Hi I am Ram. Krish and I had been waiting for this moment for a long time. It was 6 pm on Aug 29 - I hastily shut off my computer and sprinted off lest I miss the shuttle back to town. Krish simply followed suit. D-day had finally arrived. BOYS had hit the marquee and we wanted to be amongst the first to enjoy the ’’experience’’ – the movie mad “I” and the cynical Krish.
The show was scheduled to start at 7/45 and by the time we reached the hall, it was 7/30. But surprisingly, balcony tickets were still available - I was puzzled but Krish was already gloating. The look on his face all but said ’’I told you so’’. The movie started 10 mts late. After an hour and 15 mts , the crowd started filing out during the interval. The reactions were mixed. The kids and youth seemed to be loving it. The middle aged had a strange look on their face while the women were ashen. We went back in and settled down comfortably in our seats just as the lights dimmed to transport us back to the world of the BOYS.(Krish had bought a lot of snacks coz he felt he would need them all since he saw no scope for any interesting developments in the script) Another hour and fifteen minutes later, we walked out of the hall – Krish in his own world and I – seething with rage and feeling homicidal. 12 hrs later, after a good night’s sleep and a lot of prodding from Krish, here I am trying to review Shankar’s dream vehicle ’’BOYS’’
The story: 5 college going teenagers Munna, Juju, Bob Galy , Kumar and Krishna from different social backgrounds lead a reckless living - sitting on a wall adjoining a park, ogling at gals, dreaming of dating them - unconcerned about their future, turning a deaf ear to their parents’ concerns. Enter Harini, a rich socially happening chic gal. All of them are smitten by her but the fair lass don’t believe in love - she wants to be ’’Just good friends’’. After a series of ridiculous events, she falls for Munna big-time. Trouble erupts when the parents disapprove of the relationships. Mangalam, a Good Samaritan mentor helps Munna and Harini elope and marry. But the families refuse to accept them and the friends decide to leave their houses to help and support their pal. How Munna and Harini and the other BOYS ’’grow up’’ to become successes forms the rest of the story. Whew !!
An open letter to Mr. Shankar
Your four year labor of love sucks big time ! It’s so similar to THULLUVATHO ILAMAI (TI) that you have had to rework and try and ’’disguise it’’ which hasn’t been very successful. Vivek as Mangalam is so similar to Ramesh Khanna in TI that I don’t think you even bothered to write new lines. You probably stole Selvaraghavan’s script.
Why can’t you choose a subject that’s not as ancient as the Hanging gardens of Babylon? We’ve seen it in American pie, Yeh kya ho raha hai and in TI so why not try something new ? Your last five movies were hits coz they had something different working in all of them. They were ’’fresh ideas’’.
BOYS is rumored to be autobiographical.. Gawd, gimme a break ! I have been thru, seen and heard stories of adolescence but some of the incidents depicted in your movie are cheap, kitschy and give me the creeps.
Somebody in your scripting team must have been watching MTV too much. Running naked in Mount Road to prove your love - U’ve lost your marbles and need to visit a mental institution soon? (Sorry for disclosing this but I cudnt hold back) And yes, when two lovers are separated by their families and forbidden to meet each other, do you need an EARTHQUAKE so that people leave their houses and in the ensuing confusion the two lovebirds can meet? Is it becoz ur producer was AM Ratnam ? How much more ludicrous can you get? Some of the best scenes in the movie are the unintentionally rip roaring, rib tickling comedy scenes - The climax, for one, where the judiciary is depicted as one big joke.- the jail sequences and the POTA case - LOL !
The characterization of the support characters is extremely one-dimensional and single layered. Most of them are cause and effect depictions. The parents abuse and harass the kids but feel proud of them when they make it big. Mangalam listens to the sob stories of the parents and advices the BOYS to give up their romances but then makes a flip flop and helps them elope.
Lets get technical now. Mr. Ravi K Chandran claims to have used technology a la MATRIX to film the song ALE ALE? Mr. Sabu Cyril has used scrap material to make up the set for the song BOOM BOOM ? And computer animated gimmicks for GIRLFRIEND. Nice, laudable experiments but for the common man, he aint bothered. All he wants is a good visual treat and we had it much, much better in JEANS, MUDHALVAN and INDIAN. If you thought having 2000 people dance for MAARO MAARO would make it WOW, sorry!! Pls have a look at CHANDRALEKHA’s drum dance. That’s much much more appealing and we are talking of a movie which came ages back. There’s so much we can learn!
BGM is just about passable, Sujatha’s dialogues range from the sublime to the exasperating - probably a reflection of the diff times when he sat down to pen them. Choreography is above average. Costume design is fantabulous.
Lets talk some positives now. The 6 leads are all amazing finds. Siddharth as Munna is the find of the last 5 years for me. (Ya, Maddy did a million serials before he got ALAI so he had to be better) He emotes very well, oozes boyish charm, shakes a leg well and can speak good Tamil too. Btw, I cud be biased since Sid was my senior at B school :-)) Harini is pleasing to the eye and is sure to go places. Bharath as Bob Galy dances amazingly well and underplays his ’’English speaking Tamilian Peter’’ character very well. Nakul as Juju is a scream and comedy comes naturally to him. Sai as Krishna is watchable while Manikandan as Kumar is just about Ok since his character is under developed. Anita Ratnam and the clown who plays her brother are robotic while AV Ramanan and Annu Mohan are average. In short, BOYS is a big big let down. Give it a pass. Watch the songs on telly, catch the jokes ( the actual ones ) on cable and dream abt Harini by looking at the movie posters.
ps: A small word from Krish: Shankar sir, why is it that every alternate movie of urs lacks a strong storyline be it KADHALAN , JEANS and now BOYS ? I think I prefer ur ODD movies than ur EVEN ones. Six hit songs , graphics, eye catching visuals MAKETH NOT a good movie. Btw, folks -I am Ram’s conscience not his friend