.

[venkkiram]

Venki, paraparappaana chasing, something like fight, appadi paathaa, the Calcutta riots and the one which happens during cerfew, we can say commercial.

பார்றா!

கமலோட எண்ணங்களை கமர்ஷியல் முலாம் பூசி கொச்சை படுத்திறிங்க! இந்தக் காட்சிகளை எடுக்கும்போது துக்கம் தொண்டை அடைத்து தனியே உட்கார்ந்து அழுதிருக்கிறாராம் கமல். அவரே சில பேட்டிகளில் சொல்லியிருக்கிறார். அவருக்கென்ன தலையெழுத்தா! நீங்க என்னடான்னா, கமர்ஷியல் கம்மார்கட்டுன்னு!

[P_R]

Equar's point is very central when thinking about Kamal.
He is making the mainstram narrative richer. Which is why he always denies the commercial-art division.
He ensures the film is 'entertaining' in all its traditional sense. He definitely writes with the 'median-viewer' in mind and goes out of the way to ensure people are on-board - as much as the material would permit.

It is how well integrated all the elements are - so much so that we can't see them as separate ingredients - that he truly excels.

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

பார்றா!

கமலோட எண்ணங்களை கமர்ஷியல் முலாம் பூசி கொச்சை படுத்திறிங்க! இந்தக் காட்சிகளை எடுக்கும்போது துக்கம் தொண்டை அடைத்து தனியே உட்கார்ந்து அழுதிருக்கிறாராம் கமல். அவரே சில பேட்டிகளில் சொல்லியிருக்கிறார். அவருக்கென்ன தலையெழுத்தா! நீங்க என்னடான்னா, கமர்ஷியல் கம்மார்கட்டுன்னு!

ஓ, அப்ப அழுகை என்ற உணர்வுக்கும் கமர்ஷியலுக்கும் தொடர்பே இல்லையா?? கமர்ஷியல் என்றால் வெகுஜன. அவ்ளோதான். வெகுஜனம் இதை தான் ரசிக்கும் ந்னு ஏதாச்சும் சட்டம் இருக்கா.

கமர்ஷியல் என்றாலே இதுதான் என்ற உங்கள் குறுகிய புரிதலை மீண்டும் வெளிப்படுத்துகிறீர்கள்

[wizzy]

lagAn?

now, the flip-side is our biggies (KH/RK & the next level fellows) currently can't do kOvaNam roles either ellAm worldwide market paththi kavalaippada ArambichchuttAnga...terrorism / cruise / swiss bank / robotics - only topics like these will become sellubadi it appears. Can't expect 'ammA enRazhaikkAdha' kinds anymore from biggies.

yam reminded of crow bite sequence from Simla Special where S.Ve Sekhar goes 'nee kappal'a eppovum main role'a ketpiya'

[venkkiram]

நான் எதைச் சொல்ல வர்றேன்னு நீங்க புரிஞ்சிக்கல. சரி! நம்ம ரெண்டு பேரையும் தவிர்த்து வேறு யாராவது உங்க ஹேராம்-கமர்ஷியல்-காட்சிகள் பற்றிய கருத்துக்களை எப்படி புரிஞ்சிகிறாங்க எனப் பார்ப்போம்! அதுக்கு அப்புறம் குறுகிய/பெருகிய மேட்டருக்கு வருவோம்!

[Plum]

I think to truly understand what equa is talking about - why Kamal's (what we call as) artistic films (as opposed to commercial films ) are actualyl commercial - you must see "true"art movies like the malayalam ones where the character a) brushes teeth for 5 minutes in the movie. And it has no relevance to anything in the movie. Simply 5 minutes of screentime capturing a "Realistic" pal theichal b) a solitary cow grazing for 10 minutes. Same shot. for 10 minutes.

Well, I am ofcourse trivializing but I have seen such "art" movies too - leaving them aside as faux art movies, even some acclaimed art movies have nothing for the "commercial" viewer (I mean myself) and in that context, while Kamal gives us high art, he gives it to us in capsules quite relatable to a normal commercial film watcher - if only such a viewer can make a slight leap of sensibility and mental ability.

[P_R]

I think we should challenge this notion of using commercial as some perjorative term.
How many of us have any idea about arthouse films a lot to prefer it.
I am not saying none of us like any of the artsy films. But the truth is we are not even sufficiently aware of them. (like equa quoted Garam Hawa).
So when we say non-commercial we are talking of some ideal construct which resides largely in our heads.

If we are talking about a film where the hero is a loser, goes about having a thin-time for pretty much the running length of the film - why Sivaji has done it many a time, hasn't he?