Your review is Submitted Successfully. ×

Ayutha Ezhuthu

0 Followers
4.2

Summary

Ayutha Ezhuthu
Mukund Sri@psmukund
Jun 02, 2004 05:09 AM, 3118 Views
(Updated Jun 02, 2004)
A Modern Classic By Mani Ratnam

For a director the toughest part is to make movies


after making a masterpiece. In Mani Ratnam’s case the


movies after ’’Nayakan’’ have suffered that fate.


Expectations have been sky-high by critics and fans


alike. Orson Welles, the maker of ’Citizen Kane’


remarked that a director had once advised him to quit


as he would do nothing to top Citizen Kane ( for those


who don’t know, Citizen Kane was Orson’s first movie


which he made at the ripe old age of 25 !).


Mani Ratnam has gotten a second wind with ’’Alai


Payuthe’’ and he uses his better judgment to cast well


in Aaiyatha Ezhuthu. For a movie to work one or more


of the holy trinity of movie making ie., Casting,


Story and Screenplay needs to succeed. Mani Ratnam has


gotten all the three to work here. Certain reviewers


who suggest that the movie is a take-off from Amores


Perros, are totally wrong and need to watch the movie


before making suggestions.


The movie starts with a central incident, introducing


the main characters then goes into flashback mode and


then comes back to the present time after finishing


the flashback stories. This is a film making style


used by directors like Roman Polanski, Quentin


Tarantino and Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu( who


directed ’Amores Perros’ and ’21 Grams’). However


rather than complicating the viewing process by making


a juxtaposed narrative, Mani Ratnam uses a sequential


narrative of the 3 Lead characters. The first is the


story of Madhavan and Meera jasmine a couple living in


the slums. With Madhavan being a local goon with a


deep survival instincts choosing to work for


BharathiRaja a corrupt and vengeful Minister. He and


his goons rough up some of the students to prevent


them from entering politics as ordered by the


Minister.


In the Second story is Surya a very determined and


intelligent student who wants to clean society of


corrupt politicians by empowering people. His love


interest is Esha Deol a relative of Janakaraj, the


neighboring doctor, who makes a comeback after a long


absence. The third is the story of Sidharth and


Trisha, two people with different goals who are about


to depart to different destinations and meet in a


dance club. The story’s strength lies in the fact that


it does not try to be overly preaching, but portrays


both sides of society with equal weight-age. The


determined Madhavan in a grey role dominates the first


half with a scene-stealing role. Surya has found his


mooring as a leading man with power, plays the main


protagonist. His confrontations with Madhavan and


Bharatiraja are excellently well written scenes by


Sujatha. Sidharth continues on from his role in Boys


to being a college yuppie with selfish dreams. Despite


having the weakest written role in the movie his


expressions of joy and fear are natural and has grown


in bounds as an actor. His scenes with his brother and father are very realistic.


A.R.Rahman has the magical touch when it comes to Mani


Ratnam’s movies and he has given the director an


amazing piece of work here.


The screenplay by Mani Ratnam lifts the story and


bring the tension to a crescendo in the climax. The


gripping storyline with some amazing action sequences


and brilliant cinematography have created one of the


best movies this year. Madhavan and Surya with the


best written roles seem to feed off each other’s


energy in their scenes together. Mani Ratnam’s ability


to put together style and technical wizardry without


compromising the story or using Foreign locales for


songs have made him the best director in Indian


commercial cinema today. To keep comparing his work to


past classics is very short-sighted and will not allow


us to enjoy his genius.

(1)
Please fill in a comment to justify your rating for this review.
Post
Question & Answer