Autograph

This is really an autograph by Cheran to the tamil film industry! An Amazing movie, which was more moving the second time than the first! I did not have much expectations going into this movie, except for Sneha, whose presence in the poster was larger than any others. But I barely noticed that she does not appear in the movie until we are well into the second half!

Cheran himself has done a great job in describing the stories of the women he has been with. This is similar to Mera Naam Joker, where Raaj Kapoor does an outstanding job of telling the tale of his fantasies with various ladies. This one, I could relate to better. It was more natural and realistic.

The first love is at a 10th standard age. If you ask most tamil guys, they will surely have memories of atleast one girl they remember, as having liked more than any other. However, as it was shown in the movie, this childhood love does not succeed in many cases. It was also very natural that the guy takes a souvenir from the girl to keep with himself for the rest of his life.

The contrast shown between the time that passed when Cheran comes back to his village was simply brilliant! This was really in the same class as James Cameron in Titanic. The old Narayanan teacher was another beautiful story, although the crude jokes might not have been appreciated universally. The one thing in my mind that stood out was the fact that Cheran stayed away from usual tamil film wisdom, by presenting Kamala's husband as a good man. Normally, you would see a kodumai kaara purushan!

Then came the next story, the college love. There are many Indian guys who go through this phase in their lives as well and this was illustrated beautifully. New comer, Gopika has done an admirable job as the Kerala girl, Lathika. This story is a departure from a perfectly normal or average case. However, it is not entirely fiction either. There is a girl in college in good likelihood, that likes you and cares for you, if you are the kind that does not think it is a sin, talking to the fairer sex. A college excursion getting a guy and a girl close is something each one of us would definately have seen in our lives! This was portrayed beautifully. What was perhaps unwanted was the scenes where the guy after love failure goes to the extent of drinking, smoking and the scene where the guy throws up is not what you want to watch when you are having dinner!

Then comes the breeze in the form of Sneha! She has acted marvellously! Her performance in the "Ovu Oru Pookalume,,," steals the thunder from everyone else. She has really delivered a spectacular performance. I think it may just have to do with her real life personality. She really has a passion to help blind people, which is illustrated by her frequent visits to blind schools and her decision to donate her eyes. So, she has not acted in this song, she comes across as someone who has "felt" it. Her brilliance is further seen in the sequence where her mom dies and she has to support her friend during his ad shoot. I am in loss of words to describe her performance. It can be seen as several notches above that of Madhuri Dixit in Hum Aapke Hain Koun! The dialogue in which she exemplifies friendship and says that she does not want to make it an ordinary relationship between them, is really a true matter of fact and anyone who has such good friends is bound to realize this!

The marriage sequence is something that audiences will remember for a long long time! Atleast I know, I will. Here again the natural performance by Sneha is great! Her eyes do the talking for her! You can tell by just this one scene, where she throws a meaningful glance at Cheran when she sees him all clean shaven for the wedding! She does not need to say.."Enna... figure-ukkaaga nee valartha daadiye cut pannittiyya?" ;-)

In my mind, Sneha really has the potential to grab it all in Kollywood, if she takes care of her shape and the roles that she takes. Gopika has a good potential and has done a good job. Cheran has done really well in many sequences throughout the movie, but he cries more than an average hero, this really is natural under some circumstances, like where he feels extremely guilty after seeing a miserable Lathika after 12 years! The dialogues surrounding that event are also pretty realistic.

Kudos to Cheran! I feel sad that this movie did not receive the fanfare that an average masala movie gets! Friday, March 18, 2005 at 1:19 PM