Jan 27 2011
Aadukalam
After Pollaadhavan, Dhanush and director Vetri Maaran have moved away from the city to the village for their next film Aadukalam. But the memorable characters, engrossing screenplay, attention to detail and meticulous research that went into their first film are all raised a few notches here, resulting in a film that is thoroughly entertaining and consistently gripping.
The rivalry in rooster fighting between Pettaikkaaran(Jayabalan) and Rathnasamy(Naren) has been going on for several years with the results always in favor of Pettaikkaaran so far. Key to Pettaikkaaran maintaining his winning record are Karuppu(Dhanush) and Durai(Kishore). When Karuppu enters his rooster in a competition against Pettaikkaaran’s advice, the latter feels slighted. Meanwhile Karuppu falls for Irene(Taapsee), an Anglo-Indian girl but she has no such feelings towards him.
The movie starts off with a war between two veterans. Though it is not an outright ‘good vs evil’ fight, the battle lines are clearly drawn and its obvious who we are supposed to root for. But from this familiar position, the screenplay is developed in a way that is consistently surprising. By making us cast doubts on various characters and creating conflicts where one isn’t sure who is right and who is wrong, the screenplay keeps us in a constant state of suspense about where things are going to go.
Even after the path is evident and the key players are identified, the film maintains it intensity because of the persons involved. The history between the people on either side and the emotions involved – jealousy on one side and blind trust on the other – make the proceedings engrossing. As relationships fall apart and friendships are put under test, the way things are developed from a small difference of opinion to a full-blown war with treachery and double-crosses is marvelously drawn out.
Taapsee being an Anglo-Indian allows for a little variation from the familiar rich girl-poor boy scenario but its just a small variation since the opposition comes from the usual source – her parents. Still Dhanush’s innocence and bravado make the progress of their romance a pleasure. From their first meeting(Taapsee’s expression and Dhanush’s revolted expression as he throws away his hammer is a small gem) to the night she spends experiencing his world and his life, the arc their relationship takes is natural and convincing inspite of the difference in their lives. And when it is time to prove her love, it is nice that Taapsee chooses the same method that Dhanush used to show his love to her.
The film unfurls against the backdrop of rooster fighting and the business has been brought on screen with realism, thanks no doubt to the painstaking research. From the participants’ pride to the pre-fight preparation the roosters go through to the bustling atmosphere at the fights themselves, the industry has been brought alive with all its color and excitement (the computer graphics used to create the fights are nicely done and actually work instead of being a distraction since we are able to enjoy the fights without thinking about what the real roosters went through during the shooting). And the moments during the fight between Dhanush and Kishore, when the words spoken during the opening(about rooster fights extending beyond the sport to the men playing it) come true is truly exhilarating.
After the intensity in the final portions, the climax is a little bit of a letdown. It is certainly logical and in line with the way the characters and the relationships between them have been developed but viscerally, it doesn’t serve as a fitting punchline to the intense goings-on preceding it.
Dhanush slips effortlessly into his role as the rooster ‘jockey’ in a terrific performance as his tenderness when tending to the roosters and his excitement when sending them to fight are completely natural. The mix of innocence and playfulness he exhibits with Taapsee is endearing and comes as easily as the fierce loyalty he shows towards Jayabalan. Taapsee looks ravishing without seeming to try but isn’t exerted much as far as the romance goes. Jayabalan is impressive as he transforms from a proud mentor to a jealous enemy and Kishore is solid as always. The supporting cast, like the actors playing Dhanush’s friend and Jayabalan’s wife, has been carefully picked and does a fantastic job also.
Yathe Yathe… is instantly catchy and perfectly captures Dhanush’s elation. Dhanush’s few seconds of uninhibited dancing during that song leave us wanting more and he fulfills that in the heady dance he performs for Otha Sollaala…. Aiyo Aiyo… is melodious and soothing and provides the perfect background for the special time Dhanush and Taapsee spend together. The cinematography helps the realism the film strives for and even the fights are realistic and never look staged.
22 responses so far
I loved the movie.. Your review is in perfect match with my thoughts. The love angle in the movie was probably weaker (cliched methods told in different backdrop and through different characters) than the rest but what the heck, even those portions were enjoyable.. Initially the climax did feel lacking some punch (we always want the hero to come “clean” in the eyes of everyone) but actually the ending in current form is stronger and it grew on me after the movie was over.
Loved the songs, performances (special thumbs up to Jayabalan and Kishore’s characterisation), pick of actors (e.g.: dhanush’s mom) and most importantly dialogues (”yemma, un radiova konjam amuthuma”, “munnellam englishla pesinathan puriyama irundhuchu, ippo thamizhla pesinalum puriya mattengudhu”, Use of phrases like “settle aavaradhu”, dhanush’s dialogues with rooster beginning with “thambi” etc. etc.).
A very strong second movie bettering the efforts any of the current crop of “promising” director list (pandiraj, sasikumar, suseendran etc). Easily bettering 2010’s best movies, atleast to me.
balaji,
thamizhpadam siva’s new film “pathinaaru” is released , pls review it next week. movie was directed by s. d. sabhapathi who previously made movies like v.i.p, a aa e ee and punnagai poove
Aadukalam is brilliant and has given a great start to 2011. Vetrimaran seems to be a great find for Tamil Cinema.The year looks promising already with Nedunasi Naigal to release in few days and also 7 am Arivu in the pipeline. So Balaji is this a 3.5* movie?
http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/63432.html
Atlast it is official, rajini’s next is RANAA…. It’s exciting that rajini is gonna do 3 roles in the movie but at the sametime kinda disappointed with k s ravikumar directing the movie. After enthiran, expectations are huge and I feel KSR is a not a good choice for his next. I am curious to know your views on KSR directing such a huge project?
Pros:
KSR Rajini and ARR have a good track record w/ Muthu and (especially) Padaiyappa
Ratnavelu will add a professional sheen that is lacking in most KSR movies
Rajini in 3 roles
ARR doing the music
Deepika Padukone may be the heroine (she’s gorgeous!)
Cons:
something on the lines of Padaiyappa, as good as it was, just won’t cut it after Endhiran
people will expect a lot in terms of scale/scope/grandeur after Endhiran and Sivaji
seems to be more of a Rajini movie that a director’s movie with Rajini in it, unlike Endhiran
may not have as much pan-India appeal as Endhiran
so….i guess it could go either way right now…we’ll probabaly have a better idea when we find out the basic premise
Balaji,
Like I said earlier (in other post), I am impressed with Vertrimaran……….he is going to be one of the best directors in Tamil film industry!
Just like you said, the climax was actually a big let down —— because it lacked the punch. For me, the real climax was that 3-rd “seval sandai” at the interval!
Hope the movie does well at the B.O. (seems to be falling back)……….Great going Vetrimaran! Congrats!
I’ve been reading news that Vijay is back in the 3 Idiots remake? Does anyone know any more information about this?
I feel we are into the greatest decade of tamil films, we’ve got so many talented film makers who could produce brilliant films headed by the ever green mani ratnam & Shankar. followed by Selvaragavan, Gutham Menon, ar murugados, Bala, Vetri maran, Radha Mohan, sasi & etc. i think this is the golden age of tamil films where you could see variety of down to earth movies which breaks barriers regulaly. DIdnt see aadukalam but i can sense that this is a great one. Balaji we should have post discussion on the issue of tamil directors today. exciting times coming ahead.
Bharat Venkat,
Yes he is back in 3 Idiots.
He was the first choice for both GFC and Shankar.But he was shown the door due to factors that had nothing to do with cinema.
Now with those issues sorted out,he is back.People in the knowhow also say that Surya’s highhandedness too expedited Vijay’s return once the power circles made peace with Vijay.
yes vimal,this is going to be a brand rajini movie and not a director’s movie…..
From what I heard, this is a period film where the story will start from the 17th century and move towards the present era. It is the war between two groups which will continue for centuries but have no end at all….
easygoer,
that sounds alright…..kind of like “Meghadheera”….which i loved….plus, period movies (from that period) are rare in tamil cinema (nowadays)….I’m looking forward to it!’
and thanks for the update
everything sounds good except the name “k.s.ravikumar”. That ends the story. Period.
K S Ravikumar himself confirms it is a period film
http://www.envazhi.com/?p=23353
In his interview,he has said that it is going to be a world class period movie. now I am really skeptical how ksr is going to handle such a movie? hope they do some research and have some writers such as jeyamohan.still these terms such as world class,international quality etc., will hype up the things unnecessarily.
If ksr could recreate the magic which he did on first 20 minutes of dasavatharam(ofcourse that is the only good part in the whole movie)then the movie would be really rocking…
Rajni has made a big mistake teaming up with KSR. This was not expected from him after delivering an all-time national blockbuster like Endhiran. Even bigger mistake by letting his second daughter to have a say in the making of this movie. All her projects have been jinxed.
KSR literally mauled Muthu to the core when compared to the Malayalam original Thenmavin Kombathu. Worse was seeing SS act like a joker in that movie. Wonder how that movie even became a hit. Padayappa was a little better. If not for the story (suggested by SS himself) the movie could have fared much worse. All technical departments (apart from music), production values were downright pathetic. Imagine scenes with comedians like Senthil, Ramesh Kanna et.al wearing pinkish, bluish 3 piece suits in a movie with village setting.
It seems that SS thinks that he owes KSR something after the Jaggubhai fiasco. SS has become too big that he should even think of giving a chance to a clown like KSR. He should not worry about this at all. He should keep away from directors like KSR, P.Vasu, Sundar.C and RV.Uthayakumar. And team up with only reputed directors like Gautam, Selva, Murugadoss apart from his favorite Shankar. He has a good rapport with Bala who can do some great things. Or even try out famed Tollywood directors like SS Rajamouli or Puri Jagganath who are known for their stylish way of making films.
Hope Rana does not become another Kuselan
-v
BTW what happened to Sultan – The warrior (aka Hara). Hope they are not going to add those bits to this film as flashback and say that it is a period film.
1. Rajni pushes back his “Sultan” animation project & signs up mv named “Rana” with K.S.Ravikumar (3 roles). 2. Kamal drops his “Thalaivan Irukinraan” project & agrees 2 act in Selvaragavan’s new mv. 3. Surya is out of “3 Idiots” remake & Vijay is signed up (again) 2 act as 1 of d idiots!
season of surprise announcements this year, after the 1st surprise, which was the nature of kaavalan’s release…
Really, kamal-selvaragavan is a teriffic combination to look out for but knowing the history of no of projects shelved by both kamal and selva after announcement,I will not be surprised at all if this movie also get shelved at some point of time….
3 idiots-I am not at all satisfied with the cast. no offence or issues against vijay but personally I feel surya would have done an excellent job and srikanth also is a worst choice… For me jeeva is the only person to look out for in the cast department.And I m eagerly awaiting to see how shankar is going to handle a remake movie? although he is having a tremondous box office record,the same cannot be associated for a remake movie.It may go on either way.
RANA- It is a complete live action period movie with rajini in 3 roles and dont have any relation with sultan.Though KSR’s recent box office form is not at it’s best,his prevoius records with rajini are excellent. If KSR concentrates on script and screenplay(which is not good nowadays) part alone,then another blockbuster is ready…
it wuz a hugeeee mistake 4 shankar 2 sign vijay, suriya would do a bettttter job, nd vijay is nooooo match 4 aamir khan!! p.s. aamir plz dont watch da remake 4 beans!!!
the 3 idiots remake is a bad idea in and of itself….3 idiots is not a movie of Shankar’s standard (esp. after the brilliance of Endhiran)….there have been much better comedies in Tamil recently, esp. Tamizh Padam….i honestly think its a waste of shankar’s talent…..expecting next to nothing from the movie…only bright spot is that Ileana will make her tamil debut…she looks stunning!…we don’t even have the shankar-ARR combo to look forward to….i do wish that they take out all the bathroom humor of the original and class it up….
bart, yes, the ending is certainly one that grows on u. the lack of a visceral punch was the immediate reaction but thinking back, it was quite the perfect end. And completely agree with ur last line. The 2nd effort is always the acid test and Vetri Maaran has passed with flying colors!
rasigan, didn’t know about the director’s previous flicks. thanx! looking fwd to watching it soon.
Giri, February actually looks like a fantastic month with Yudham Sei, Payanam, Nadunisi Naaigal and a few other films slated for release. Looking fwd to all those films.
Yes, 3.5 * for Aadukalam.
apala, wouldn’t call it a big letdown. As I said to bart, it feels like a perfect end to the film in hindsight.
Reza, that’s true. I’ve heard that the 60s & 70s were the director’s times with films being looked forward to for their directors rather than the actors(ofcourse MGR and Sivaji were the exceptions). Then the stars took over. Now with so many exciting directors and our stars not giving guaranteed hits, we might be returning to a phase where directors reign supreme. Definitely fodder for a separate post!
Its not very surprising that Rana news has taken over the comments section. Rumors about mama’s movies ignite more discussion than maapillai’s movies I guess
I’m a li’l disappointed with KSR’s selection also. Rajni now has a pan-Indian and even global reach and KSR’s movies definitely don’t fit that profile. But he does have a good chemistry with Rajni and might’ve been chosen because he’s a safe bet. That being said, I’ve begun to doubt that ‘Sultan’ will ever make it to theaters. As Arvind said, I suspect it’ll be inserted as a flashback sequence or something into Rana.
Vimal, the remake will not be Ileana’s Tamil debut. She acted in ‘Kedi’(opposite Ravikrishna!) but ofcourse that was before she became popular in Telugu.
off-topic, bb, would love to hear your take on this issue since you are there in the bay area: Tri-Valley University called ’sham,’ accused of immigration fraud (MercuryNews.com)
saw aadukalam today. definitely the best among all the pongal movies. love it! and great music too