Kuselan Review

AT A GLANCE:

Pluses:
Acting by Rajini & Pasupathy
Some comedy scenes
Cinematography
Original story

Minuses
Direction
some comedy scenes



What can I say? Superstar Rajini's magic still works & looks fresh after all these years, after all these movies!

The movie first introduces us to Pasupathy's character, Balu, his family, his competitor (played by Vadivelu) and other folks in the village. A few scenes reveal his poverty; a few scenes tickle our funny bone; there is a spectacularly photographed song; but mostly we wonder "When is THE intro and what form is it going to take". And then it comes.

I should say this was one of the most creative intros for Thalaivar ever. I would rank it up there with Thalapathi & Baasha. From this point, the movie is mostly about the villagers getting to know Pasupathy's friendship with the Superstar and trying to take advantage of it while Pasupathy feels mostly insecure about facing his now-famous friend. A few shooting scenes reveal the screen presence and charisma of the Superstar.

Do the friends ever meet? What happens then - this is resolved in a highly emotional climax with Rajini stealing the thunder.

The movie boasts of very good acting by Rajini & Pasupathy with good support by others. P. Vasu, on the other hand, is conspicuous by his utter lack of creativity and sloppy screenplay. Arvind's camera work and shot positioning work very well. GVP's music is OK.

Hardcore fans, while missing the superstar's fights and bravado-filled encounters, are likely to appreciate his heart-felt natural acting. Rajini's scenes with Vadivelu & Sunderrajan stand out here. Families & ladies will find the softer side of Rajini highly appealing.

Some low-brow 'comedy' scenes of Vadivelu were in poor taste and could have been avoided. So could have the rain song.

On the whole, a pleasant viewing experience for the whole family, if you can sit through some of the amateurish TV serial-like scenes.

Kuselan Songs

Excerpts of the Kuselan songs are out on the movie website here:

http://www.kuselanthemovie.com/song.html

The Sollaama song looks like a family song a la kokku para para from CM. Couldn't resist a chuckle from seeing the dolphins fr0licking around in 'namma ooru kulam'! The cinematography looks amazing, though.

Cinema Cinema & Om Zaraare songs look tailor-made for Rajni fans.

Hope Perinba looks better in the movie than it looks in the trailer.

It remains to be seen whether the Nayan song will be a 'smoke break' for the audience. When was the last time that a Rajni movie had a song exclusively for the heroine? I cannot fathom screen time being devoted to neither the Superstar thread nor the barber thread in a such a story-heavy movie.

Official Kuselan Trailer

Wow! Vasu is fast!

With less than 10 days to go before its release, the official trailer of Kuselan is out!

While it offers no clues regarding the story (like we needed any!!!), the trailer is very slickly made.

The cinematography appears top-notch. Thalaivar looks very young and dashing! The 'Om Zaarare' set looks great as does the portion of the 'Cinema Cinema' song.

Here's the link:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SboUFBnLxJs

My take on Dasavatharam

Saw Dasavatharam yesterday. So how was the movie?

Pluses:
Kamal's acting
Grandeur in some scenes

Minuses:
Makeup
Direction

First of all, we should recognize the gift that Kamal is to the world of cinema. It is rare to find an artist who has so much talent and has the drive and the willingness to work hard in pursuit of perfection. That said, it is indeed sad that certain aspects (makeup, choice of shots/lighting) have taken away from the hard work that he put in.

Kamal's body language, dialog delivery and emoting (of whatever was visible in his face) was impeccable. Except for the George Bush character, I was impressed by his handling of all other roles. It was sad that the makeup did not let Kamal's facial expressions get through - this was most visible in Poovaraghan's case. Fletcher's face had a permanent sneer, which did not feel too much out o the ordinary, considering his character.

As far as the screenplay goes, his inspirations (Enemy of the State, Tempus Fugit, Babel etc) are visible in their impact; but alas, in his zeal to tie a lot of unrelated subjects like the sand mafia, he does let the screenplay sag a little. In my opinion, the 3 songs (Mukundha, Oh Sanam and the Las Vegas one) could have been handled better or chopped off entirely. Some of the 'Crazy Mohan' dialogues feel out of place too.

For some one used to just Indian/Tamil movies, the CG effects must have been impressive, but to some one exposed to the latest in the state of the art, some of the effects seemed rushed.
Why have I singled out direction for a 'minus'? Because KSR should have caught on to the perfect body language of the various characters and used the camera to better showcase THAT instead of so many close-up shots which only served to distract from the movie due to the grotesqueness of some masks.

I should admit that I still miss the connection between the 12th century episode and the rest of the story - only because Govind mentions it in his speech. What connection does a bio-scientist see between that episode and his efforts to neutralize the virus. The 'screen-play writer' Kamal could very well portray a connection implying rebirth and he does too; but why does the rationalist scientist Govind narrate this incident?

On the whole, this movie deserved kudos for its efforts and is certainly worth a watch.