June 06, 2005

Iruvar - Andrum , Indrum

1997 :

Was studying 12th standard then. Our gang had the habit of going to a movie on the last day of every exam. That day we had finished our Third Revision exams. The moment we came out of the exam hall , we started making plans for the movie. As all us were die-hard fans of Manirathnam and ARR , the choice was natural....Iruvar. To our utter disappointment , we found the movie to be dull ,dreary and boring ! When Aish died for the second time in the movie , all of us impulsively walked out of the theatre hall.

2005:

On a languid saturday morning , when sun was breathing down fire on the hapless Chennai residents, i chanced upon the Iruvar DVD. Thought i will watch it with no expectations whatsoever. It turned out to be such a beautiful experience. The movie was simply awesome. Excellent Screenplay , Superb Dialogues ( surprised that those were penned by Suhashini ) peppered abundantly with Vairamuthu's kavithaigal , mind boggling cinematography ( Aayirathil nan oruvan and Vennila vennila songs - a must repeatu ) , ARR's wonderful backgnd score ( ever heard that titillating kutty song when Mohanlal falls for Aish II ( JJ) after she jumps from the Jeep ??!! ) and Manirathnam's authoritarian direction.....all make this film a delightful classic.

Perhaps the best scene of the movie is when PrakashRaj shows the crowd gathered around his house to catch a glimpse of Mohanlal. PR slowly grabs the hand of the hesitant ML , prods him to wave to the crowd. ML finishes the scene with a flourish , by waving both his hands and throwing his neck towel to the crowd. Wow !! it left me totally mesmerised. Slowly but steadily , subtly but surely , the way Aish II seduces Mohanlal was another memorable sequence.

Revisiting certain things in Life after a brief span of time , will tell you how you have grown in the interim period. This film certainly told me how blind i was to the art of film making in my school days.

6 comments:

Karthik Srinivasan said...

When will I grow up like you, my dear Peter-u? (like Repeat-u)

Anonymous said...

The scene u described is awesome man.. really enjoyed that.
- uday

monu said...

yeah, i watched thalapthai revently and realised, how i never appreciated this movie when i watched a s akid..and how i do now..
so true...

Cognitive Distortions said...

Carnivas, Usually Koreans dont grow up easily ;) !!

Hey Uday...Whn r u gonna start blogging again ?

Hey Monu,
Thanks for dropping by. IMO , Every manirathnam film when watched again is a lesson in serendipity !

Jupe said...

Maams,
When I saw Iruvar it was under very crazy cricumstances.. It was a first day evening show at a small hall of 400 sitting in the first row..and I expected a Mani Ratnam masala movie...and was disappointed.. remember seeing it a month later and enjoying it..but I knew it was a classic only when I saw it the third time when I was in college.. Every scene is so carefully sculpted that when I read ur post itself it gave me gooseflesh...MANI is GOD.

Keep penning :)

Anonymous said...

thats true man. till my school days i used to go back of any kind of movies. i can't judge them. but, jus nowadays i am ready to analyse films.

what has the idiotic hero vijay done in his films.

prakash raj can do his performance as a hero, instead of vijay. i am sorry, comparing, prakash raj with vijay is not acceptable. PR is a gem for film industry.