Remember the cinemascope films of the 60's? Of Kings,sorcerers,swordfights and long lost treasures..that genre was lost for a long time in Tamil Film industry..why..even in Indian Films..Our thirst was satisfied by Hollywood..with its Lord of the rings to the latest Avatar..and we never turned back...But now a young Director with nerves of steel are making us look back..but do we appreciate it??
For those who came in late..Aayirathil Oruvan is a fantasy adventure story directed by Selvaraghavan..this is not a review..u can find reviews(dont believe the negative ones..:)) in many sites...this is more of what i feel the film deserves....
See..people in Tamil nadu are very narrow minded when it comes to films..they never accept new things when they are made in Kollywood..but hey..if that is made in hollywood..they accept it with open arms!!
Consider AO...Finally a film is made that will take Tamil Cinema to the next level....I accept..It is difficult it understand..I was more shocked than confused during the second half..But something was nagging in my mind..Rahman fans would understand what i am talking about..First time u hear it..it wont be very special..u hear it again..It is mesmerising..This movie is the same..It is very ahead of our time..A rather complex story...
So i went and saw the movie again..Especially for the second half..This time i was able to understand every dialogue...This is what the director expected of us..to listen to every word and to capture the essence of the story...Of betrayal..of pain..of hunger..of madness..of nobility..But do we welcome it..NEVER!!!!!
Come on..How can we???..we can accept lovemaking of two Na'vi s in Pandora...
But a Cholan king with mystical powers? Impossible!!!How come our imagination dries up when it comes to Tamil films..?
We can accept the gore in 300 and "Saw" with open arms..some call it a "hack-slash" genre and accept it...But if it is made in Tamil..Hey...Its Violence!!!
We can accept steamy lovemaking scenes in Titanic and in other movies....but if Kamalahaasan does the same in Hey Ram?It is obscene and erotic....Come on..whom are we trying to dupe...?
I will make myself very clear..If you bring your kids to this film..U ARE A DUMBASS...This is an adult's film..and if you cant tolerate violence..go home to your mama...
The truth is we NEVER care about stories in Hollywood films..We are just spellbinded by the realistic graphics,Fight scenes,Bikini clad chics(Accept it!!!) and everything else but we never see the story.....
But if the vice versa happens as it happened in AO,a film with mediocre graphics but a thought-provoking story..we shun it...It is like telling a gift wrapped shit-box is better than a paper-wrapped sweets!!
I want to meet selvaraghavan and his team in person and salute them..in "3 idiots" style...how often do you come across a Director who never budges in his thinking in the name of commercialism,a producer who stands by his team till the end..a hero who waits for 3 years for his 2nd film to be released...An actress who could never speak tamil but has tried hard to speak "Ancient Tamil"?...I need another blog to talk about Parthiban..!!
We have support maiden attempts of a new genre like AO...We have to see beyond the potholes of the film and view the road ahead...If this film fails,we can assure ourselves even selvaraghavan won't try something refreshing next time!!
