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AR Rahman's Tamil Blockbuster "BOYS"

Topic started by Theepan (@ 209.197.167.70) on Tue May 6 23:23:20 EDT 2003.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Rahman's much anticipated "Boys" is set to release soon and everyone is keen on finding out more about this album. Who are the singers? What are the soundtracks like? When is the release date? Will the album be delayed? If anyone has any idea; please post here....

Also; use this thread to discuss this album..

Here is what i found::

Typical of Shankar, the director is not prepared to say much about the film at this point. However, it is known that the film will be very youthful, almost teeny-bop, in content, with the majority of the cast being in the 16-23 age group.

Shankar, apparently, has decided to cast all new faces in his film – and the younger the better.

In fact, a mention in various Tamil periodicals, and an accompanying advertisement to the effect that Shankar was looking for new faces, has created a headache of sorts for the producers. Curriculums vitae have been pouring in to the Surya Movies post box ever since the ad and the story ran in the vernacular press – and last heard from, the flood shows no signs of abating.

Curiously enough, the ad appears – thanks to emails and discussion groups – to have reached an audience abroad as well, with the result that newer batches of applications have US, British and suchlike stamps on them, which suits the producer and director fine since the film does incorporate a lot of NRI faces.

For Shankar, Boys will be a return to romance after Kadhalan, and to comedy after the Aishwarya Rai-Prashanth starrer Jeans. Though the film will feature fresh – and ergo, inexpensive – faces, Shankar maintains that the film will be typical of his style, which means lavish budgets, and expensive production values.

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: xml (@ 128.148.68.110) on: Fri Sep 5 20:09:42 EDT 2003
  
  Great topic and discussion.Keep it up.
  
  
• From: aswathama (@ 68.58.124.250) on: Fri Sep 5 23:14:10 EDT 2003
  
  Could someone please explain the collection details listed in dinamalar:
  
  http://www.dinamalar.com/2003sep06/fpnews5.asp
  
  
• From: sri kanth (@ 219.93.41.131) on: Fri Sep 5 23:44:13 EDT 2003
  
  boys is wonderful movie that depict lives of young people is real life.
  
  It actually showsthe truth that is happening now
  
  
• From: V (@ 147.129.97.242) on: Fri Sep 5 23:49:50 EDT 2003
  
  Collections in MAdurai Ramanathapuram district alone:
  
  Dhool-10 crores 95 lacs
  
  Saamy- 4 crores 85 lacs
  
  Kadhal Konden- 2 crores 60 lacs
  
  Jayam- 3 crores 50 lacs
  
  Boys- 24 crores 30 lacs
  
  
  Also The Hindu reports that Dr. Krishnaswamy has protested against Boys screening! HE is plotting to stop the screening if the censor board does not act.
  
  
• From: rajasaranam (@ 210.214.131.148) on: Fri Sep 5 23:52:41 EDT 2003
  
  V,
  
  Yes I did defend Boys vehemently in the beginning, but that was before I actually saw the movie!......
  
  nice try. keezha vizhunthalum meesayila mann ottala.
  
  ........But I know you are already starting your prayers for Mani's next flop film right?haha
  
  i cannot make a guess now as the there r no songs released and there r going to be no songs in it. as far as i heard the movie is abt underworld dons and will be similar to company/ satya etc., well i know MR's caliber. i think like wat shankar did to boys seeing TI. MR is going to do with this new film.
  IMO he is another director who is getting undeserved acclaims. well he is good, not the best.he is not creative on his own and lunges for topical stories. with good technical team at disposal his films r made good finally.
  
  and this is too early to make a guess, and pray for it so cheer up, i havent started my prayers yet :-)
  
  and i was telling abt the BGM part where there is shouting.... u come up with some europeon review. well they dont understand the language and view the movie with subtitles. they dont need to follow the dialogues as we do.
  
  
  
  
  
• From: V (@ 147.129.97.242) on: Sat Sep 6 00:08:58 EDT 2003
  
  what do u mean by 'nice try'?
  
  You are talking as if I entirely changed my opinion! I am sure you desperately want me to feel a sense of guilt. I am clear in my stand now
  
  I still feel that Boys should not have been snipped. I still feel that Kadhal Konden contents must have been retained. All I am saying that is both the directors Shankar and Selvaraghavan dont have to be so crude in showing the concept. They can be little refined.
  
  To say "One died" is more crude than saying "One passed away". The conveyance of the message is essential but it should be done in a refined way thats it!
  
  The BGM in Iruvar which you term as "shouting" was IMO effective in my opinion. There wascertain poignance and zeal in that scene and Mohan lal is given loads of inspiration in that scene. I found nothing wrong in it. In fact in the Mani Ratnam technical discussion site that scene's BGM is acclaimed so much!
  
  MR is over-acclaimed ?? I am 100% sure you would not have said that if he was still with Raasa. Yeah even Kamal is over-acclaimed. Mohanlal is any day bettter than him IMO.
  
  
  Dont worry. Mani's movie will have songs. I already know what your opinion on the songs are right now! But I will definitely be back to attack your over-zealous interjections when the album releases. The intensity will surely grow when the movie releases.
  
  
  
  
  
• From: Teja (@ 12.240.79.131) on: Sat Sep 6 00:09:21 EDT 2003
  
  'Boys' peep under woman's blouse, walk with zip open, embarrass all
  
  CHENNAI: When a reputed film-maker and his crew, with a repertoire of some good work behind them, pushes you down a quagmire of sleazy, embarrassing situations that leaves a bad taste in the mouth, what does one do? Nothing. Except come out of the theatre with a feeling of shock – one’s sensibility assaulted, one’s intelligence insulted, and a victim of some con game!
  
  The cast
  
  It’s mainly five guys and a girl, all debutants with stars in their eyes, all excited about bagging a break with Shankar. But, after watching how they have been depicted in the film, one wonders whether they will still have the same feeling of elation. It’s not that they have done a bad job, it’s only that they have done Shanker’s bidding. Managing to get noticed is Nakul, impish, chubby and cute (brother of actress Devayani). Harini has this bland demeanour throughout. The rest of the huge cast – including Vivek, a first-timer in a Shanker film, is wasted. They are just a bunch of people with no individuality.
  
  The crew
  
  Shanker has in his earlier films got the best out of his technicians, but this time he’s pulled them down with him. Whatever little impact a couple of songs of Rahman’s had (while viewing bits of them in the teasers on channels) sounds unbearably noisy while viewing the film. They are further marred by some poor choreography and downright bad picturisation. Shanker uses his camera (Ravi K Chandran) more as a voyeur, showing in embarrassing close-ups what the ‘boys’ are looking at – like deep down a woman’s blouse as she bends down. Makes one wonder who’s ‘growing up’ – the ‘boys’, the director, or the camera. Sabu Cyril has taken pains over his sets, like the one made of old, discarded materials. But the impact is lost in this mess of scripting and picturisation. Appalling is Sujata, one of our popular and respected writers, who goes overboard with his dialogue, which is explicit and liberally strewn with double entendres. The whole crew comes out with their image a little soiled.
  
  The scenes and situations
  
  It’s five ‘boys’ and a girl, with one of them loving, eloping and marrying the girl, the rest backing the duo. Here is a sample of some of the scenes. One of the ‘boys’ walks around with his fly open and teases a girl, who retorts irritatingly about his open zip. Replies the boy cheekily, ‘‘I knew you’ll look there and tell me, that’s why I kept it open,’’ or some such thing.
  
  An elderly woman bends down to do some chore, and you have another ‘boy’ peeping down her blouse. Yet another ‘boy’ rubs his bottom against that of a woman in joyful glee.
  
  Munna, the ‘hero’, runs around in the buff on a busy Anna Salai, his antics embarrassing your senses, not exactly the impulsive ‘‘fun’’ situation the director probably meant it to be.
  
  In yet another scene, the ‘Boys’ hire a prostitute, and their antics as they try to prove to each other that they ‘did it’ (when they didn’t) provides some more embarrassing moments for the viewer! And there’s no respite, the narration continues the same way, the ‘Boys’ jostling and fondling women, all blatant and explicit. Their antics should have landed the ‘Boys’ in a police lock-up or in some juvenile home! But, for Shanker, it’s all about ‘growing up’!
  
  The inspiration
  
  The successful Kasturiraja directed Thulluvatho Ilamai seems to be the film Shanker has liberally borrowed his ideas and situations from. Forgetting that Thulluvatho..., despite its embarrassing moments (for which it was awarded an A certificate), was a sensitively crafted film, with a realistic depiction of adolescent growing up, backed by a well thought out script.
  
  Finally, Boys, Shanker’s latest, much hyped release, is the biggest con game in recent times. A great celluloid cheat!
  
  
• From: V (@ 147.129.97.242) on: Sat Sep 6 00:11:09 EDT 2003
  
  "BOYS"
  
  DIRECTOR SHANKAR'S latest coming-of-age extravaganza is complete with technical wizardry, terrific music and a vivacious cast. It packs in quite a lot in terms of "message for the masses". Overdone, but relevant. The theme this time? Teen trouble and generation gap.
  
  The media has, over the past couple of months, given quite a bit of space to the film, writing about the money being spent, the "60-odd cameras" effect for a song sequence and of course, A.R. Rahman bouncing back to form. So, expectations have been high.
  
  Five fun-loving college goers from different social backgrounds, live it up, wooing girls while not downing a peg or two on the sly or reading porno magazines. They are also musically talented — if one writes poetry, another plays an instrument and the third can sing.
  
  One of them falls in love with the daughter of a rich, status-conscious couple. All hell breaks loose, predictably, and `battle lines' are drawn — parents vs. children. The youngsters walk out of their homes, the lovers get married and the friends vow to make it big together.
  
  The story moves at quite a fast pace till here. Then it meanders, and situations become over-exaggerated and melodramatic.
  
  The prison sequence looks contrived. The treatment meted out to Kumar, one of the boys, is unnecessary. And the Mount Road episode is needlessly overblown.
  
  But "Boys" has its moments. It captures the spirit of youth — camaraderie, restlessness, discovery, impulsiveness and love.
  
  There are some sensible statements, especially with reference to the subject of sex. When Vivek, who, for once, is serious, says television is responsible to a large extent in "corrupting" young minds, he is not too far from the truth. Only, the scenes could have been handled with lot more subtlety.
  
  All the actors play their parts well, be it the boys — Siddharth, Manikandan, Nakul Jaidev, Bharat Nivas and Sai Srinivas — or Genelia as Harini.
  
  Among the others, A.V. Ramanan stands out. But why do artistes like Kalairani settle for such stereotypical roles? All she does is wail. As for Anita Ratnam, it's a reprisal of the "Kandukondian... " role. But the show belongs to Vivek. He's the mouthpiece for the director.
  
  Rahman is at his rocking-best with "Girlfriend Vaenum", "Maro Maro" and "Secret of Success (Sa Re Ga Mae)". The song picturisations have the Shankar stamp — all shot on a grand scale. However, the other songs do not impress much.
  
  Ravi K.Chandran's camera feasts on the lush locales of Tasmania in one song, but beyond that plays a functional role. Sujatha's dialogue is hard-hitting, but does it have to border on vulgarity? Sabu Cyril comes up trumps with his art direction, especially the MTV awards set.
  
  Shankar's films are entertainers with a strong social message. "Boys" too has it. With such a powerful theme and concept, Shankar could have taken a fresh approach, say on the lines of the Hindi film "Dil Chahta Hai". But looks like he was weighed down by the needs to pander to the box-office.
  
  
  
• From: V (@ 147.129.97.242) on: Sat Sep 6 00:47:45 EDT 2003
  
  Here is an excerpt from the Deccann Herald's news about Boys's accused vulgarity content:
  
  "Whether or not the film is subject to re-censorship or objectionable scenes are removed, one thing is clear: conservative Tamil Nadu is not ready to shrug it off saying boys will be boys."
  
  What a befitting statement!
  
  

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