UlagaNayagan KAMALHAASAN in ||"UthamaVillan"|| Directed by Ramesh Aravind

[ramdas2005]

நடிகரின் படம் என வருகையில் திருவிழா கோலம் பூணுவது போன்ற உணர்வை தொடர்ந்து ஏற்படுத்துவது மையத்தில் கமல் பட திரிகளில்தான். நான் எனது மைய அனுபவத்தில் வாசிக்கக் கிடைக்காத ஒன்று. படைப்பை எப்படியெல்லாம் ரசிக்கலாம், ரசிக்கணும் என்பதற்கு கமல் திரிகளில் நிறைய தகவல்கள் பாதிக்கப்படுவதை காணலாம். புதிர்களுக்கான விடைகளை கண்டறியும் குழந்தையின் ஆனந்தத்தை ஒத்தது படைப்பில் மறைந்திருக்கும் பலவித உருவகங்களை கண்டு, கேட்டு, உணர்ந்து சிலாகிப்பது. மனதளவில் உச்சம் தொடும் இடங்கள் அவை.

Interesting take on the movie within movie. BTW @sakala @anban @doctor how is the movie faring at the BO, how is the reach among gen audience.

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

BO is not much of nearing any records of sorts but is very well holding. Mostly Houseful shows everywhere! and family audience are enjoying!

[Srimannarayanan]

BO is not much of nearing any records of sorts but is very well holding. Mostly Houseful shows everywhere! and family audience are enjoying!

It is going to be a superhit though it will not break any records.

[ufktrfKnicity]

as long as it is profitable shouldn't be a problem. wish AS had the same kind of response. is it holding well in B & C also ?

[Adox]

as long as it is profitable shouldn't be a problem. wish AS had the same kind of response. is it holding well in B & C also ?

Super-hit little difficult. Will celebrate if it gets to hit or goes past the above average category ... B/C appeal questionable.

[cinema]

Here is another beautiful analysis. How many so called professional viewers dissected the 8th century portion like this. IMO 8th century has unbelievably strong link to the present day portion.


Disclaimer: Kamal once told me (and an audience of about 300 other folks) that writing is a muscle and that it needs to be exercised. A cursory glance at the date of the last post will indicate that I’ve ignored my fitness regimen. So I apologize in advance for any upcoming incoherence and inconsistency. There will be spoilers as it will be impossible for me to talk about the film without giving away key plot elements.
__________________________________________________ _________________
Here is a pastiche of thoughts on what stood out for me in UV.

Mortality
It’s an idea that hangs so heavy in the air that most of us deal with it through procrastination, trivialization or denial. We all continue to seek that additional opportunity to balance that ledger book of life that shall forever remain unbalanced. The moving finger writes and having writ always believes that it can write some more. But what happens when the finger is asked to come to terms with its own eventual stillness? Will it change what it writes? Uttama Villain ponders such a heavy question that is likely to lose a majority of us still predisposed to the concerns of our mercenary lives. But it is the unique prerogative of an artist to reflect on his own mortality and if possible hold up a mirror (chuckle) to ours.

Legacy
The film starts the artist’s chief concern – a uniquely excusable form of selfishness that sees Manoranjan, an ageing, formulaic star wanting to be remembered not as he is but as he once was. The fact that Manoranjan is played by Kamal allows us to quite easily create our own list of artistic versus commercial successes for Manoranjan. This isn’t simply a Kamal-for-Mano replacement; he is essentially a stand in for Rajini, Mammootty, Mohanlal, Chiranjeevi, Amitabh... ad nauseum. KB takes what many will consider his own spot in the parallel universe but it is interesting to see K.Viswanath cast as the S.P.Muthuraman or Prakash Mehra equivalent.
The art versus commerce dialectic is an often belabored conversation, especially when it comes to Kamal. But the writing in Uthama Villain expands on this in a rather interesting manner. Manohar and Manonmani are clearly stand-ins for the types of audience one begets from the different types of artistic marriages. Marry Yamini (art for art’s sake) and beget a beautiful bob haired beauty who speaks with slight Malayalam accent. Marry a once-attractive-now-corpulent Varalakshmi (the pure commercial) and beget a somewhat mediocre and distant son. Obviously Manonmani has a strained relationship with Manoranjan, but it is interesting to note Manohar’s own shame and resolve to ‘learn scriptwriting’. That to me clearly indicates that Kamal highlighting the artists’ job in cultivating audience taste.

Privacy
The art versus commerce quickly raises the question of the other dichotomy for an actor – the confluence of an intensely internal process and a machine that continuously erodes privacy. Manoranjan is not in full control of the machine that creates and sustains his celebrity, it is partly in the control of his father-in-law and partly outsourced to Chokku Chetty (M.S.Basker who is as enjoyable on screen as ever) who proves a little unworthy of the trust bestowed upon him. (Digression: Chokku Chetty is a great character by the way – a man whose moral center seems misguided entirely because he comes from a vastly different universe than his employer. He continues to break his employer’s confidence each time with the best intentions – an unwitting Naradar of sorts who makes the film possible.)
And then there are the throwaway dialogs within the film that just continue to reiterate the irony – Manohar’s girlfriend complaining about lack of privacy just as he sees his dad and Arpana together, Chokku Chetty’s “AthukkuthAnE irukku” in reference to the curtain, the callousness of a bystander screaming “Thalaivaa award confirm” as he and his son are tearing up in each other’s arms (a nod to the “if you make your audience cry an award is guaranteed sentiment”).

The film within the film
The stilted performances from Kamal’s last two films are most apparent in the Uttama Villain within the film. But there are a few conscious choices that make the idea interesting; eschewing a film on ‘Adi Sankara’ to make a ‘less commercial’ movie, a king who masquerading as an artist rather than use his army to liberate a neighboring kingdom and the entire IraNiyan play at the end totally worked for me. And considering the number of dualities he tackles in the movie it is especially ironic that he eschews a movie on the man who propounded Advaitam. And Nasser, continually willing to reinvent himself on screen, is quite fantastic. It's hard to believe that the same guy once played Mayan and Badri, until one is reminded of Basha from Avvai Shanmughi.


I will say the film hasn’t come together seamlessly (for me internally) like Kamal’s best fare has in the past, but it’s definitely the most he has given us to mull over in the recent few years and I for one am extremely thankful.

http://complicateur.blogspot.com/201...a-villain.html

[cinema]

Just going back to past. It was Gunaa, where it started people complaining about Kamal movies being tough to understand and the trend still continues. This is where Kamal differentiated himself from other mundane movie makers and distanced himself further from others after Uttama Villain.

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

சகல வருக வருக.

பட வெற்றிக்கான பார்ட்டியில் எல்லோரும் களித்துக்கொண்டிருக்க, கண்ணாடிக் கதவுக்கு வெளியெ அபர்ணா ஹிப் ஃபிளாஸ்கை வைத்துக்கொண்டு அழுது புலம்பும் காட்சியும், அதைதொடர்ந்து கமலும் வெளியே சென்று அபர்ணா மற்றும் சக டாக்டர் நண்பரோடு சேர்ந்து ஆறுதல் சொல்லிக்கொள்ளும் இடம் ஒரு கவிதை. கண்ணாடிக்கு உள்ளெ சொக்கு செட்டியாரின் பரிதவிப்பினால் வெறும் நகைச்சுவையாக மட்டுமே ரசிகர்களுக்கு சத்தமில்லா இக்காட்சி தெரிந்திருந்தாலும், உயிர்கொல்லி நோயின் தீவிரத்தை அபர்ணா உணர்ந்ததற்கு பிறகு வரும் காட்சி என உணரும் போதுதான் அவளின் துக்கம் புரியும்.

எவ்வளவு அழகான நேர்த்தியான திரைக்கதை, இயக்கம்!

அருமை! ஒரு சின்ன திருத்தம், நான் 2முறை பார்த்தவரை, கமல் அவராக கட்டிபிடிக்கமாட்டார்! ஆனால் அர்ப்பணா தான் மனோவையும் டாக்ட்ரையும் சேர்த்து கட்டுப்பிடித்து அழுது மூவராவார்! Perfectly alright, after we understood the situation! another master-class scene and also the ONLY place where ArpaNa emotes high, in the whle film!

[Karikalen]

BO is not much of nearing any records of sorts but is very well holding. Mostly Houseful shows everywhere! and family audience are enjoying!

Looks like 13.8 crore worldwide for the opening weekend.
Fridays loss within India was damaging. UV needs a good run. I sincerely hope it does.

Shruti's film with AK has taken 40 crore over the weekend.

[madhus369]

Looks like 13.8 crore worldwide for the opening weekend.
Fridays loss within India was damaging. UV needs a good run. I sincerely hope it does.

Shruti's film with AK has taken 40 crore over the weekend.

It's a travesty that language and reach makes a much inferior movie collect so much more.