Films of Mani Ratnam

[kid-glove]

if not for Rajini (& songs), T would have been intolerable IMO.

So you are saying the film is not worth all that much. Reducing it to that is a bit much.

Personally, I think both N and T would be tolerable without KH and RK. Both are foremost Mani Ratnam films.

Even without IR music, it'd be alright. It'd not be rank bad as one would have us believe.

[Movie Cop]

IMO, Iruvar is the best of all mani films.. nayakan kooda aduthuthaan...

Iruvar is slightly better than Nayagan in terms of execution/finesse etc.

But Nayakan was able to connect with the audience much, much better. Mani's success with Nayakan lies in the fact he makes the audience nod their heads in agreement to Velu Naicker (conveying Mani's message) of "TheriyallayE pa...", when his grandson asks him that nallavarA/kettavarA kostin. The effect Nayakan has on it's viewers once you walk out of theatre (or finish off watching it on TV/DVD) is much, much greater than Iruvar. To me, that is the factor that tilts the scale towards Nayakan over Iruvar.

And, lastly, but not least - Kamalahasan's acting, sheer genius at work! He just lived himself as Velu Naicker for 2-1/2 hours with well nuanced acting.

[Movie Cop]

k-g - A "vambu" kostin to you

which is a better adaptation of our epic - Raavan or Thalapathy?

[kid-glove]

I haven't read original texts of both epics and only read bad adaptations of both. Which film I'd prefer to watch, it'd be Thalapathy. But I thought Mani was trying a lot of interesting things in Raavanan and it got bashed so badly that it'd have risked a heart attack, if not for Reliance.

[app_engine]

Both are foremost Mani Ratnam films.

அது ஒரு கருத்து.

Even without IR music, it'd be alright.

அது இன்னொரு கருத்து.

[kid-glove]

TFI would (have) survive(d) without film composers, that's a fact. All you meesicals could dribble around that all you like.

[Movie Cop]

Much of the scenes related to "pro-people-don" were novelties in N but dejavvu in T. (It needed a Rajini & his dynamics to lift that scene with the 'poNam' dialog to Shobana).

Also, rombbbbbba-nEram-adichchu-udhaichchu-konnavanOda kuttiya adopt paNNuRadhu is a repeattu.

That way, if not for Rajini (& songs), T would have been intolerable IMO.

Thanks for clarifying, A-E. Okay, I see what you are saying. Although when I watched thalapathy first time I never had the Nayakan deja vu. But I've heard many people comparing Thalapathy with Nayakan during the time of it's release.

My "illaina mattum" kostin is more to convey that there is nothing more to Thalapathy other than it being a shiny object for Rajini fans (and quite understandably so) and it's music, including BGM, is bigger than or (rather too good for) the movie itself, IMO.

Thalapathy looked more of a "stunt" from MR. Padatha, Mani saar, oru maadhiri "kuthu madhipA" edhutha maadhiri oru feelingi. The friendship which is the crux of the movie wasn't established well/convincingly, IMO. Because everything that happens after that is Suriya faithfully taking orders from Deva. Lot's of meandering/gimmicks but oru sense of purpose lack aana maadhiri irundhuchu. Let's not even go post Thalapathy. Even comparing "Thalpathy" with pre-Thalapthy movies of Mani - like MN, Nayakan, AN, Geetanjali, Anjali etc. all these movies had an "aani tharam" in the way the characters were built, the relationships were established etc... Thalpathy is still good, way above an average Tamil movie but there is an uneasy, unexplainable "something is missing feeling" in Thalpathy that you would quite often see in MR films (not when he was in his pomp).

Starting from Thalapathy, it was sort of up's and down's for MR until "Iruvar" happened.

[Movie Cop]

TFI would (have) survive(d) without film composers, that's a fact. All you meesicals could dribble around that all you like.

I'm not meesical myself but Veedu, Guna, Hey Ram (to name a few) unthinkable without Raja's score.

If I imagine Arris SeyarAs doing BGM for Nayagan or Thalapathy.

[KlamRoyA]

kid.... rajiniyum vendam..kamalum vendam.. music um venam... vera enna thaan venum oru film kku..

[Nerd]

Funny that the movie which is often quoted for *friendship* did not *establish* it convincingly

And Gitanjali, AN, Anjali > T is stuff. Gitanjali especially is as artificial as it gets (I like the film very much btw).