The 'Sivaji' Trailer
I got quite a nice surprise when I got home after the trip as a couple of comments in previous posts and an email informed me about the new Sivaji trailer. The trailer has been put together with more effort than usual Tamil film trailers. Like usual Hollywood trailers, it features good editing and attempts to string together similar scenes(like Rajni giving Shreya a rose) and to make the visuals match the song lyrics(like Rajni laughing for Gada Gada Gada Siripadhum Style...). It serves up quite a bit more than the usual pieces of song sequences and collections of scenes. There are more than a few snippets of dialogs and more importantly, enough dialogs to give us an idea about the kind of movie it is going to be. In other words, it is a fitting trailer for a mega-movie like Sivaji.
My guesses about the story based on the trailer and Shankar's history - Rajni, in the old hairstyle, plays his trademark simpleton role, joking around with Vivek, romancing Shreya and being affectionate to his mom. The romance doesn't go too well and something convinces him that he needs to do his bit for society. He changes his look(complete with new hairstyle, coolers and small goatee), becomes an insanely rich businessman and goes about transforming the village. Just have to wait to see if I came even close :-)
That said, the trailer did not completely blow me away. It had more than its share of exhilarating moments but it also had some moments that left me cold.
First among the pluses was ofcourse thalaivar himself. Even after seeing the photos, I had a few doubts about how Rajni would look on screen but they've been completely laid to rest. He looks young and dashing. The scenes where he walks in white away from the helicopter and the scenes where he says "Cool" and "Paera kettale adhirudhu illa...?" are terrific and I can already imagine myself getting goosebumps in the theater. The fight sequences look like they're gonna rock with the one in the music store having some good moves. All the background score choices are great and feel perfect for the trailer. The closing shot with the rolling gun was also nicely done.
Now for a couple of minuses. The trailer didn't make me any more enthusiastic about the Oru Koodai Sunlight... song sequence. The blonde wig suits Rajni much better than I thought it did when I saw the photos(especially when he does the Padaiyappa salute) but the few steps shown didn't look too smooth. I'm just hoping it doesn't turn out to be another Baba Kichukichu Thaa...! Wasn't too impressed with the comedy sequences either. They looked pretty juvenile in the trailer.
Overall though, its a definite thumbs up for the trailer and it will keep us satisfied until June 15.
Balaji's Thots... [Permalink]
Your Thots (27)
27 Comments:
the song sets look way too grand compared to the normal Superstar movies!
:)
BB,
Some more trailers have come up (see Indiaglitz). These are shorter and to some extent have different scenes in them. These are in telegu though.
The thalaivar fan in me -- completely satisfied.
-Rajesh
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hate to rain on the Rajini-love parade, which I was I think this comments section will become. But my expectation was a movie high on style, (very, very) low on substance. In other words, Anniyan-II! And nothing in trailer indicates otherwise.
'Bachelor Of Social Serivice' - BOSS
By the way, I didn't see Prakash Raj in the trailer, is he still in the film?
They wouldn't have shown the Nayanthara character and the Amitabh/Raghuvaran character cos there guest ones.
Sivaji - Prakash Raj = :~{
http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/trailer/7911.html
New Trailers !!!
Rediff has some great stills from Sivaji - the best I have seen so far: http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2007/jun/01sli1.htm
Kumar
Somehow when I hear BOSS-Bachelor of Social Services I am reminded of RED-Rural Education Development
and that gives me a nightmare.
Else the trailor was great.The blonde haired Rajini was not as scary as I imagined(maybe I got used to seeing the stills) and thalaivar looks young oozing style.
Balaji, welcome back!! I knew you would blog about the trailer before your 'sabbatical' got over:) About the Oru koodai sunlight song not exciting you - I guess you should see the Telugu trailer then :) There are a few more fleeting seconds of that song where the way Thalaivar gets into position of one of the stills is completely unbelievable. Too good.
I loved the comedy scenes too. Looks like Ennaiya yaen-ma karuppaa petha dialog is already getting popular back in India :)
as i mentioned in an earlier post, i was a little underwhelmed by the trailer...
rajni looks dapper in some of the costumes and hairdos...this was my fav pic:
http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2007/jun/01sli2.htm
and for the record, the blonde wig i think, looks terrible on both rajni and shreya...i just cant appreciate a blonde wig on any indian...thalai mudi porutha varaikum, karuppu thaan enaku pudicha coloru...!
Hey Balaji.. Hope you had a good vacation.. looks like "The Boss" didn't keep you away long enough from the blog, after all! :-) ;-)..
About the comedy scenes, I had a feeling Shreya threw Rajini out of consideration as he is dark and Rajini goes about an unusual amount of 'facials' to see any difference. Should be fun to see, considering our thalaivar's proclivity for comedy. Vivek-um kooda irundhaa ketkavE vendaam! :-)
Prakash.. Your comment seems to have gone down with a 'thud' like a guy with the football as everybody piles on top of him to recover a fumble. Rajini fan-aa irundhaa ungalukku thevalai.. illainaa ippadi dhaan negative comments will be obliterated by a pile of positive gung-ho comments. Ellam Kaalam seiyum Kolam (or better yet, Rajini-yin 'maayam' seiyum Kolam!)
Ram, I do agree about the blonde wigs, aana, idhellaam oru fancy dhaan.. azhagaa irukkO illaiyO, Rajinikku pOttu paarthuda vendiyadhu dhaan.. This may very well become the Halloween costume of 2007! :-) ;-)..
Also check out the much clearer version of the same trailer here!
Overly pompous :) I already have goosebumps...
Big hit..
Oru koodai Gentleman +
Oru Koodai Anniyan +
Oru Koodai Mudhalvan
ondraga serthal adhuthane Sivaji :)
Kavya
sundar, thats the shankar trademark :)
rajesh/maverick, saw them. thanx for the tip :)
prakash, i've always felt style, when nicely done, can go a long way in making up for lack of substance. if thats the case, i wouldn't feel too bad :)
prin, not sure if prakash raj is in the cast. and i don't think amitabh is in it either - even in a cameo.
Kumar, yep the BOSS looks coooool :)
banu, lol. yep thats a scary thot
alright! and i felt exactly the same way about the blonde wig on rajni :)
filbert/sandya, as i said, i thot the post-vacation depression would keep me from blogging. but what better treat than this trailer to get me out of that depression and into a euphoric state?! :)
filbert, saw those trailers and know exactly what step u're talking about. it does look cool :)
ram, understand exactly what u mean by 'underwhelmed'. but considering the expectations and hype, i don't think they could've produced any trailer that overwhelmed us :)
sandya, interesting thot about the 'facial' scenes. makes sense :) gonna be a lotta fun coming up with these conjectures as we see more glimpses :) the airport pic makes me think rajni goes abroad b4 coming back as the insanely rich businessman :)
and thanx for the tamiltube link. trailer looks a lot better :)
anon, me too :)
kavya, that was very clever. and might well turn out to be true. with rajni along for the ride, shankar is under tremendous pressure to deliver a hit and he probably fell back on his usual formula to be safe :)
I think the romance does go well, contrary to what balaji thinks..becos shreya in the car with rajni shows a sindhoor in her maang..
I think it is going to be another Muthalvan like story. Wasn't impressed with the songs. The only thing that stuck to me after seeing the flick is the "ennma enna kurappa peththa" dialogue:-) and the fact that at closeups still make the age visible. He doesn't look at all suitable for Shriya. But I am hoping that Rajni's comedy(Vivek too?) will do the trick.
As I am still scratching my head wondering how Chandramukhi became such a huge hit(!), I have no doubt that BOSS will be a hit.
-kajan
Sivaji vaayila mannangatti..
interesting podcast from http://englishtamil.blogspot.com/.
one another blog i visit..
-nathan
The excitement of waiting to see a Rajni movie is only offset by the fact that it's a Shankar movie. Is it just me - but I think Shankar is just OVERHYPED. IMHO, all his past movies have become hits mainly because of AR Rahman's music. I'd take KS Ravikumar's honest trash any day over Shankar's dishonest "serious movies".
Nothing really new in the trailor. Another thing is, enna dhaan makeup pottu yemaathinaalum, they could'nt do anything about his voice. It has slipped a lot and shows his age. The baritone is quite not there.
Adhukku endha latest technologyum help paNNaadhu :-) They could'nt do anything about his lips either. In closeup shots it looks as bad as it was in Chandramukhi, in certain scenes
Digress:
Well, barring Gentlema(e?)n, I don't think any of Shankar's films were that great. But they all had the extravagance and commercial elements. Luck has always played a major role in a lot of directors. Maniratnam is a fantastic director and knows how to make hit films. But he deviated from formulas for creativity and originality. Shankar's extravagance makes up for the fact that he is an average director. Coming to that, even Rajni in the late 80's/after 90's has been making mostly ridiculous films aimed at senseless fun rather then real creativity. I am most surprised when educated females comment that he is their favourite actor. To me, with all his oppressive snides at females and self-glorifying songs in his films has been a turn-off since I started realizing them. But people still watch him, with craze. So on a scale, I would rather go for the film based on Shankar's name then Rajni's.
-kajan
Well said, Kajan. I have no idea why "educated" women love Rajini despite the ridiculous moral-policing aka punch(?!) dialogues in all his movies. As for Shankar, he is no less with all his cheap double entendres in movies like Indian. I will probably be one of those very few Tams that don't see the movie for these two big names, and will only watch it if it gets good reviews from non-Rajini-fanatics. Will not trust BB this once ;)
-Anu
anu
you dont need to be educated to know that you are insulted.
in padayappa.. he started describing 3 types of woman.. that was just disgusting.anyone would have felt that. unless you are a diehard fan..
i think it started in past 15 yrs.
BB,
idhe paarunga..
http://behindwoods.com/image-gallery-stills/photos-1/sivaji-mottai/sivaji-01.html
Rajini looks good for his age overall. Ofcourse, movie closeups are not going to be the same inspite of all the make up. I couldn't help noticing his hands (shows his age) in one of the clear pics on Rediff.
- Shree
Shree, had Rajni taken better care of himself (from a longevity perspective), he may not have needed as good a make-up man at this point :) Is it true that he sometimes drinks all night long?
When it comes to their perception of womanhood, I think that Rajni and Kamal are poles apart. Rajni mostly echoes the old-fashion sentiments of a majority of his massive fan base while someone like Kamal doesn't seem to give a crap what anyone else thinks of what he thinks of women :)
The world awaits June 15th! Awesome trailer Balaji:-) Thanks for posting.
A.Shah
Post a Comment
<< Home