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| Sivapuram
- Movie Review |
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| Review
by : Behindwoods review board |
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Starring:
Prithviraj,
Kavya Madhavan, Manoj K Jayan,
Kalabhavan Mani, Cochin Haneefa,
Revathi, Riya Sen
Direction:
Santosh Sivan
Music:
M G Radhakrishnan
Production:
Subrahmanyam B, Rupesh Y
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Now
this is a weird review. Here’s
how. Anandabhadram, the Malayalam
movie about black magic was
released way back in 2005. In
all probability the movie was
also released in Chennai to
cater to the burgeoning Malayali
population. The movie went on
to win five Kerala State awards
after achieving commercial success.
Anandabhadram was also remade
in Telugu in the following year,
2006, under the title Sivapuram.
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Since
then, the movie has been telecast more than
a hundred times in various television channels
(in Telugu and Malayalam of course). As
to what triggered the producers to dub the
movie and release in Tamil at this juncture
is puzzling. It could be Riya Sen’s
liberal skin show, Kavya’s lack of
it and or just to cash in on the horror
fever that seems to have caught Tamil cinema
off late.
As for the movie itself, Sivapuram is the
cinematic adaptation of the award winning
novel written by Sunil Parameshwaram. The
movie delves deep into the supernatural
elements including spirits and tells the
story of a sorcerer, who is an expert black-magician.
Set in the lushly locales of rural Kerala,
the entire movie is an interesting tale
of good versus evil told in the backdrop
of a mysterious Shivakavu (snake temple)
and the Nagamanikyam (diamond) guarded by
its serpents.
While Manoj K Jeyan as the black magician
Digambaran spooks the daylights out of you,
Prithviraj’s role as Ananthan who
is a disbeliever caught in the tangle of
supernatural elements is admirable. Kalabhavan
Mani as the blind martial arts expert, Kavya
Madhavan, Riya Sen, Revathi and Cochin Hanifa
play convincing roles.
Santosh Sivan’s direction and camera
must have been fresh and a treat for the
eyes when the movie was released. Now it
is all botched and makes it look like the
entire movie was made in bad lighting. Blame
it on the picture quality that is more than
four years old.
There is no denial of the fact that Malayalam
and Tamil have striking similarities as
spoken languages. But that is not an excuse
for bad dubbing and atrocious borrowing
of Malayalam words into the Tamil version.
And the lip syncs obviously do not match
either - same for the beautiful songs that
were once chartbusters in M G Radhakrishnan’s
music.
Saby
Cyril was to direct Anandabhadram that was
later taken over by Santosh Sivan. Sivan’s
screenplay and taut direction are one of
the very many pluses of the (original version)
movie.
If you ask us, there
is no point wasting money on a movie that’s
being telecast every other weekend on the
Malayalam television channels.
Verdict:
Good movie, bad dubbing!
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