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10-25-2009, 01:33 PM
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#41 (permalink) | |
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kumbidi - original
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10-25-2009, 01:34 PM
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#42 (permalink) | |
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kumbidi - original
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10-25-2009, 01:41 PM
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#43 (permalink) |
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Film: Pazhassiraja
Date: 24-Oct-2009 Place: PVR, Bangalore, 8.30PM show Theatre: Housefull (85% youth, 15% family) After a wait of 10 days I finally managed to see the most awaited movie of recent times. To be frank the movie is an assortment of disappointments. Coming from the makers of Oru Vadakan Veeragadha, the expectations have to be of at least something better than OVV. But the movie is a huge let down and I would like to go through the details later on in my review. I would like to start off with a word of appreciation to the Producer Sree Gokulam Gopalam for his sheer determination that has seen this movie reach the screens. Hope more producers like him enter the Malayalam movie industry. Flashback: OVV that was made 20-22 years ago had MT, Hariharan, Mammootty, Suresh Gopi, Captain Raju, Madhavi and Geetha all in the prime of their careers. A comparision with OVV is inevitable but what you see in Pazhassiraja is Hariharan, MT & Mammootty all way past their peak and the main additions in this movie Sharath Kumar, Manoj K Jayan, Kaniha and Padmapriya fail to raise the film. Only Sharath Kumar can stand up having delivered a career best performance. Let me get to a detailed assessment of the various departments in this movie. Direction Director Hariharan who has given us many of the most realistic films over the past 2 decades has failed in his biggest test. This is the greatest effort ever by a Malayalam film director (spanning 3 years) and he has without a doubt succeeded. Here is looks confused if he wanted to make a realistic adaptation on the life and times of a warrior king or a mass masala entertainer. This movie may entertain the front benchers but for true lovers of the parallel cinema movement of the 80s (in which Hariharan was an important contributor) will be disappointed with this half hearted effort. The greatest victory for Pazhassi Raja is in the fact that it has dissolved the audiences into one. This is NOT a film just for fans, or families, or any other category. Every person is watching the film for what it is and everyone is satisfied (except some budhijeevis).To call this movie a film for the front benchers just completely negates any credit you may hold as a reviewer. By saying that you are saying Pazhassi and Duplicate belong in the same category... I feel sorry for you. Hariharan has made numerous fundamental mistakes that he probably has never made in any of his previous movies. Here you see many of the support warriors looking into the camera, there is Col.Duncan walking with his eyes fixed on the camera, Hariharan has also let loose the make-up and costume teams without any auditing. Col. Duncan walking with eyes fixed on camera? First of all i think you mean this in the signing scene as he walks back with camera. i dont know. maybe you are right on that. but i always felt he was looking at the person standing behind camera who is seen when camera moves fully back. But if this is the criteria you are criticizing a film by, then please do so for all the malayalam movies. You will find such faults even in the golden period movies. Hariharan did a mindblowing job by commanding the biggest malayalam ship for three years. You have to understand how movies taken in six months can be outdated, but by making this, he has proved that he is timeless and priceless. I dont think any other director would have the capacity to control hundreds and thousdands in a frame for so many scenes and to make them all act. The climax has been converted into a mass masala styled superhero climax with Pazhassi dishing out English dialogs to please the front benchers. He has also failed to get any sort of performance from the foriegn cast all of who have given a wooden performance. Unnecessary additions like that of Dora has only added to the woes of the viewers. This english dialog or Dora you are saying is from the script probably. And really, I dont think it is a mass masala film. If that was their intention, they would have put some theri scenes in the scene before interval. I dont remember exact dialogue but it was something about how his countrys freedom is more important than his life. This IS NOT for front benchers. For front benchers it would have been some theri. And I felt the english cast was great. Obviously our industry (EVEN WITH 27 crores) cannot afford toby stevens like in mangal pandey. With just the malayalee cast the production schedules got delayed by three years, Imagine with Hollywood stars, this would never come out. I thought they were great as British. Sometimes silent and sometimes reactive. Hariharans portrayal of the British is a LOT better than the portrayal of INDIANS in British and American films. In fact Hariharan's failure is even more staggering considering he had a producer who was willing to go to any extend for the movie. If this budget were given to one of the younger directors in Malayalam I am sure they would have come up with a better product THE YOUNGER DIRECTORS WOULD HAVE SUCKED THEIR THUMBS DIRECTING THIS. This is a generation of Malayalam filmmakers who are completely succumbing to the wills and wishes of the Superstars (Except blessy, but ive heard he also had a tough time shooting kazcha... and palunku). Shyama Prasad is good but rithu has a LOT of aritificiality in its scenes and behavious. He also needs to grow. To control and guide such a big budget ship with a huge star cast and sub actors is no joke. The film makers today dont have the patience, the classical approach, the literary sense, the maturity or the vision to create something as grand as this. OVVG was huge when it came out. Now Pazhassi. Some of the scenes are so well crafted that they can easily rival any international film and THAT is Hariharans magic. Sorry. Hariharan is a legend. 2 thumbs down for Hariharan Script To most Malayali's the term "Script : MT Vasudevan Nair" hold immense hope, and this hope is not built on occassional flash in the pan creations but it is due to decades of output of sheer genius. But in Pazzhassiraja the writer in MT went asleep, he was probably bored by his research in history, but fact of the matter is it is one of the worst (if not the worst) screenplays that has been credited to him. The script lacks the normal depth that any MT creation has, whats worse is that even his dialogs here sounds like they have been written aimed at getting claps from the front benchers.There is no multi-layered or thought provoking dialogs here, its only playing to the galarries. HA HA HA Pazhassi must have been the most challenging work for MT because of all the limitations. MTs script travels seamlessly scene to scene and always manages to entertain us WHILE staying true to the story. I DONT THINK ANY OTHER WRITER CAN PULL THIS OFF. And this is not fiction. It is NOT a Character based drama where you expect depth or whatever from your french and russian films. This is a Historical WAR film. Pazhassi if nothing, should take credit in the fact that it is easily above Mangal Pandey or the million bagat singhs or other historicals from India. Thumbs down for MT Performance Mammootty : He shines in scenes where he has to walk around decked up. He fails big time in all his action scenes. It is probably this inability that has lead to the director leaving him out in most of the crucial battles. He is a mute spectator to the most important happenings. His 60 years clearly showing in his energy levels. I dont need to say there is no one else who can play pazhassi. And It is your inability to understand that the king normally do not take part in war sequences. And it is an obvious guess that records probably suggest that he was not in those sequences. The final one he fought obviously knowing he is going to die (as he says good bye to wife). This is by far Mammoottys best in recent times. and probably in his top 5. He was majestic. Sharath Kumar : Has given a strong restrained performance and Kunkan. He has fitted the role to the 'T' and is one of the stand out perfromances. Manoj K Jayan : He has overplayed his role in a few scenes but otherwise has delivered a good performance. His make up was a sore point. Padmapriya : She has given a good performance but the script writer has left her char incomplete and nobody knows what happened to her in the end? Britishers : All poor performances bordering on the pathetic. Suman: Too old for such a role Jagathi: OK Jagadeesh: Poor Suresh Krishna : OK Kaniha : She couldnt give a convincing performance and is one of the main weak points of this movie. Make Up - Over make-up for the lead chars while the extras have been under done - One of the main British army officer has a brown mushtach and a black & gray french beard. - The wig worn by Thomas is worse than the any that could have been used 50 years ago. Many of the wigs and beards used are of such poor quality that it looks more like its from a high-school drama rather than a mega-budget motion picture - Make up bloopers are littered all over the place, one wonders if it is the mistake of the make-up team or simply the incapability of Director Hariharan to handle such mega projects - Leading Lady who has been in hiding in a forest for months having a beauty parlour style shaped eye-brows - An adivasi warrior women with a clean shaven arm pit, while the King Pazhassi sports a beard to show his stay in the jungles, another way of looking at it is that the barbers were all busy shaving the armpits of adivasi women and had no time for the kings beard. Two thumbs down for the "make up" team Costumes The costumes of the Britishers are really poor, the British of those days were known for their impeccable attire and presentation. The Costumes used in this movie would put even a villiage drama troupe to shame. A period drama requires intense work by the costume department, here Director Hariharan has gone cheap and its sticking out like a sore thumb. Two thumbs down for the "costumes" team Action Ravi Devan probably was not geared up for this movie, he probably has never done Guerilla Warfare scenes before. Most of the rope scenes are poorly executed and fail to fit into the scene properly. He was also impeded by the lead actors inability to do major action scenes. Music Songs were all good, the only sore point that I felt was the ending jingle of the song Alavankadal... that felt like a Bappi Lahiri remix... Background Music : Was again good, though a little loud. Other Technical Aspects Sound : Rasool has done a good job and captured every fine bits of sound. The feel of the canon shots was awesome, the theatre floors were shaking. Camera : Mixed bag. Some awesome shots, many good shots and some poor shots. Camera work for such a film should have been the highlight but unfortunately it cannot be called outstanding, but there are flashes of brilliance too. Some of the points that even a common man like me could pick is, in one of the bed room scenes, the golden light from the lantern is visible on one side of Mammootty's face, while on the other half of his face the white light from the flash lights is clearly visible, all these are basic checks that should have been avoided. Effects : Graphic works were ametureish. Verdict: Disappointing - Neither satisfies the film lover nor the front bencher. Postscript: A few notes about the Casting The casting department for this film I believe is a huge failure, they seemed to have gone by availability rather than suitability... Pazhassiraja - Mammootty - Big time miscasting, from my knowledge of Pazhassiraja, he died in his 30's (worst case early 40's), how can someone who is nearly 60 years old be cast for this role? Mammootty's age shows in his lack of energy in the physical action scenes. He really struggles to make those movements required in those sword swinging scenes, infact in his clash with Kunkan British - Most of the actors cast are over weight bordering on the obese Overall this seems to be a review which was hell bent upon downriding the film. And I am not a fan of any side, there are negatives that I found too: Manoj's make up or cinematography being inconsistent or Jagadeesh character... but this movies easily outweighs the negatives with the million other positives. Please go to imdb and check for goofs on your favourite classic movies. There are people wearing watches in Benhur. and also a famous mercedes logo in it. There are several continuity errors in it. In Troy: the net from their wigs are seen in several scenes. There is a scene in which a wooden sword can be easily seen that it's actually plastic. A heroines bikini tan is seen clearly. Some of the swords actually wiggle proving that it's made of rubber. A motorcycle helmet is seen in the director's cut. Dead bodies are seen as rubber dummies clearly. And also, several other continuity and factual errors which I am not getting into. In Braveheart: Some weapons are flapping. As you mentioned, in some shots, the extras are staring straight into camera. A string is clearly visible when an arrow hits a character. In a shot where horses jump, a CAR is scene in the background in the widescreen version.Along with several other continuity and factual errors. In gladiator: When maximus takes of his helmet in one scene, his fingers make a mark which proves the helmet is rubber as opposed to metal. Crew or equipment visible: During the Rome vs. Carthage battle, a chariot slides sideways and hits a wall. A blanket lifts up just before it hits, revealing a large tank and some pipe fittings on the back of the chariot. Crew or equipment visible: The morning after the battle, when Maximus is patting his horse, a crew member in blue jeans walks backwards through the space underneath the horse's head and neck. Crew or equipment visible: During the initial Colosseum fight in Rome when a chariot crashes into a wall, an air ram tank is visible. Crew or equipment visible: In the Roma-Carthage battle reenactment, when one of the archers is cut in two by a chariot's wheel blade, a crew member can be seen kneeling in the chariot. Revealing mistakes: Near the end of the movie, when Commodus and Maximus are struggling for the knife, both of them are gripping it and it bends, indicating that it's rubber. pLUS SEVERAL OTHER ERRORS. In last samurai: In a slow motion shot, it is obvious that they have used rubber guns. plus several other conituity and factual errors. I am not saying im the genius who found this out. This is found by other users and viewers. I bet you never would notice these things because it's from HOLLYWOOD where everything is bible to you. Check for other movies also. If you keep the same eye for our malayalam films then we can write volumes of books about errors. I am not saying these are films are not good. I love movies, malayalam or english. BUT,you have to understand Period films are the most challenging to take and Hariharan did a supreme job which only he can do. the casting was spot on. Pazhassi Kunkan Thalakkal chandhu Ambu Pazhayaveetil chandhu maakkam neeli thilakan jagathy were all spot on. British: Baabar was really great. What we remember in climax along with mammootty is the way baabar looks at him. Great performance really. I dont think that fat man was a problem, even in military there are several fat men. They all had something to contribute. Beyond anything else, this was a monumental effort considering where it's coming from. Made at a cost which is nothing compared to hollywood or even bollywood, we can all take pride in the fact that we have a film to compare with them. Besides, a writer of MT's stature (who normally keeps quiet) said on TV that in terms of a film on freedom, Pazhassi Raja is a film that is even better than Braveheart. Pazhassi ki Jai! Last edited by chacko; 10-25-2009 at 05:46 PM. |
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10-25-2009, 01:43 PM
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#44 (permalink) | |
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ethengilum award melakku poyaal... ithu kandu saayippanmaar chirikkum... blunder ukal okkey chummathey kandu pidikkaam... Mangal Pandey (aamir khan) ithu poley oru padam aayirunnu... overrated... but koothara...
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Oru naal varum,Shikkaar, Christian Brothers,Khandahaar .. ini aakhoshathintey naalukal  Type in Malayalam - Google Transliteration |
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10-25-2009, 01:47 PM
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#45 (permalink) | |
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atho ini TROY iley aalkaar kalari murakal copy adichathaano.. ? 
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Oru naal varum,Shikkaar, Christian Brothers,Khandahaar .. ini aakhoshathintey naalukal Type in Malayalam - Google Transliteration |
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10-25-2009, 01:51 PM
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#46 (permalink) | |
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Pazhassi is a success because of quality. |
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10-25-2009, 01:53 PM
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#48 (permalink) | |
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*** Rajavinte Makan ***
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10-25-2009, 01:54 PM
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#49 (permalink) | |
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Oru naal varum,Shikkaar, Christian Brothers,Khandahaar .. ini aakhoshathintey naalukal Type in Malayalam - Google Transliteration |
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10-25-2009, 01:56 PM
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#50 (permalink) | |
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thats what in the review shows 
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