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Alavanthaan - ALAVILLAI

Topic started by Prayer (@ 172.188.120.235) on Tue Nov 13 15:31:52 EST 2001.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

I had opportunity to watch the movie and was greatly disappointed with it. The BGM leaves a lot to be desired and frankly was a big reason for my lack of enthusiasm of this movie. Kamal has acted well but the story lacks overall and the song picturisations are very poor.
Now i shall have to await Nandha and hope it is a better production that this.
Thumbs down for Alavanthan

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Robin (@ 212.138.47.12) on: Thu Nov 22 07:02:45 EST 2001
  
  I watched Aalavanthaan. Kamal tried his best to get the attention from the viewers. To an extenda, the Nanadu character have some attention. Even in the climax scenes, the action looks like replica of Guna. He changed his physique and style. But, the poor story, scratchy screenplay and boring songs makes all the efforts of Kamal to be vain.
  
  Kamalji, you tried to do something different. You know one thing, whenever you do something new, the Tamil Viewers will ignore to see it and they will praise you are the best actor. THis is your fate. To get your old rythum, act a movie like Thevar Magan.
  
  Better luck next time.
  
  
• From: Raj (@ 210.214.178.141) on: Sun Nov 25 10:10:49 EST 2001
  
  Kollavanthan would have been an approporitate title for the movie.
  
  The songs are stale.
  
  Shankar Mahadevan who already sounds monotonous with his shouting singing without any expression, fails in his venture as a music director. Siri Siri is stupid.
  
  The bgm, rr and the songs have been totally a waste.
  
  Why does kamal waste producers money on music? What was the necessity for Hungarian symphony to be expensively recorded in Germany for Hey Ram? Why the trio music directors with Shankar for Alavandan? Taking the producer for a ride? He really needs some help form a good psychiatrist!
  
  Kadavul Paathi Mirugam Paadhi - All Half-baked!
  
  
• From: AV (@ 24.15.81.189) on: Sun Nov 25 11:23:08 EST 2001
  
  My 2 cents
  
  Kamal Hassan has always tried to up the stakes of quality movie making with every movie he makes, Alavandhan is no exception. In this movie he has tried to break ground by delving into the psyche of a schizophrenic. That said the movie, like Asoka, falls short of the hype that surrounded it.
  
  Technically the movie is sound. The scenes after he consumes ecstacy are a first in Indian cinema. However you would have seen those fast paced shots if you tune to MTV or some random hollywood sci-fi flick. There is far too many "special effect"/animated scenes which at first look novel but surely turn stale as the movie progresses.
  
  The bad kamal has a killer body which can be another highlight of the movie. This movie is rated "A" and rightly so and is not suitable for watching with children. The main problem I have is that there are far too many flaws that needs to be over looked to appreciate the movie. Also the story is cliched and predictable. The end to put in a nut shell is ludicrous.
  
  If you are one of those movie goer who yearns for a different indian movie, fed up with the age old song and dance routine, go watch this movie. You might be pleasantly surprised that this was made in india.
  
  PS: Personally, I think Hey Ram was a landmark film. The plot was complex but still I thought it was a quality movie.
  
  
• From: raycas (@ 212.186.40.21) on: Sun Nov 25 11:37:07 EST 2001
  
  "BTW, I would like to know what Kamal tries to do to our culture in terms of sex.Is he showing obscenity and exploiting the viewers or is he trying to bring more awareness(!) in sex by teaching us something?"
  
  compared to western films, sex in indian films is as rare as snow in tamil nadu.... of course, u can proclaim that this belongs to great indian culture and that u are proud of it, that exhibitionism is something that has no place in indian films...
  but perhaps kamal is not of this opinion...perhaps he is more 'flexible' with this 'taboo' theme...and wants to change this here in india thru his films (u have surely noticed that kamal so often kisses his heroines in his films)...so the hollywood influence is also there in him...perhaps he is for a sexual revolution in india...who knows...
  
  raycas
  
  
• From: WhyNot (@ 203.24.100.133) on: Sun Nov 25 14:19:25 EST 2001
  
  My first reaction is kamal is just being a typical Scorpio. During a live interview on Sun TV one of the callers asked him tat question. He seemed to have well prepared answers.
  
  "compared to western films, sex in indian films is as rare as snow in tamil nadu.... "
  I agree raycas, but i always felt that western films show sex outwardly whereas in tamil movies they sneak in the topic sideways through conotative dialogues etc and the end result is it's portrayed in such a disgusting manner. Like the 80s were esp bad in tamil films. U may see western film actresses stripping outwardly, but in tamil films u had to bear with heroines wearing transparent sarees soaking in rain esp during the song sequences, and it somehow looks more lewd and obscene in the end.
  To make things worse the lyrics in alot of tfm are so gross it's better to ignore the real meaning and feign ignorance.
  When i was in high school, during a tamil function (in spore), we played "ruckumani ruckumani" from Roja during the program interval. It was common to play tfm songs during those functions and as the song was cute, we just played it. A few days later, our stupid tamil teacher called us and started yelling at us for playing such an inappropriate song during a school function as she had received complaints. My buddies and i were shell shocked. It was only later I thought about what the song meant. Being innoncent junior high students, that hadn't crossed our minds earlier. So maybe kamal's mission is to make it all more open. Well, i think he overdid it in Aalavandhan. It was just abit too much and too unrealistic for an Indian family.
  
  
• From: WhyNot (@ 203.24.100.132) on: Sun Nov 25 14:57:37 EST 2001
  
  An interesting and less offending manner in which sex was portrayed was in Maniratnam's Sindhu Bhairavi and the way they showed unwrapping of the veenai to illustrate the hero and Suhasini consumating their adulterous relationship with simple music instead of gross songs in the background. Kamal should learn to use such subtleness.
  
  
• From: Just Informing (@ 203.111.1.66) on: Sun Nov 25 17:54:25 EST 2001
  
  just informing, "WhyNot", Sindhu Bhairavi was one of K.Balachander's! :)
  
  By the way, guys please give merit to this movie based on what Kamal was trying to do rather than adding a culture tag to it.
  
  
• From: gyani (@ 195.50.149.49) on: Sun Nov 25 18:33:22 EST 2001
  
  I think Aalavandan is probably the most maligned movie of 2001. IMO, it has been unfairly panned by critics and masses alike mostly on the grounds that it has a slim, perfunctory, and contrived story. IMO, these people have really lost the plot.
  
  Kamal's intent in the movie is largely to take a journey into the dark recesses of a paranoid schizoprenic's mind. The mechanics of how the good twin defeats the designs of the evil twin are largely incidental. The most spectacular special effect in the movie, IMO, is the screenplay which gets into the head of Nandu and potrays the anguished state of his mind with visionary aplomb. After a long time it was heartening to watch a tamil movie that dares to invest its time on character development !!
  
  In a season where we get characters who make U-turns to advance the plot (yes I am talking about Paarthale paravasam:)), I am quite ok with a movie that contrives its wafer-thin plot a tad to showcase a truly original and fascinating character.
  
  just my 2 cents...
  
  
• From: Natti (@ 129.219.23.202) on: Sun Nov 25 19:39:14 EST 2001
  
  Kamal's aalavanthan is not a movie for the movie goers who look for comedy and entertainment. It is a movie that brings out kamals true intention of showing out his talent. He has been a good actor all his life. He has portrayed the character of Nandu in a very vivid manner. Lot of people have found the sections with the animation as an unwanted part in the movie. Well, it is a part of Nandus character and that is understandable. The movie is good except for certain parts where scenes have not been shot in the practical sense for eg. the scene where both the kamals jump on to the advertisement ballon and land up on the same spot. It is a 'seeable' movie and not one where kamal would live upto the expectation of most of the viewers. This is a movie for a person who likes the art of filming and characterisation.
  
  
• From: Deepak (@ 64.130.0.73) on: Sun Nov 25 21:36:02 EST 2001
  
  When we were watching Abhay today, one of my friends commented - "This guy's been in a mental asylum since he's a child. How's he driving a lorry?". I told him that his dad taught him to drive a car when he was a kid :). But any explanations for this?
  
  
• From: Vaathsayana (@ 216.154.7.40) on: Sun Nov 25 22:19:11 EST 2001
  
  Whynot,
  
  If K. Balachandar and Maniratnam had been the 'masters' of the artistic world a 1000 years ago, we would not have the beautiful stone sculptures of south India today that the whole world seems to be in awe of. Instead, we will have half-clad Veenas.
  
  Those of you who think Kamal is trying to tarnish our cherished culture by introducing sex scenes in movies, you guys should go take a look at the walls of some of the popular temples of Tamil Nadu, or just pick up a copy of Aandaal Pasuram or abirami anthaathi and read.
  
  Your minds, and our culture, has been poisoned by the victorian sense of properiety, not by Kamal's movies.
  
  
  
• From: fan (@ 202.9.149.168) on: Sun Nov 25 22:26:51 EST 2001
  
  i feel that kamal can produce more home videos in which he can show his acting prowess(which he has to a great extent), his extraordinary singing talents(> mohd rafi and spb). for cinema going public , he can do films like micheal,guru,sattam en kayinl,thoongathe,tenali,etc
  
  
• From: WhyNot (@ 203.24.100.132) on: Sun Nov 25 23:29:41 EST 2001
  
  Hey guys, I am not trying to malign Aalavandhan by judging it based on one aspect of the movie. I wrote a posting in the thread "Aalavandhan - fails miserably?!" yesterday, which I repeat here:
  "Maybe it helped that I went to watch Aalavandhan with lower expectations than the first bunch of viewers. Kamal's portrayal of the couple's love live is way too far-fetched. It made many of the viewers uncomfortable. The movie is overall a potpourri of ideas from several hollywood, japanese, chinese movies. But it was interesting overall and something about the sleek and polished manner in which the movie was made, was appealing. The Nandhu character also gave an eerie sensation and was done very convincingly. A disappointment was the car chase sequence. It seemed like a typical boys with toys affair. The truck exploding and catapulting towards the sky seemed unbelievable. It was not like there was a bomb in there to give such a force. The song 'Aalavandhan' seemed wasted and was not even loud and clear enuf. The movie seemed to portray drug consumption as an interesting experience. I hated the voice-overs (if it wasn't their own) for both Manisha and Raveena. It was damn irritating. Though Raveena did seem more mature, I'd prefer that than watching some teenage bimbo love affair. That would have been so irritating. However I don't quite buy the theory of exploring the mind of the mad man as the movie was too shallow to do any real exploring and the storyline was abit too lame. But the hallucinations with his mother were quite nicely done, and the way young Nandhu slowly sinks into his mental instability was very effectively portrayed.
  The bgm was pretty good.
  It was a pretty good attempt for a Tamil movie. I wouldn't be surprised if Abhay bombs, as it's probably more than the bollywood audience can chew. Kamal has succeeded again in doing something new and whether it's good or bad, in a typical Scorpio fashion, he seemed to have evoked many strong feelings about his work."
  
  and another posting in the same thread earlier:
  "I liked Aalavandhan. The first half was abit doubtful as the graphics seemed to go overboard, and due to the presence of irrelevant scenes and a somewhat patched work sequence of the scenes. But the 2nd half made up for it. I liked the flashback scene. Overall, one of the better Tamil movies I've seen for some time."
  
  So please don't put words in my mouth. And what I found far-fetched was the parents' easy acceptance of the fact their daughter was pregnant. How many Tamil/Indian families do you know where there will be such a reaction? Even in families where the parents don't have a problem with the sexual life of their unmarried daughter, they'd expect their daughter to have the brains not to get pregnant. And as for temple figurines, I've heard that explanation so many times before. But in today's world, if you put such graphic pictures in your work place, u can get sued for inappropriate conduct at the workplace.
  And whatever may be, my sister and I did feel very uneasy when the couple talked about their 20 encounters and kamal goes on his knees and wagged his butt! I found that gross and offending, whether it's my 'victorian sense of properiety' or the fact my younger bro and sis were next to us, or the fact we were not mentally prepared for such stuff in a Tamil movie, or whatnot!
  
  
  
  
  
• From: WhyNot (@ 203.24.100.131) on: Sun Nov 25 23:40:59 EST 2001
  
  And just to add, these temples were built by men, not by god! And these men were kings, they had the right to do what they liked, whether it was right or wrong. So that doesn't make it universally acceptable! And in the ancient days, women used to walk around topless, does that make it acceptable if women walk around topless in (Indian) movies today? I think not. You can't use what happened in the ancient days to justify how things are today. Becos whatever influence we have undergone, we have to accept the world as it is today. Or India will still be having monarchy instead of democracy, women will be confined to homes and temples, the caste system, the sati practices, child marriages, slavery, etc etc will all be rife. Can we justify these things in India today, simply bcos they existed long ago? No way!
  
  

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