I was tucking into a delicious mallu lunch at my uncle's place, when a friend called me up asking if I wanted to catch the play, Class of '84. She described it as the story of a class reunion, reminding me of a suspiciously similar musical that I had thoroughly enjoyed circa 1999. Considering the fact that I had nothing better to do, I decided to watch the play. On my way to the NCPA auditorium, I had this thought at the back of my mind that I would have to compare Class of '84 with the aforementioned play.
Thankfully, all that both the performances had in common, was the reunion plot device.
I will not allow myself to get ahead, and I will review the play as best as I can. The stage setting was sparse and simple. Before the play started, we had a fun game of 'Guess what the set represents'. However once the play started, all the (minimal) props on stage were utilized to transport us to a beach house: at certain instances I felt guilty of staring into the private life of seven adults reminiscing their past. The story is simple and straight forward: the funeral of a common friend brings back seven buddies to a beach house, for one night of bonding and nostalgia. The self deprecating humor used to introduce the play gave me a positive impression of the production house, Rage Theater Group. Not many Theater groups, nay people, would be willing to crack a joke at themselves.
The simplest stories usually provide the perfect setting for the most multidimensional screenplays and Rahul Da Cunha (Writer, Director) uses this to full effect. The characters that were etched out were believable: Atleast one of the characters reminded me of people I know. I really liked how the characters frequently broke the fourth wall oh-so-casually to discuss their state of mind. The seven characters (with another getting added later on) collectively covers the whole gamut of human emotions and might as well have been a poster boy for national integration (In your face, MNS, Hah!). Mallu, Punju, Goan, Small towner from outside Delhi and of course, the Mumbaikar: The whole lot is covered. Although the play is based in the aftermath of a funeral, the play is interspered with witty dialogues and hilarious situations, case in point: The scene before the intermission. The sarcasm and dark humor of the play resonated with my personal sense of humor; considering the ROFL audience, I am guessing a lot of other folks felt the same way.
Rahul Da Cunha's job as a director would have been considerably reduced by having such a brilliant star cast. Honestly, I haven't seen most of the star cast perform before, but one can just say that the actors are doing a good job when they incorporate even the most subtle mannerisms of their characters into their body language. I should mention that the actors deserved an extra round of applause for their impeccable sense of comic timing.
My personal favorites in the play were the actors essaying the role of the dope smoking beach bum, the loud Punju (Rajit Kapur) and the lady who was into new age meditation techniques. Although I have mentioned my personal favorites with regards to performances, we were unable to reach a general consensus even in our small group. This just reflects how everyone in the cast put in great performances, each one endearing themselves to a different set of people.
The play doesn't have an eventful climax, rather a few thought provoking questions were mentioned. As the lights came back on, and I got back to the comforting presence of pals from college, I could not but help think on what the future would hold for us. As we were clicking pictures and cracking jokes outside the imposing structure of the NCPA, I felt that theater had given us a cruel peek into the state of our friendship, 20 years ahead of time.
P.S. Since we didn't see any program guide being handed out, I had to rely on this link to help me complete this review.
Breaking Posts:
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja: The Review
"Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja booked solid for the next two weeks by Mammooty fans"
Being a person who hates the whole concept of fan clubs for movie stars, this was almost enough to put me off from watching the movie, Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja (fondly referred to as Pazhassi Raja). The fact that Pazhassi Raja is the most expensive Malayalam production(so far), didn't exactly help in my preliminary judgment of the movie. Now don't get me wrong here: I have nothing against producers single handedly trying to reboot a stagnant economy with an expensive movie. Its just that, in my opinion, an expensive production does not necessarily translate into an awesome movie (Remember Jeans?). Anyway, to cut a long story short, I pulled a few strings and managed to conjure up a ticket for Pazhassi Raja.
Although I walked in to the theatre with my preconceptions, expecting a three hour waste of time and money, I was convertedand baptized by the time they showed the end credits.The thought that I have to blog about this movie, blossomed somewhere at the end of the first fight sequence.
Since Pazhassi Raja is set in feudal Kerala, at the time the Brits started taking over India, it would help if one knew the context of the movie. I believe that my high school history teacher reads this blog, due to which I would rather not talk about the history. A better option would be to head over and check out Nikhil's brilliant review of the movie/history primer. In short, the movie is a biopic of a King of the Kottayam Royal Family, Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja.
This review will mainly consider how awesome(yeah, seriously) Pazhassi Raja is in various departments, as a movie(duh). Kindly excuse if it seems amateur-ish, because quite frankly, it is posted by an amateur.
Cinematography: There is a good reason why this aspect of the movie gets top mention. From the very first scene to the last scene, I was awed by the colors that they have used to paint the movie in. In some places the cinematography manages to capture Kerala in the colors that Raja Ravi Varma would have used. Don't expect crazy and creative camera angles from the movie; you are bound to be disappointed. The camera work is simple, but it does a neat job of showing you the carefully choreographed fight sequences.
Sound: There were a lot of expectations from Resul Pookutty in this department, especially considering his Oscar winner status. Resul Pookutty takes those expectations, and comfortably surpasses them with his eye(or should it be ear?) for detail. Every sword strike, every rain drop has been captured meticulously and provide an immersive experience for the audience. The songs in the movie however, although true to the period of the film, didn't have any magic in them.
Direction: Director Hariharan does a great job of keeping the three hour movie coherent. His vision for the movie is manifest in the level of detailing used. Case in point: In one scene depicting the interiors of a palace illuminated by lamps, the soot deposit on the walls is displayed prominently.
Script and screenplay: To recapture the story of a person hailed as the Lion of Kerala, keeping in mind that the story remains relevant to the average theatre goer, is no easy deal. M.T. Vasudevan Nair does well to write dialogues that stay faithful to the story, and to add in a few applause garnering monologues. The characters in his script have an unbelievable depth to them and are the end products of sufficient research(My Aunt tells me this).
Performances: The cast consisting of Mammootty, SharathKumar, Padmapriya, Manoj K Jayan (amongst other stalwarts) have put in sterling performances. Mammootty, in the titular role, plays the role of a King who is torn between his ideals of freedom and the welfare of his people, to perfection. SarathKumar comes across as the surprise package and gets the lions share of the applause-gathering dialogues. His portrayal of the loyal army commander to Pazhassi Raja, is both moving and intense. Manoj K Jayan and Padmapriya, slip comfortably into the role of the tribals that help PazhassiRaja wage a guerilla war. Listing out each and every performance would be time consuming and redundant, as all the actors have(cliched as it may sound) 'become' their respective characters and have put in incredible performances. Special mention has to be made for the foreign cast, which doesn't seem like a ragtag bunch of vacationers made to act in a movie(as is the norm for most Indian freedom struggle movies). The foreign cast manages to provide some value addition for the film.
Negatives: Since I have been going on, babbling about what I liked about the movie, its only fair that I write about what I did not appreciate about the movie. The editing, for one, could have been better. There were situations where I was left wondering as to what happened to the story. I would like to believe that attempting to compress all the footage that was shot into the space of three hour caused this. I also don't know whether an artificial looking wire stunt in between a realistic fight sequence was necessary. While discussing this with my friend the other day, he told me that the warriors of that era were very shaolin-esque.
There you have it. The pros and cons of the film. It is very difficult to tell when a work of art has stuck a chord with you. In my opinion, it is when you are aware of the negatives, but try to come up with justifications to nullify those negatives (the way I am). Needless to say, I will go ahead and watch this film once more, and may even get the DVD, as and when it is launched. In my capacity of an average movie goer that has been made to sit through some positively mind numbing Malayalam films over the last year, my only prayer for the movie is that it recovers its investment manifold and rakes in the moolah. With that, the producers will have an incentive to back new projects that are both intellectually stimulating and financially viable, in the league of Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja.
Final Verdict: One watch is mandatory. More than one watch is highly advisable!
P.S. For my non-mallu readers: The movie is slated to be dubbed and released in Tamil, Hindi and various other Indian languages. I am not a big fan of dubbed films and I feel it would be better to watch the movie in Malayalam with subtitles. However, to each his own, and if you feel comfortable with dubbed movies, go ahead and watch it in a theatre ASAP!
Being a person who hates the whole concept of fan clubs for movie stars, this was almost enough to put me off from watching the movie, Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja (fondly referred to as Pazhassi Raja). The fact that Pazhassi Raja is the most expensive Malayalam production(so far), didn't exactly help in my preliminary judgment of the movie. Now don't get me wrong here: I have nothing against producers single handedly trying to reboot a stagnant economy with an expensive movie. Its just that, in my opinion, an expensive production does not necessarily translate into an awesome movie (Remember Jeans?). Anyway, to cut a long story short, I pulled a few strings and managed to conjure up a ticket for Pazhassi Raja.
Although I walked in to the theatre with my preconceptions, expecting a three hour waste of time and money, I was converted
Since Pazhassi Raja is set in feudal Kerala, at the time the Brits started taking over India, it would help if one knew the context of the movie. I believe that my high school history teacher reads this blog, due to which I would rather not talk about the history. A better option would be to head over and check out Nikhil's brilliant review of the movie/history primer. In short, the movie is a biopic of a King of the Kottayam Royal Family, Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja.
This review will mainly consider how awesome(yeah, seriously) Pazhassi Raja is in various departments, as a movie(duh). Kindly excuse if it seems amateur-ish, because quite frankly, it is posted by an amateur.
Cinematography: There is a good reason why this aspect of the movie gets top mention. From the very first scene to the last scene, I was awed by the colors that they have used to paint the movie in. In some places the cinematography manages to capture Kerala in the colors that Raja Ravi Varma would have used. Don't expect crazy and creative camera angles from the movie; you are bound to be disappointed. The camera work is simple, but it does a neat job of showing you the carefully choreographed fight sequences.
Sound: There were a lot of expectations from Resul Pookutty in this department, especially considering his Oscar winner status. Resul Pookutty takes those expectations, and comfortably surpasses them with his eye(or should it be ear?) for detail. Every sword strike, every rain drop has been captured meticulously and provide an immersive experience for the audience. The songs in the movie however, although true to the period of the film, didn't have any magic in them.
Direction: Director Hariharan does a great job of keeping the three hour movie coherent. His vision for the movie is manifest in the level of detailing used. Case in point: In one scene depicting the interiors of a palace illuminated by lamps, the soot deposit on the walls is displayed prominently.
Script and screenplay: To recapture the story of a person hailed as the Lion of Kerala, keeping in mind that the story remains relevant to the average theatre goer, is no easy deal. M.T. Vasudevan Nair does well to write dialogues that stay faithful to the story, and to add in a few applause garnering monologues. The characters in his script have an unbelievable depth to them and are the end products of sufficient research(My Aunt tells me this).
Performances: The cast consisting of Mammootty, SharathKumar, Padmapriya, Manoj K Jayan (amongst other stalwarts) have put in sterling performances. Mammootty, in the titular role, plays the role of a King who is torn between his ideals of freedom and the welfare of his people, to perfection. SarathKumar comes across as the surprise package and gets the lions share of the applause-gathering dialogues. His portrayal of the loyal army commander to Pazhassi Raja, is both moving and intense. Manoj K Jayan and Padmapriya, slip comfortably into the role of the tribals that help PazhassiRaja wage a guerilla war. Listing out each and every performance would be time consuming and redundant, as all the actors have(cliched as it may sound) 'become' their respective characters and have put in incredible performances. Special mention has to be made for the foreign cast, which doesn't seem like a ragtag bunch of vacationers made to act in a movie(as is the norm for most Indian freedom struggle movies). The foreign cast manages to provide some value addition for the film.
Negatives: Since I have been going on, babbling about what I liked about the movie, its only fair that I write about what I did not appreciate about the movie. The editing, for one, could have been better. There were situations where I was left wondering as to what happened to the story. I would like to believe that attempting to compress all the footage that was shot into the space of three hour caused this. I also don't know whether an artificial looking wire stunt in between a realistic fight sequence was necessary. While discussing this with my friend the other day, he told me that the warriors of that era were very shaolin-esque.
There you have it. The pros and cons of the film. It is very difficult to tell when a work of art has stuck a chord with you. In my opinion, it is when you are aware of the negatives, but try to come up with justifications to nullify those negatives (the way I am). Needless to say, I will go ahead and watch this film once more, and may even get the DVD, as and when it is launched. In my capacity of an average movie goer that has been made to sit through some positively mind numbing Malayalam films over the last year, my only prayer for the movie is that it recovers its investment manifold and rakes in the moolah. With that, the producers will have an incentive to back new projects that are both intellectually stimulating and financially viable, in the league of Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja.
Final Verdict: One watch is mandatory. More than one watch is highly advisable!
P.S. For my non-mallu readers: The movie is slated to be dubbed and released in Tamil, Hindi and various other Indian languages. I am not a big fan of dubbed films and I feel it would be better to watch the movie in Malayalam with subtitles. However, to each his own, and if you feel comfortable with dubbed movies, go ahead and watch it in a theatre ASAP!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Who is your (sugar) Daddy?
Caveat Emptor: I drafted this post circa June,2009. Thanks to the hassles (or joy, depending on how you look at it) of putting in my resignation letter, I never got around to posting it, until now that is. Pliss be to excuse if the incident has gone from sweet to sour.
Last weekend, my roomies and myself went over to purchase some clothes from the Big Bazaar in Mysore. As you may be aware, guys visit Malls to shop for clothes only when something catastrophic happens, such as a wardrobe burning down. Most other times, we make do with wearing clothes inside out or if the situation is out of hand, *Shudder* getting our Laundry done.
We were almost done with our purchases, when we heard an announcement informing us that for every 1000 bucks worth of stuff bought, they were giving away 5Kgs of sugar. Since sugar is the staple diet of Indians, we decided to up our purchases to 2000 bucks, thereby netting us a cool 10Kgs of sugar. Once the bills were settled, we went up and claimed our 10Kgs of sugar. Which was when we realized how much 10Kgs of sugar really is. It may not sound like a lot, but believe me, it weighs a lot, probably even more than 15Kgs of sugar. Considering that we had already gotten it for free, we lugged the 10Kgs of sugar back home and made up this elaborate story on the way :
We enter shopping Mall. See 'buy one get one free' offer applicable to 5Kg sugar packs. Brains get boggled at the Potential Savings. Purchase a 5Kg sugar pack. Gloat at how recession-wise we are.
SCENE II: Our House in Mysore.
Like the spoils won from a fierce battle, we cradled the sugar in our arms. On opening the door, my roomie is surprised to see a huge packet of sugar paying him a visit. Lesser mortals would have gotten spooked, but not my roomie. No sir, he caught onto the fact that we were hiding behind the packet and offered to help with the heavy load. In one swift move, he took the bill out of the shopping bag without disturbing the sugar packet in my arms. We were depressed that our game was up, since the sugar, being free, would have never been billed.
Hearing my roomie go seething mad, slightly changed that opinion. He was absolutely horrified by the 10 Kgs of sugar printed on the bill, even more shocking was his discovery that apparently, we had paid for it. Although we were a little taken aback by this fact, we decided to play along. Needless to say, on explaining our recession beating idea to him, our roomie went ballistic. He began giving us a lecture on how much sugar an average Indian Family would use, how the average production of sugar in some states is less than 10 Kgs, yada yada yada. Needless to say, we burst out laughing on hearing this, which only added fuel to his flaming rage!
Much madness ensued, until our ears were sore from listening to all the choicest epithets, some, in languages that we were unfamiliar with. (What the hell is a *@%#*!@ anyway?)
Finally, good reason prevailed and we explained how we got it free. Now the problem changed from one of Cost Accounting to one of Inventory management. Apparently, we had no storage space for 10 Kgs of sugar. Which was when we hit upon the next bright idea of the day: Give away 5 Kgs of sugar to the Landlord. Although we didn't get the drastic reduction in our rent that we expected, we had saved the day and probably the whole district from an ant invasion. To this day, I can think of the Landlord paying his milkman, cable guy and other assorted folks in sugar. As for the 5 Kgs that we had with us? 2 packets of Gulab Jamun mix and we were almost half way through. Now excuse me while I get myself tested for Diabetes.
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