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.
u have criticized the movie more than u did for Ayirathil oruvan.
ReplyDeleteMadrasapatnam really deserves lots of credits.
My review
ReplyDeleteI went to this movie with absolutely no expectations, Arya isn't that big an actor,The director hasn't made any exceptional movies, and so on.
But the movie was really good.It showed a great deal of teamwork and effort, and more importantly it was all well used and portrayed.
Chennai portrayed to the best as in the year 1947. The heroine - Amy Jackson is beautiful and has done a really wonderful job.Her eyes show lots of experience, for a girl of her age.
The story line is similar to that of Lagaan, and many scenes remind you of both lagaan and Rang de basanti, yet the movie has its own originality and inspiration.
Arya isn't portrayed as a hero who fights for freedom,he is portrayed as one who fights for Love.
Editing was awesome, Direction was good. The only negative point of the movie is the songs and BGM. songs don't get in sync with the movie too well. BGM isn't much original and doesn't give the full effect at various scenes.
Still overall the movie is watchable.i rated it 8/10 because of the good acting, direction,screenplay,no unwanted comedy or action or songs, and mainly because there was some originality/reality in showing a historic adventure.( something that Ayirathil oruvan lacked ).
The movie may seem a bit lengthy, but don't worry cause it wont bore you out.
Overall - Good movie( don't miss it)
@deepak : Thanks for sharing your opinion.
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