Off They Go...
- Prabhu Deva chose to direct his first film in Telugu and is directing his second now.
- Masala king Dharani is wrapping up Bangaram with Pawan Kalyan.
- Ghajini director Murugadoss is off to Andhra to direct Chiranjeevi in Stalin.
- Manirathnam's next is a Hindi film Guru starring Abishek Bachan and Aishwarya Rai.
- Here we are stuck with the likes of P.Vasu and Perarasu...
Looks like Tamil cinema is facing its own kind of outsourcing problem!
Balaji's Thots... [Permalink]
Your Thots (27)
27 Comments:
and Simbu!
read Simbu's interview in Kumudam...man, he's become way 2 over-confident...i was stunned to see him accuse Reema Sen of being an ordinary actress, struggling to get her expressions rite...
idhu romba over maapoo...ila rattham, all right...aana, oru speed breaker poattu vandee oattupaa...
I read that Perarasu's brother is also getting into direction. god save us!
ram, nichayam thenavattu thaan avanuku. wonder what the mrs will say. she is now a simbhu fan after 'manmadhan', 'thotti jaya' and 'saravanaa'!!
kaps, yeah he is supposed to be vijay's choice to direct his next film since he and sjs parted ways...
Dont forget the likes of Hari and S J Surya who look like they are not done with torturing us with araicha pulicha maavu. Hopefully newer directors like V Priya, Radhamohan and Ameer have good films lined up this year.
Balaji, your list leaves one more:
- Selvaraghavan to direct Venkatesh in Telugu after Pudhupettai. And maybe Vivek Oberoi in Hindi after that!
Really it is sad that right at this point, I find there are no good, forget good, not even decent movies to watch in Tamil! Very sorry state. Have to contend with the likes of Pudhupettai, June R, Parijatham, Dishyum and the likes until April 14...
chimp fana? ayyo, you need to sit down and have a serious talk with her. Or may be just get her eyes tested. ;-) And may be keep showing her the chimp senior's mug every now and then
its true that tamil cinema is losing many of its talents to other markets. But we still have the likes of Gautham Menon, Selvaraghavan, Kammalhassan, Shankar, Cheran to provide us with interesting, entertaining movies that leave their mark.
Simbu's Saravana is a washout. I hope that shuts his mouth for a while. And I hope we dont see much of the likes of KSR. KSR is a disgrace to Tamil cinema and art in general.
i thot he was brilliant in manmadhan and quite good in thotti jaya...but saravana--i thot he was intolerable...
bhuvan, yeah, epdi elaarum P. Vasu-va thittraanga...Chinna Kambi, Asathal, Malabar Police, Paththini, Vannathamizh Paatu, Seenu--elaamey contemporary classics aachey...i can fully empathize with you...
luckily P. Vasu has been outsourced to tollywood for a balakrishna starrer. Servers them right for all the bad remakes we had to endure!
Vo.... You guys need to let out some steam, take a deep breath...
Bart says "Have to contend with the likes of Pudhupettai, June R, Parijatham, Dishyum and the likes until April 14...".. and Vijay says "KSR is a disgrace to Tamil cinema and art in general."...
I hate to break it to you folks.. but I don't think that the likes of Paarijatham, Dishyum or June R is necessarily a bad thing.. These smaller films are the ones that are turning out to be bigger than anything nowadays.. Let's not forget that Kanda Naal Mudhal (not a classic by any means!) or Thavamaai..(if you neglect that fact that Cheran was associated with it!) were smaller films with even smaller goals that made quite an impression on all of us.. So, let's not all go harping and spewing stuff on smaller films.. They may hold some sweet surprises for us that we don't really expect..
A last word on Ajeeth and this is KSR related as well.. I had commented something similar in the "Paramasivan" posting here.. I think Godfather is really going to make us rethink in a very positive fashion about both Ajeeth and KSR.. I don't think they are both getting enough credit for what they stand for in tamil cinema.. We'll have this chat again after Godfather..
KSR is unfortunately "not" the bane of tamil cinema as you folks are making him out to be. For every "Villan," "PaattaLi," "Parambarai," there is a "Naattamai," "Muthu," "Padaiyappa," and the like to compensate for the failures.. If anything, KSR has a much better understanding than what today's Hari, yesterday's Kadhir, and two years back Vasanth had about the workings of making interesting Tamil Cinema and being able to deliver something of substance. At the end of the day, Rajini always goes back to KSR.. because he is what he is.. a hit maker. He makes get commercial cinema and there's no denying that.. I can't for the life of me, figure out why there is so much hatred for him, given that his movies are solidly more watchable than any of the current filmmakers: Ramana, Perarasu, Ezhil, Hari and even Murugadass (his only strength is comedy mixed with romance.. his song picturizations are very very average, his screenplay and storytelling is pathetic!.. Fine example of this: Dheena and Ghajini!.. and let's not go into the numerous flaws in presentation in Ramana)..
Whew!.. in response to Balaji's post.. (with the exception of Dharani (Vikram already seems to have lined his pal up after "Bheema") and Maniratnam), I say "good riddance" to all the others who have disappeared into other movie fields.. Prabhu Deva has never meant much to tamil cinema (even though I consider him the best dance choreographer in India!), and temporarily losing (a very average director like) Murugadass to Telugu will not hurt us much..
Please disregard portions of the previous posting. Somehow blogger screwed up the order of the paragraphs.. Here's the right order.. Sorry for the repost!
KSR is unfortunately "not" the bane of tamil cinema as you folks are making him out to be. For every "Villan," "PaattaLi," "Parambarai," there is a "Naattamai," "Muthu," "Padaiyappa," and the like to compensate for the failures.. If anything, KSR has a much better understanding than what today's Hari, yesterday's Kadhir, and two years back Vasanth had about the workings of making interesting Tamil Cinema and being able to deliver something of substance. At the end of the day, Rajini always goes back to KSR.. because he is what he is.. a hit maker. He makes get commercial cinema and there's no denying that.. I can't for the life of me, figure out why there is so much hatred for him, given that his movies are solidly more watchable than any of the current filmmakers: Ramana, Perarasu, Ezhil, Hari and even Murugadass (his only strength is comedy mixed with romance.. his song picturizations are very very average, his screenplay and storytelling is pathetic!.. Fine example of this: Dheena and Ghajini!.. and let's not go into the numerous flaws in presentation in Ramana)..
Whew!.. in response to Balaji's post.. (with the exception of Dharani (Vikram already seems to have lined his pal up after "Bheema") and Maniratnam), I say "good riddance" to all the others who have disappeared into other movie fields.. Prabhu Deva has never meant much to tamil cinema (even though I consider him the best dance choreographer in India!), and temporarily losing (a very average director like) Murugadass to Telugu will not hurt us much..
A last word on Ajeeth and this is KSR related as well.. I had commented something similar in the "Paramasivan" posting here.. I think Godfather is really going to make us rethink in a very positive fashion about both Ajeeth and KSR.. I don't think they are both getting enough credit for what they stand for in tamil cinema.. We'll have this chat again after Godfather..
Luckily we (still) have Goutham Menon, Bala, Ameer, Selvaraghavan, and Shankar to compensate the two you mentioned and others like SJS, SAC, etc. We gotta be selective..
zero, i thot perarasu showed a good grasp of how to make a movie fast-paced and how to make the hero look larger-than-life in 'tiruppaachi'(2nd half). but u're right about 'sivakasi'. it was a bore...
anon, u're right. its upto those directors to save us. i know ameer has started his next but havent heard anything about priya or radhamohan.
bart, yep missed that. i did read about him talking to venky and vivek coming down to meet him. but have to agree w/ sandya. there's something to look forward to in all those movies...
munimma, yep :)
skanda, i really really hope all those films do rock. 2006 has started in a very bad fashion and we need some big ones to pick things up...
anon, true. but u have to remember that shankar, goutham and kamal tried their hands at hindi, telugu, etc. wonder what would've happened if the movies had become big hits...
bhuvan, :)
vidya, LOL. namitha alone will probably compensate for all the others :)
Sandhya and Balaji, I never have anything against small tamil movies. Otherwise, we would never have got a Sethu or a Kadhal. Probably I didn't word it right..
If you see the movies I've listed, none of these is a mainstream commercial venture. All of these are different attempts... Selvaraghavan is moving off to Telugu and hence he is (wrongly) in the list. June R director Revathi Verma doesn't look like long-time Tamil prospect. She wants to do movies in Hindi and bcoz of Jo she has made this movie in Tamil. Parijatham is a come-back attempt of Bagyaraj also to launch his daughter. Fingers crossed there. Dishyum is made by the famous "tongue-cutter" Sasi of Sollamale :) But still this movie might turn out to be good. Talking of makers, a Kamal, Mani, Bala, Cheran or even Selvaraghavan is very important to take new movies continually for the kollywood to move into new directions. It was just a remark meaning that. For example, Snehithiye (Priyadharshan) was a good attempt. But what effect did it have?
Anyhow, among commercial directors, KSR ranks way above and maybe Dharani is joining the league.. The rest have quite some way to go.
To sum it up, I fully support you Sandhya... I take back the wrong ideas conveyed by the prev post.
ram, thats quite a list of duds! and though some of them r really horrid, the 1 i probably most for is 'seenu'. atrocious remake of a true classic...
anon, good news indeed :)
vijay, i'm in sandya's camp on KSR. he has a good handle on masala and has made some pretty good entertainers. even 'edhiri' was entertaining and though its relative, i thot 'saravanaa' to be the best of the 3 pongal releases. he has a good touch for comedy...
sandhya, talking about prabhu deva, i've heard that his film was an absolutely delightful love story that became a huge hit. so i was just sad that he hadn't given that in Tamil.
Yeah, Chimbu(or Chimpanzee) has too much 'thalakanam'. Not one of his films are worth mentioning, including Manmathan, which was a rip of several thrillers. The movie didn't even make profits for the producer. Anyhow, he is all talk. As they say, like father, like son.
Reema Sen has done exceptional(in today's standard)acting in films like Manasanta Nuvve and Chellam.
Balaji,
All those technicians moving to the telugu field is just for the bigger pay. But very few times, the result has been met. Telugu industry is now plagued by flops and cost overruns. I think, everyone is trying to think that regional films have the market that bollywood films do, but that's a big no.
I sort of like to see South talent making hits in Bollywood, simply because it's a bigger arena, and certainly, for a director like Mani, more exposure to his product. On the other hand, that a low-rate director like P.Vasu can take an awesome work of Fazil's and enter Bollywood, just goes to show how unfair things can get:-(
-Kajan
Coincidence?
K.S Ravikumar is garbage
"or every "Villan," "PaattaLi," "Parambarai," there is a "Naattamai," "Muthu," "Padaiyappa," and the like to compensate for the failures.. If anything, KSR has a much better understanding than what today's Hari, yesterday's Kadhir, and two years back Vasanth had about the workings of making interesting Tamil Cinema and being able to deliver something of substance."
LOL..if you are going to use Hari or Perarasu as your yardsticks and feel happy about KSR's movies doing better, I cant do much about it. Yeah the movies you have listed Muthu, Padayappa etc. all had Rajni or some other saleable star. Rajni has given as many hits with Suresh Krishna or P.Vasu or many others in the 80s. He doesn t need a KSR as much as KSR needs Rajni.
Second, if you watched some of KSR's perversions on screen which he churned out in the name of movies like Muthu kulikka vareegala, bandmaster and some other crap in the 90s where he didnt have the help of any saleable star you'll see how low he can go.Extended rape scenes, double-meaning dialogues and so on..
When I said he is a disgrace to art and Tamil cinema, I meant every word of it and I had directors like Bala, Cheran, Selvaraghavan etc. in mind as the yarstick.
KSR is definitely a disgrace and as long as you guys support him and view his movies you have no right to complain or nitpick about Vijay's movies or Hari or Perarasu. After all KSR isnt definitely above these guys, his commercial success or failure notwithstanding.Even Ramanarayanan on a low budget has made a bunch of commercially successful movies, probably more than even KSR, without the help of big stars.That doesnt mean anything.
and I dont think Bart or I said anything against small movies. In fact ther are most welcome as compared to KSR's perversions. I would be glad if KSR was hijacked by Tollywood as well for the next several years. He can then rip or remake tamil movies and just change the actors on screen to Telugu actors :-)
"I can't for the life of me, figure out why there is so much hatred for him, given that his movies are solidly more watchable than any of the current filmmakers: Ramana, Perarasu, Ezhil, Hari and even Murugadass (his only strength is comedy mixed with romance.. his song picturizations are very very average, his screenplay and storytelling is pathetic!.. Fine example of this: Dheena and Ghajini!.. and let's not go into the numerous flaws in presentation in Ramana).."
I dont support most of these directors either, but as far as song picturization goes, KSR is pretty much mediocre. Oru maalai from Ghajini was definitely picturized better than any crap KSR has churned out in the last 15 years
And as far as masala goes, Hari's Sami was as masala'ish if not more than any so-called KSR masala. Again dont give Rajni movies as examples. Even there Suresh Krishna/SP Muthuraman(in the last) score heavily over KSR.
As for the other directors in your list like Perarasu, Ezhil - sorry I couldnt care less about them, thats really scraping the bottom of the barrel
kajan, i think u got it right. they go there for the money but r not really able to change their filmmaking to suit the local tastes and end up making flops. happened with shankar in hindi and goutham in telugu.
zero, LOL. funny but true... he hasn't had a single bonafide hit to his credit so far...
vijay, but its not really fair to compare ksr to the likes of mani, bala or cheran. they make different kinds of movies, have different target audiences, etc.
i've always thot ksr was a good director but ur argument has got me thinking... barring a couple of sarath movies, has he made any hits that didn't star rajni or kamal?
Balaji, have we forgotten that KSR was indeed behind Cheran Pandian and Puriyaadha Pudhir (both films with little known faces at the time!)?.. may not be considered as much now, but were believed to be good films at the time. You mentioned Edhiri (which in some circles was considered a 'break-even' film!).
What I don't buy into Vijay's argument is claiming that we shouldn't account for KSR's credibility as a good director, if we take into his list of films directed under Rajini, Kamal and Saratkumar. I, once again, hate to break it to you, but KSR style of filmmaking suits these three stars more than any other star I know... The list of films like Nattpukaaga, Naataamai, even a low-end Samudhiram (remember this film with Sarat, Murali and Manoj?).. could have just been a "been-there, done-that" without KSR!.. To tell you the honest truth, "Muthu" is no classic Rajini film.. I frankly that whatever decent run that film had was only because of KSR.. It seriously would have turned out to be like "Arunaachalam," hadn't it been for KSR..
There are films like Pistha (with Karthik), Villain (with Ajeeth) that struck gold and films like Minsaara Kanna (Vijay) and Paarai (with the same Sarat who reveres KSR and who is the very reason Sarat is still around in the industry today!).. again films that bit the dust..
With the same token, just because KSR's hit ratio is better with Rajini, Kamal (Avvai Shanmugi and Thenali) and Sarat.. doesn't make him a bad director all the time with other actors..
With regards to Murugadass's song picturizations, I think I should have made it clear that KSR is no great genius when it comes to song picturizations either. But that was not the point that I was trying to make. I was trying to say that each of the current directors have major weaknesses that pretty much get in the way of the overall quality of their films.. KSR has flaws too, I do admit.. but put together as a package, he is a far better commercial director than anyone in the industry today..
The gratituous sex, rape and double meaning dialogues that Vijay accusses him of showcasing in his films.. it really can't be any worse than the sex and violence in today's films (Item songs, navel baring sex sirens wearing micro mini clothes.. I could go on forever). In this day and age, double meaning dialogues are a dime a dozen.. understand that even Shankar has succumbed to some pressure in "Boys." KSR showcasing that kind of language (especially within his very masala oriented commercial format is absolutely no surprise!).. This is not to justify his use of double meaning dialogues or rape scenes.. but just that it is a sign of the times.. By the way, are you even remotely suggesting that Bala (with all that excessive violence in his films!), Cheran (with his lengthy social concerns and even more leisurely pace of detailing them on screen), and Selvaraghavan (with his very bleak, dark and almost hopeless story/screenplay approach and characters) are better and/or less flawed in their filmmaking than KSR?.. I remember that in this very same blog that we all had an extensive discussion about Selvaraghavan and his many many flaws..
I guess, the argument here is not about flaws, (we are all human, remember? :-), but rather the overall quality (with the right balance of masala, drama and comedy) that KSR can present a film on screen.. If KSR succeeds in Godfather, I will rest my case.. Personally, I think Saravana may very well at least recover its cost (if not make a small profit!).. I don't think it is a washout like Paasakiligal (which made it into the official DVD market this week!)..
Vijay.. just to clarify, it was only Bart's comment about smaller films that I commented on. I read your posting fully and did not refer to you at all with regards to that topic.
Vallavan has been getting a lot of negative publicity on and off recently.. Once stuff like "Simbu takes his own time.. he has no "scene papers" for his actors, no dialogues at the shooting site".. yaada yaada.. on and on!..
When all this subsides, a new Simbu-Reema Sen fight crops up.. I don't think this is much more than just a publicity stunt.. Jo and Simbu had a fight in Manmadhan and there was a nasty incident about Simbu clicking some pics of Jo half-clad and circulating it to his friends (more yaada yaada).. during the Saravanaa shoot.. It happens with everyone of Simbu's films..
PUBLICITY STUNT.. glaring into everyone's eyes..
What else is new?
Guyz, one of the first small films is out and seems to be decent - though not path breaking..
http://sify.com/movies/tamil/review.php?cid=2429
http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/review/7795.html
Haven't read the above reviews except their last lines. Will watch the movie and then comment further..
"vijay, but its not really fair to compare ksr to the likes of mani, bala or cheran. they make different kinds of movies, have different target audiences, etc."
Balaji, come on, its not just the target audience. These directors are ina different league several notches higher which KSR can only dream to join in his next birth. And even talking of target audiences, Cheran and Bala have reached ALL audiences in A, B and C centers, both youngsters and older people alike. KSR caters more to the frontbenchers if thats what you mean and I agree.
Even the bad megaserials that have a long run are made for a certain audience. But that doesnt stop us from criticizing it, right? I might not be the target audience, but I know that KSR is just a good schedule maker, one who isnt serious about art and betterment of tamil cinema, but worried more about minimum guarantee from his target audience. You are arguing that he is good at it. Let him be, I couldnt care less.
And sandya, I dont know what to tell you. Most films you list in KSR's favour were moderate hits in B and C centers. I dont think Puriyadha pudhir was a big hit. If I am right in judging by your name that you are a lady, I am surprised that you even support KSR. Like I said some of his movies feauturing non-stars as heros, or worse himself as heros have really atrocious scenes done in bad taste like I mentioned earlier.If you see those movies and how he protrays women in those scenes you wouldnt be praising him like this. The guy is a pervert.
"The gratituous sex, rape and double meaning dialogues that Vijay accusses him of showcasing in his films.. it really can't be any worse than the sex and violence in today's films (Item songs, navel baring sex sirens wearing micro mini clothes.. I could go on forever). In this day and age, double meaning dialogues are a dime a dozen.. understand that even Shankar has succumbed to some pressure in "Boys." KSR showcasing that kind of language (especially within his very masala oriented commercial format is absolutely no surprise!).. This is not to justify his use of double meaning dialogues or rape scenes.. but just that it is a sign of the times.."
I am not talking about this day and age. It was like 15 years back. Anyways, the cheapness prevalent in his films was very obvious.He relished in making extended rape sequences and so on.The lack os sophistication and the crassness is abominable.
"By the way, are you even remotely suggesting that Bala (with all that excessive violence in his films!), Cheran (with his lengthy social concerns and even more leisurely pace of detailing them on screen), and Selvaraghavan (with his very bleak, dark and almost hopeless story/screenplay approach and characters) are better and/or less flawed in their filmmaking than KSR?.. I remember that in this very same blog that we all had an extensive discussion about Selvaraghavan and his many many flaws.."
Oh please..with all their flaws, the postives and fresh ideas they have brought to Tamil cinema and to advance
art is commendable. Even the best director has flaws. Their positives clearly outweight their flaws. What does KSR bring to the table that other masala directors dont? Even Shankar is a commercial movie maker, but he has brought a lot of new visual techniques to the table. What has KSR done which a Suresh Krishna or S.P Muthuraman or a Charan or a Dharani or a dime-a-dozen other masala makers havent done? Most of his movies done for non-megastars have ranged from medicore to pathetic.
"guess, the argument here is not about flaws, (we are all human, remember? :-), but rather the overall quality (with the right balance of masala, drama and comedy) that KSR can present a film on screen.. If KSR succeeds in Godfather, I will rest my case"
I dont care much about commercial success, which unfortunately seems to be your ONLY yardstick for measuring a director's potential . You know, even Thirupachi and Sivakasi were hits. If that makes those films great or the directors/actors involved great, then sorry we both have different takes on what good cinema is. And even talking about commercial success, KSR just makes a bunch of movies, some of them bite the dust and some of them, especially those which are done with saleable stars get commercial success. That hardly makes him the best commercial director. The likes of Shankar have done more with actors like Arjun who didnt have any market value when he did Gentleman or Mudhalvan. Shankar has shown that even when you make masala movies, you can still bring different visual techniques to the table, picturize songs in a different way and so on. To me Shankar isnt a great director still, but since we are talking of commercial sucess here I brought him in. KSR like ramanarayanan is a good schedule maker, sticks to his formulas completes his movies in time and that earns him more projects as a minimum guarantee filmmamker, just like how Sathyaraj is getting 6 films a year these days. LOL..that hardly makes either of them a great artist to even merit any consideration. And even in terms of commercial success, they have as many misses as hits. Saravana and VetrilvelSakthivel being the recent examples of misses.
"If KSR succeeds in Godfather, I will rest my case."
which case? that KSR is a decent commercial movie maker? He maybe, but so are dime-a-dozen other directors some of whom are better at it than him. But the point I made earlier is about serious artists, those who are worried more about than just commercial success- KSR is hardly one.And that I think even you will agree with.
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