Random Musings on Tamil Movies

Well folks..the biggie is out ! I am talking about Mr.Kamal Hassan's magnum opus "Dasavatharam" wherein the genius actor dons 10 avatars (no less) and manages to weave a story around it. I waited with bated breathe to see what the so-called "critics" thought of the man's movie. Not that it matters to me. I pretty much make up my mind regardless of what someone else thought about a movie.

As expected most of these self proclaimed experts who have absolutely no stake in any stage of the film making process and who's only claim to fame is their employment with the web portal on who's pages they ink their tripe have passed judgement and dissed the movie, making carefree statements like "Kamal disappoints", "10 roles un-necessary", "Mothball story" and other colorful statements. What I fail to understand is what really were their expectations of the movie for them to actually feel disappointed ? What have they seen before to which they compare a tamil movie which actually is the most expensive in india and has been helmed by one of the most respected directors in the commercial tamil cinema format? Also, for better or worse has Kamal Hassan in it in not just one role but in ten avatars which by itself is a marvel considering the amounts of patience, talent, understanding, nuance, makeup required to show up in a single role and be loved for it. Not to forget, this man has been doing this for some time now. Thirty years or so, with large sucesses and critical and government recognition in the form of 4 National awards and 18 filmfare awards.. I would imagine he knows a thing or two about tamil audience, and cinema in general. And really, the so called critics are not really anyone to pass judgement on something or someone they really dont understand.

I can imagine if the common man rants about a movie because he/she spends good hard earned money and waiting to be entertained in a dark room sitting in uncomfortable rickety chairs and not to mention sharing space with 500 other people. This after spending a good coupla hours standing in the hot sun, jostling with others who want to purchase a ticket. He/She has a perfect reason to complain about being cheated in the name of entertainment. But the critics...well I dont think so. I'd like people not to be judgemental about someone else's creative work. Its easy to pass judgement but hard to do yourself. If you were to create a movie on this scale, with so many technicians over a period of 2 years how would you do it? Understanding the philosophy of the director and his/her vision is important.

What also rankles me is the fact that the tamil movie going junta generally likes over the top, jhakaas movies, where everything is loud, in your face, jokes have to be necessarily vulgar, item/gaana songs are pre-requisites, slo-mo shots and punchlines are compulsary, where heroes can completely disguise themselves by just having a mole on their cheeks and the heroine have to dance to save her life, her lovers life, her in laws and democracy is shown only when panchayats runs, and the sickle(aruvaal) is almost always at a arm's distance ready to swing....sadly this is how most hindi movies work too except the hero-heroine have an escapade in the swiss alps in chiffon sarees and designer formals before they depose before the panchayats.

so when a movie comes up which forces you to think, the ubiquitous tamil is the first to raise his hand and complain...he is more likely to enjoy a rajni creating a mini tornado with his feet or having a gravitational field for himself rather than think about tsunamis, chaos theory etc. Nothing wrong with that per-se but then the indulgent tamil forgets the need to reason and as always Maa ki Mamta, thangachi sentiment, amma sentiment,temple scenes(kadavul nambikai) score big time over logic, reason and more importantly good acting.