What starts out as an enjoyable popcorn ride in the first 45 minutes of the movie becomes almost a damp squib post interval, though the director manages to salvage some pride with a nice ending.
Balki is a refreshing story teller, and this could have been of international standards, if he had possibly cast Amitabh as a totally grey character, in the Taxi Driver mould; or simply turned up the pace. But he didn't, and was possibly left grasping at straws to fill in the void with scenes so feigned, that the audiences frowned... well!
DhanuSHAMITABH is.. .wait, are a treat to watch! By that, I mean the lead characters. Sadly, it stops at that.
I think few actors can play a mute as interestingly (and as well) as Dhanush. (Maybe Shahid. Vikram. Abhay Deol...) He sure keeps you entertained with his endearing mimics, so much so that your heart goes out to his natural abilities as a performer. One can see glimpses of a mute Kundan (his character in Raanjhanaa). His choice of Bollywood roles and scripts (so far) have been pretty hatke se, and wonder what he'll choose next. His effort is utmost sincere - as if wanting to tower above "his master's voice" (HMV): that baritone named Bachchan... Amitabh Bachchan!
But the film easily belongs to Bachchan saab. He proves time and again - in his best performance after Paa - why he is amongst the finest actors in the country, if not the finest. You can watch him in monologue after monologue, and never get bored.
R Balki is good at coming up with off-beat scripts, but he is not a good narrator, especially in the middle, and one might think he can correct this easily by attending a course or a retreat. Or via some consulting with a good confidante or two...
I'd give this 2.5 out of five, where one is for the nice cinematography by P C Sreeram and a couple of nice numbers from the maestro - Ilayaraja. One more for the lead duo's dedicated performances, and the remaining half mark for the first 45-minutes of the film.
I know my close friend, who is aspiring to become a director himself, will read this, and I'll just tell him one thing. When you start shooting your movie soon, make sure that you've learnt from this - how important it is to keep the story going with some good scenes in the middle of the narrative, and not drag them unnaturally.
When you first see Akshara Haasan on screen, you start wondering if she got a chance to act in films just for being born to Kamal Haasan and Sarika. But then, you kinda feel she is real, and does a decent job, except for the classroom scene, which drew some egging from the crowd. I almost ended up pieing one person sitting next to me, who yelled out, "Worst movie ever!" Well, it was not that bad, but Balki sure should learn to either making his movies shorter (this was a drag at 153 minutes) or make the narrative interesting (notice the lack of the word "more" intentionally there) in the middle...
Balki is a refreshing story teller, and this could have been of international standards, if he had possibly cast Amitabh as a totally grey character, in the Taxi Driver mould; or simply turned up the pace. But he didn't, and was possibly left grasping at straws to fill in the void with scenes so feigned, that the audiences frowned... well!
DhanuSHAMITABH is.. .wait, are a treat to watch! By that, I mean the lead characters. Sadly, it stops at that.
I think few actors can play a mute as interestingly (and as well) as Dhanush. (Maybe Shahid. Vikram. Abhay Deol...) He sure keeps you entertained with his endearing mimics, so much so that your heart goes out to his natural abilities as a performer. One can see glimpses of a mute Kundan (his character in Raanjhanaa). His choice of Bollywood roles and scripts (so far) have been pretty hatke se, and wonder what he'll choose next. His effort is utmost sincere - as if wanting to tower above "his master's voice" (HMV): that baritone named Bachchan... Amitabh Bachchan!
But the film easily belongs to Bachchan saab. He proves time and again - in his best performance after Paa - why he is amongst the finest actors in the country, if not the finest. You can watch him in monologue after monologue, and never get bored.
R Balki is good at coming up with off-beat scripts, but he is not a good narrator, especially in the middle, and one might think he can correct this easily by attending a course or a retreat. Or via some consulting with a good confidante or two...
I'd give this 2.5 out of five, where one is for the nice cinematography by P C Sreeram and a couple of nice numbers from the maestro - Ilayaraja. One more for the lead duo's dedicated performances, and the remaining half mark for the first 45-minutes of the film.
I know my close friend, who is aspiring to become a director himself, will read this, and I'll just tell him one thing. When you start shooting your movie soon, make sure that you've learnt from this - how important it is to keep the story going with some good scenes in the middle of the narrative, and not drag them unnaturally.
When you first see Akshara Haasan on screen, you start wondering if she got a chance to act in films just for being born to Kamal Haasan and Sarika. But then, you kinda feel she is real, and does a decent job, except for the classroom scene, which drew some egging from the crowd. I almost ended up pieing one person sitting next to me, who yelled out, "Worst movie ever!" Well, it was not that bad, but Balki sure should learn to either making his movies shorter (this was a drag at 153 minutes) or make the narrative interesting (notice the lack of the word "more" intentionally there) in the middle...
Comments
You mentioned about few actors who can play a mute as interestingly as Dhanush. I would love to watch Kamal Hassan and his caliber to convey without speaking.
Great post.. enjoyed reading.