I felt this movie deserves a blog post cos it is - different for Tamil cinema. I'd urge you to watch it in theatre and revel that there are our people who believe in making an impact with sincere,brave and out-of-the-box film-making attitude.
The movie does have all the usual 'masala' elements - love, heroism, patriotism.... But it also has done a lot of justice to being called a 'period' movie, which is not an easy task. The animation looks so out of place more than once. But the cinematography pulls you into that era a lot other times. The heroine (Miss.Teen World, Amy Jackson) is cuteness personified - did they really wear such short dresses back then? Nobody in the theatre seemed to mind it though.. ;) I was impressed that she got her expressions right despite it being her first movie.
I liked the way the comedy element blended in smoothly with the story - the natives' English, Haneefa's (May his soul RIP) antics, the sleeping guy, the teacher, the 'bomb scare' guy.... And the unintentionally comic Tamil dialogues of the British actors which left me and my sister giggling at the wrong places. Those scenes lack but need subtitles more than the scenes with English dialogues.
Arya rocked! - His understated expressions do their job. His gymnastic abilities (check out the last few scenes of 'Pookkal pookum' song) are proof enough for his hard work and dedication to the role. The timing of his expression change on seeing the heroine in the scene at the Railway station towards the end, seemed to strike a chord in me. Or it might simply be that I like Arya. ;)
G.V.Prakash has done a highly commendable job, given his age and experience level. 'Pookkal pookkum' song still holds me in a mesmer. The bgm adds the desired effect to the movie. I got nothing to say against the song videos too - 'Vaamma Durayamma' is a fine video. Except for Udit Narayan's irritating accent. Amy is stunning in 'Aaruyire'.
Though the movie reminded me often of Titanic and Lagaan....
Though Arya and Amy's costumes were not really perfect for the setting...
Though I felt that there should have been more difference in the ways of speech of both the eras....
Though the screenplay needs a lot more pruning....
Though there could have been lesser 'masala'....
I still LIKED Madrasapatnam. Such efforts need to be lauded.
