Coming Soon - Pudhuppettai
The number of times a film’s release is announced and then postponed is beginning to look like a pretty good sign of how much hype there is about it. By that standard, Pudhuppettai, Selvaraghavan’s much-anticipated follow-up to 7/G Rainbow Colony, is right up there with films like Anniyan and Ghajini. After a number of false alarms, the film is finally making it to theaters this Friday. And it’s about time! There have been too few movies to really look forward to so far in 2006.
There’s little doubt that Pudhuppettai is being awaited mainly for the name of its director. With just two films to his credit, Selvaraghavan has created a style all his own and made himself an icon of the youth. Both films revolved around youth angst and he portrayed it with a raw, earthy style that was a nice balance of realism and style. This time he has turned his camera on Chennai’s underworld and has promised to provide a gritty, realistic look at that little known side of Chennai. Inspite of its theme, Pudhuppettai has been cleared with an UA certificate. This hopefully means that Selva hasn't resorted to exploitative or gratuitous violence.
Things have not been quite as good for his younger brother Dhanush. He was on quite a roll initially with critical praise, a hat-trick of hits and a bunch of prestigious projects. To top it all, he became Rajnikanth’s son-in-law. But his career came crashing down as his movies started flopping and the projects in the pipeline disappeared. So he is now looking towards his brother, who gave him a foothold in Kodambakkam with Kaadhal Konden, to help him regain that foothold.
The film has 2 heroines. As has been publicized a lot, Sneha plays a prostitute. Considering that she is the most natural actress working today and Selva has always created some strong female characters, we can look forward to a memorable performance from her. Also in the film is Selva’s favorite, Sonia Agarwal. She is yet to give a really good, spirited performance but Selva has so far been able to shape roles that play to her strengths. So he may be able to do that again.
Even if the movie had not been directed by Selvaraghavan, I’d still have looked forward to it after listening to Yuvan Shankar Raja’s soundtrack. The album is fresh and innovative and Yuvan’s experimentation works completely. The slick trailer, that had some nice images and a rocking background score, has whetted the appetite further.
Pattiyal has set the bar pretty high for gangster films. This weekend let’s hope that Pudhuppettai raises it further…
Balaji's Thots... [Permalink]
Your Thots (18)
18 Comments:
yep balaji, its gonna be a happening weekend for movie lovers!
fanaa is also releasing...
btw i have another reco for u since u're a big jo fan :)
its a telugu movie 'shock'. she looks really good & acted well, movie is also not bad.
is shock a remake of bhooth? remember a prashanth-meena movie of the same title which was a frame-by-frame remake of bhooth, with solid performances from prashanth and meena.
neways, i am looking fwd to pudhupettai. hope it lives up to all te hype...
btw, bb, did u really think pattiyal was that gr888 that it "set the bar pretty high for gangster films." it was stylish and well-made but didnt think it was earth-shattering or anything special...there was visceral thrill in many a sequence but felt there was a lack of soul n depth in characterizations...
Balaji, honestly, as much as there is so much hype and hoopla, I'm tempted to tell you not to think too highly of or expect great things from Pudhupettai. Let's assume the film is even remotely like Pattiyal (as media reports suggest!), people who have seen Pattiyal are definitely going to be turned off. Also, Selva's 7GRC really shot people's expectations in the foot (though personally, I actually liked 7GRC as I found Sonia Agarwal's character and the whole pre-marital sex thing in the second half very revolutionary for tamil cinema.. at least, it's very straight forward approach, very welcome! :-)..
Agreed that Dhanush (more than Selva) really has his back to the wall in wishing for miracles to happen at the box office.. but this film really has to do/undo/or do differently what has been done in Pattiyal, Chithiram Pesudhadi and Perusu (anybody see this film yet?).. Very tough task, don't you think?..
Balaji,
I too expecting the film with lot of imagines..
One of the most awaited releases this year for me was IA-23am Pulikesi. And now comes this news :(
http://sify.com/movies/tamil/fullstory.php?id=14209631
Hope they can sort things out..
Balaji-
Pudhupettai is the film that is going to make a big difference to Dhanush'a career as an actor. Brother Selva has modified the story, re-shot several scenes over and over etc. to try and recreate the magic for Dhanush. If this film doesn't hail Dhanush's acting skills, then he would probably take his father-in-law's advice and start getting involved in the hotel industry.
By the way..
Danush is gonnabe a father soon...
and Rajni a grandpaa...
uwaaaqu....
"uwaaaqu...."
-- rajesh, baalya vivaaham panaale idhaan prachana...LKG admission vaanga porchey, Danush kozhandhaikku Anna madhiri irupaan!
shock is rgv’s latest telugu release, and has nothing to do w/ the prashant starrer shock. though the prashant shock was a remake of bhoot, rgv had no part in it.
though back to pudhuppettai - I gotta agree w/ bhuvan abt selvaraghavan, though he definitely always has tried to make stuff that is 'different', he has yet to make anything that is particularly good. his films seem to always end up unsatisfying one way or the other (ie. the last half of 7G)
victor
deepa, yep. and heard DVC's gonna release this friday in india too. so something for everybody :)
ram, yeah i liked 'pattiyal' a lot though i didn't think it was earth-shattering either(only 3 *). the stylish, well-made, visceral thrill, etc. that u mention r the exact reasons why i liked it so much. i've always been a big fan of style and that helped me overlook the lack of characterization depth(though i didn't think it was too weak either).
sandya, i thot 7GRC was a big hit? so couldn't have shot that many people's expectations in the foot. and i think this one will be more gritty and realistic than 'pattiyal'. so the filmmaking style might be enuf to make it seem different from those movies... atleast thats my hope :)
my biggest problem with pattiyal was that i didnt really feel much for the characters...i am the guy who loses sleep just thinking of arjun's mom's line in rhythm! adha madhiri idhule two characters die brutal deaths yet, wasnt really moved...but yeah, the movie was S T Y L I S H...esp. the gun sequence u mentioedn in your review...thrilling-aa irundhudhu...
No, Balaji, I wasn't referring to 7G in the context of box office success or people's acceptance of the film. A lot of folks in Tamilnadu lapped it up in a jiffy.. it's not them I was talking about. It's about those who were expecting greater things from Selva after Kaadhal Kondaen who were visibly disappointed with the way 7G turned out. I wasn't necessarily referring to box office success automatically translating to audience satisfaction (that might have been the case in Tamilnadu; might not have been true of the metropolitan audience in other parts of the world! I know a lot of folks here in America who didn't think much of 7G, which is cause enough to be weary of Pudhupettai!)
I feel 7G was at the least a different movie from the regular crop. Yes, it suffered from poor casting choice (RaviK, Vijayan with Mallu accent) other than a 'floating' feel of second half, esp towards the end.
It certainly was not lapped up in a jiffy. It had enough stuff as it was rightly supported and re-iterated by telugu audience too..
From the looks of Selva's interview in Rediff, this movie will have 'earthy' 'grounded' 'realistic' 'dialogues' that may not be taken too well by metropolitan audience :) :)
bhuvan, i definitely didn't find 'pattiyal' boring or silly. the difference might be in what we were looking for. i wasn't looking for realism and so didnt care that the sequences didn't ring true. sure i like realism but the lack of it is not a negative. as far as the movie does well what it set out to do, i'm happy. as for the training montage, that was my absolute favorite part of the film! that and the subsequent chase sequence were truly exhilarating :)
skanda, yeah 'pattiyal' was violent but i felt the violence wasnt gratuitous and fit the theme of the movie unlike movies like 'aadhi' or 'aaru'.
mitr, yep. might be the make-or-break film for dhanush.
raapi, read that somewhere else too. is that official??
Look forward to you review. Wondering if I should take my kids?
I'll wait for you to review.
after i saw dishyum and it was horribly boring, i feel suspicious of your promiscuous enthu, balaji. maybe pudhupettai will prove me wrong and i can go back to believing everything you say. :-)
Sify.com's review of PUDHUPETTAI seems to tell that over hyping a movie does not really guarantee a hit or superhit. When are the guys going to learn.
Why can't they keep it simple and interesting.
Dhanush - poor guys, a freak success initially following soon to be vanishing actor.
Saw Pudhupettai and it is certainly worth a watch. My views in my blog :) Sify, I feel has misjudged this one..
Post a Comment
<< Home