VISITOR COLUMN

It is time for Vijay fans to rejoice a commercial entertainer from Vijay after Velayudham. But this outing of Vijay cannot be categorized under his usual one man shows. This time he joins with one of the most undisputed representative of the South Indian Film fraternity at the international level – Mohanlal. This new addition gives a different flavour to this action thriller. Laletta-Ilaya Thalapathy combo makes the movie live up to the expectation created by the 2 million+ views generated teaser, trailer and songs. 

  

First of all, Vijay has to be appreciated for choosing a character which, initially in the movie, has negative shades. Movie by movie, Vijay’s look is getting refined which is a very good sign for a mass hero and this opens the door for him to choose a variety of scripts. Hope he does so in his future ventures. His body language of that of a reckless urbanized rural guy is something different from him. In order to bring out Vijay’s prowess in acting in this kind of a movie, director has framed a set of scenes such as a scene in which he lies over a cart and enjoys the rooster fight with his buddies, a scene where he takes charge of the duty, a scene which portrays his transformation from a happy-go-lucky carefree guy to a responsible cop, a scene where he imitates Mohanlal’s walk, a scene where he confronts the goons in order to not let Mohanlal awake from his sleep, a scene where Vijay expresses his longing for father’s care after injuring himself. He looks in good Police outfit. Bodily or Facially, Vijay stamps his authority once again in either of the expressions. 

        

Mohanlal has an equal screen space to that of Vijay’s. His presence and portrayal of caring side of a father for sure would remind their father to many. As a Living Legend, he has been flexible enough to accept a story alongside a star like Vijay and generate hype for his co-star, in scenes through dialogues, which excites fans. In the same way like he did for Vijay, director has planned a set of scenes solely for Mohanlal especially, the scene in quarry and the scene where he expresses his emotions to Vijay after being insulted by a Police Commissioner. There are certain sequences with novelty such as in the climax where Mohanlal nudges Vijay’s shoulder after following him by holding his hand which in turn is coupled with a shot from flash back and where Mohanlal pleads Vijay in a peculiar way after the subplot is revealed. 

 

Kajal Aggarwal has done a glam doll role. Her chemistry with Vijay in Thupakki has landed her in this role. Kajal Aggarwal as Police is convincing. Poornima Bhagyaraj, Mahat, Nivedha Thomas and Sampath have done their limited roles well. 

 

D.Imman is another big name in this movie. It is his one man show in both BGM and songs that have conveyed the moments beautifully to the audience. Sound that is played while showing the negative side of Mohanlal is rocking for sure. Jilla theme has been aptly utilized by Imman. ‘Paatu Onnu’ sets up the intro mood perfectly. Foot tapping numbers such as ‘Jingunamani’ and ‘Yeppa Mama Treatu’ in the first and second half respectively raise the excitement of the fans and make them dance to the tune. ‘Paatu Onnu’ song’s tunes have been used at right sequences to bring out the father-son sentiment. 

 

Neason has taken a difficult job in hand i.e. Simple Story and Top Stars and has tried to use the resources to their best at this point of his career. Sequence of events taking place half an hour before interval and the climax sequence have been depicted well. Thanks to the camera work by Ganesh Rajavelu in both these portions. A Car scene conceived by Neason in the first half involving Vijay and Pradeep Rawat was panned out well. Dialogues have been written well. Rather than inserting punch dialogues, dialogues have been written with a punch in them. In certain scenes, audience’s reaction comes out as a dialogue. In this way, director engages the audience.

 

As a whole, Jilla has many moments to be relished by the fans as well as the general audience. Vijay has to move on from this genre or from this level of film making to a still higher level. Lot has been explored by Vijay in this genre or level with different directors. Unlike others, his fans are not stagnated and are ready to accept different attempts either in terms of story or screen play like that of Nanban and Thupakki. 

 

It’s Jilla Pongal!!!