Ko–Drawing parallels!

‘Ko’ has been portrayed by the media as the summer blockbuster of 2011. I’m not here to talk about the film cast or direction, but I chose to talk about the script. KV and Suba has come up with a racy script which is weaved with journalism and politics, both entwining and complementing each other. Now, let us consider the parallels we can draw from the film characters.

As far as the portrayal of the protagonist (Ashwin) is concerned, we can draw parallels with the famous Vandhiyadevan of ‘Ponniyin Selvan’. In both the stories, the protagonist lifts an ordinary person to the country’s  most prestigious ruling chair. Role of Ashwin is similar to the role of Indian Express editor played in the rise and fall of Dhirubhai Ambani.

Similarly, the character of the antagonist (Vasanthan Perumal) can be seen as a tuned version of Camerlengo of ‘Angels & Demons’. Both the characters choose anti-social methods to seed hope in the minds of people. When caught red-handed, they talk about the ‘Greater-good’ and confront their deeds as a noble one.

In fact, in both ‘Angels & Demons’ and in ‘Ko’, the protagonist decides to acquit the guilt of the antagonist for the ‘Greater-good’!

Story of young generation coming to politics can lead comparisons with ‘Ayudha Ezhuthu’ etc. Even, we can go on saying that KV’s last film ‘Ayan’ is inspired from the Di Caprio blockbusters – ‘Blood Diamond’ and ‘Catch me if you can’!

Character of Saro (Pia Bajpai) has been an exception from the above described comparisons. This character is sure enough to win well-deserved accolades to the scriptwriters (KV and Suba).

In spite of all these comparisons, the director stands out successful with this script. Even though we can draw infinite parallels with other sources, this script well-supported with the dialogues, cinematography and music  make the film to bask in the light of blockbuster success. One should appreciate the confidence, KV has shown on this script. The metamorphosis of KV from a photo-journalist –> cinematographer-> scriptwriter-> director has attained its completion.

Above discussed way of scripting a Tamil cinema may not be the right way to make a film. But it will change the mind set of the hoi polloi such that s/he will give more importance to the script rather than the star-cast.

As the climax of this film projects, a right-goal will always win morality over the right-way. In this perspective, we can say that KV Anand has achieved a great feat with this movie. Kudos to him!

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Nadunisi Naaygal - A brave attempt gone haywire!

Fact is that, if a movie tests your patience, it doesn't mean that it is not a quality flick. A thriller movie is one, which brings the audience to the verge of their seats, not to the exit door! Nadunisi Naaygal places itself in the latter category.

Ironically, the film posted itself with some quality technical work. Thanks to Manoj Paramahamsa and Anthony. People used to assimilate any pictorial narrative with the help of music. Even at the times of speechless movies, it is the music which compensated the dialogues. Hats off to Gautham to come up with such an idea to make a film lack of music. It is indeed a brave attempt! It is one of the riskiest moves made by the ace film-maker. When you take such an Himalayan risk, you should concentrate on the script with utmost perfection. But, this is the place where Gautham fails to make his count.

Nadunisi Naaygal is an attempt to compensate the music with visuals. Performance by Veera as the protagonist hunter and Sameera as the hunted are mind-blowing! Gautham once again proves that he is one of the rare directors who can make a boulder to act. Gautham brought the best out of Simbhu and Trisha in VTV, Jyothika as an antagonist in Pachai Kili Muthucharam, Surya in VA, Jeevan in Kaka Kaka, Daniel Balaji in Vetaiyadu Vilayadu. Similarly, he stands out as a great director, when he brings such an incredible performance from Veera Bhahu(Veera/Samar) and Sameera (Sukanya). But, as a script writer, he fails to make an impression.

Nadunisi Naaygal is a void without Manoj Paramahamsa. Such an wonderful piece of work he has done for this movie! He tried his best to make the visuals as claustrophobic as it can be and he succeeds. Most part of the script could be seen as an inspiration got from Silence of the Lambs and Sigappu Rojjakal. One who watched these two flicks can draw parallels in number of occasions with Nadunisi Naaygal. The house, dogs, brutal murders, sexual urge, childhood sexual abuse are derivations from Sigappu Rojakkal whereas, the character-map of the psychopath is a derivation from Silence of the Lambs and Fight Club.

Though I salute Gautham for coming with such an idea, the irreplaceable fact remains that 'Music is like Mother! Nothing can replace or compensate it'.

My rating will be 2.5/5.

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