Ayutha Ezhuthu - The Feelings. Review on Aytha Ezuthu Movie

XPECTATIONS

I always expect something more than a film from Mani sir, a memory deep down in our hearts that stays on for ever. I have never been turned down till date. My expectations of AE has been upbeat from day one. MANIsir normally has space for only 2 protogonists, but with him accomodating as many as 7 people, the excitement was natural. The crew and cast were full of big names and a few unusual names. And for the first time I know, there was a simultaneous Hindi version with a equally powerful cast and crew.

Even in my wildest of dreams, I didnt think MANIsir had political apprehensions in AE. Once I got to know, AE meant youth politics, my expectations only enhanced to the extreme. Then came the website and trailors and they did umpteen times more their works. The trailors and website were very classy and perfectly hinted upon theme of the fim. I had never found a theme as interesting as this in Tamil Cinema. Only MANIsir can think of such great themes and I also believe that only he can glorify such tumultous themes with swashbuckling screenplays. The film was delayed by the Censors, the Election Comission and every delay done only added to the adulation.

On the D-day, my friend Vinay rang me up and told ''I saw AE.Its very disappointing'' and I was terribly happy to hear this. Vinay advised me some 7 years back that Iruvar was highly avoidable film, and as a result of me not heeding to his advice got three hours of supreme satisfaction.It would be another exciting experience, I thought..

DELIGHTS

While most of the Tamil cine makers tend to satisfy the fans, only a few like MANIsir take pains to delidght them.AE, keeping with Maniratnam tradition was delights galore.

(1)Cast Selection and Performance : Mani always insists on picking the right persons as per his own quote ''If you select the cast properly, 90% of the work is done''. In AE cast selection and their subsequent performance was top class. Surya and Siddarth were the perfect choice for their characters and did their roles to a T.A surprise choice,Madhavan convinces one and all as Inbasekaran. What to say about the selection of Bharathiraja as Selvanayagam and Praveen as Guna?Their performances says it all.All actors, big and small have superbly picked and they have all delivered with finesse(some exception with the heroines).

(2)Sound in Sound : There were a few complaints over Rahman's music in AE, but none can complain about his classy BGM for the film. I still remember the BGM for intro of Surya in his narration, where the BGM was so powerful that the audiences were forced to give a cry. As a matter of fact, whole of Surya's part was made powerful by the BGM. Venkat's sound editing superbly supplements the BGM and once you consider that sync sound dubbing was employed, the sound department comes under lavish praise and is really sound.

(3)Crew Performance : Ravi.K.Chandran, Sujatha, Vairamuthu, Vijayan are all big names in Kollywood and their names only get bigger with this movie.Ravi.K.Chandran has to be singled out for his excellent cinematography, a touch better than his display in Boys.Ravi.K.Chandran seems to relish working in big films and in giving us big visual thrills. The final duel in the busy Nappier bridge, the variety of angles used for the pivotal scene, the campaigning in Harbour scene are just a few samples.

COMPARISIONS

(1)R.K.Narayan Screenplay Vs AE Screenplay:I am a great fan of R.K.Narayan and simply adore his novels. Two of the great strengths of R.K.Narayan's novels are(1) his captivating characterisation of characters characterised by unpredictability and outspokenness & (2)His style of ending(he always ends the novel when your dil maange more). In a similar accord, MANIsir has neatly etched the characters of Maddy, Surya,Siddarth, Sreeman, Bharathiraja, Praveen, Archana, Surya's family and all others. The film also folds in the most unexpected manner akin to RKs novels. However while RKs novels leave us with a heavy heart, MANIsir ends on a more positive note. Eventhough the endings of RK are apparently abrupt, it would prove to be the apt one on a deeper dewlling. But the same cannot be said about Mani sir's ending which leaves a few pitfalls.

(2)Ivanisevic Vs Sujatha: I have always been dumfounded by Ivanisevic's aces that come from his racquet and more so from the aces that come from his mouth. Goran Ivanisevic always redefines his limits of outspokenness whenever he voices out, as he throws all cautions to the wind. Therefore his statements are always unrefined, untraditional, straight from the heart and toally enjoyable. Sujatha gives such an impression with his dialogues in AE, that are untraditional and from the core. A majority of the chracters in the film were outspokenm and Sujtahta's dialogues sharpened their frankness. The scene where Bharathiraja meets Surya, Bharathiraja's campaigning and Maddy meeting Surya are all sparkling thanks to Sujatha. Most of Sujatha's dialogues(including his vulgar ones) were youthful,enjoyable and earned a lot of applauses.

(3)Rathnavel Vs MANIsir(I can hear you all shouting): I always hated the narration as a clear line from top to bottom. For me the narration should be made as different as possible; changing time frame with flashbacks, two different stories leading to one etc. Thats why I always try to narrate my reviews in diferent styles. I am very happy that MANIsir also approves of my philosophy with a different style of narration. The manner in which he started the story diverged it into three sections, converged them into one and continued till the end was a classic. His efforts to distinguish the sections with difference in shades, love dynamics and environment is really praiseworthy.

(4)Paes/Bhupathi Vs Vairamuthu/Rahman : ''Peas and Bhupathi are a world beating combination. But they should combine! They wont be able to create magic if they only come together for Olympics!'' said Ramanathan Krishnan. In a similar stead, Vairamuthu and A.R.Rahman are together a classy combination that comes together only for MANIsir.And though the combination is wonderful, they cannot create their old magic if they dont come together on a consistent basis.

<Continued in Comments - DISAPPOINTMENTS & SUGGESTIONS>