| Who
needs Subramaniapuram, Pasanaga
and Naadodigal? |
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| By
Behindwoods Visitor
Shyam |
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| The
views expressed in this column
is that of the visitor. Behindwoods.com
doesn't hold responsible for its
content. |
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Some
of the industry critics and
audience might be crooning happily
at the advent of realism in
Tamil Cinema by analyzing the
outcome of movies like “Subramaniapuram”,
“Saroja”, “Pasanga”,
“Naadodigal” etc.
I beg to differ, in fact, dare
to differ in this particular
view. It is not just realism
but realism-cum-experimentation
is what keeps any form of art
alive and it also helps to progress
from one stage to another over
a period of time but it’s
pathetic to see that such films
have put the Tamil Cinema way
back in time. How can a film
industry progress if movies
are set in the backdrop of a
town 30 years ago for no reason
or show street cricket and have
draggy characters that we are
already tired of? To quote a
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counter example, “Gangs of New York”
had a similar time-displaced backdrop to
depict the rivalry between immigrant Irish
and New York locals that is a part of the
history.
At the same time, it’s also true that
Tamil Cinema has seen some greats and few
promising artistes in the likes of Kamal
Haasan, Mani Ratnam, Shankar, Bharathiraja,
Gautham Menon, Murugadoss etc doing daredevil
experimentations to take the industry to
a higher level keeping the commercial aspects
intact. Critics are very quick to pinpoint
the plot holes in “Dasavatharam”
but very few have acknowledged Kamal Haasan’s
conception of “Chaos Theory”
that even some of the Mathematicians would
dread to deal with. Many people came to
terms with a mental deformity called “Multiple
Personality Disorder” only after watching
“Anniyan” though the overall
theme is rumored to be picked from “Seven”.
Who can forget “Short Term Memory
loss” from “Ghajini” supposed
to be inspired from “Memento”
though it was no way near its predecessor’s
class? I bet audience would still be terrified
at the very sight of a serial killer in
“Sigappu Rojakkal” and they
would also some day love to see a real dynamic
cop like Anbu Chelvan in “Kaakka Kaakka”.
Who better than Mani Ratnam can showcase
our country’s burning political issues
in the form of “Roja” and “Bombay”
and unite the citizens at the same time?
There are umpteen genres yet to be extensively
dealt and explored in Tamil cinema, or in
general, Indian cinema. The ones that come
to the mind at lightning speed are Science
Fiction, Horror, Racy thriller, Romantic
comedy, Hilarious Comedy, Extreme action,
History, Famous novels etc. Our movie makers
should come out of the only genre they know
that is called “Masala” and
experiment with new ones though it might
mean few commercial losses on the way. As
a matter of fact and sign of belittling
itself, no other film industry will ever
witness so many directors turning into pathetic
actors. In a recent Vijay TV awards function,
the host was claiming that Hollywood would
be proud of Tamil Cinema. It was the most
preposterous statement that I have ever
heard considering the fact that only 7 out
of 118 Tamil movies were successful at the
box office in 2008. The only true and sensible
statement he made was “Tamil Cinema
is proud of having Kamal Haasan”.
This industry definitely doesn’t need
pragmatism in the name of dark rusty street
lads/boys doing whatever they want to do
on the screen because it’s neither
inspirational nor path-breaking. It will
be a disastrous subterfuge to the industry
if such movies continue to make waves or
claim to make waves. It would also be very
helpful if our movies can get rid of “Kuthu”
songs and stop fragmenting the audience
into A, B, C, D … Z centers. The hopes
that Tamil cinema has, to go places might
be stalled or even thrown back if such derisory
writers/directors continue doing what they
are unwittingly doing now.
Thanks & Regards,
Shyam
a_shyam41@yahoo.co.uk
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