Monday, April 10, 2017

Katru Veliyidai Review: Mani Rathnam buries his plot in the Himalayan ice and lets us search for it

Pic Courtesy: Google
It is ironical that the greatest screen writer-filmmaker of our generation is also, in his own words, a commercial movie director. Mani Rathnam never hides that. In fact he embraces it. His characters always comes across as suave and sophisticated and yet after this particular offering, one wonders if he ever thought that his audience could be the same. Beyond the breathtaking visuals, poetic music, Bharathiyar and all the love is a plot that Mani buries deep in the snow and we end up wandering the barren tundra searching for it.

Set in the back drop of the mighty Himalayas during the Kargil War of 1999, Katru Veliyidai follows the love story of Varun, a life taking fighter pilot and Leela, a life saving doctor. The opposites doesn’t end there. He is narcissistic while she bats for treating women equality or at the very least, recognition. They argue at every level and yet couldn’t shake off their love for each other. All this make up for a fascinating story that could have been told with arguments that would shake up the very make up of this society. But Mani lets everything loose with an unpredictable screenplay that changes like the Kashmiri weather.

In a world where the line between black and white is increasingly blurry, Mani is able to conceive a ‘hero’ who in the words of his girl “either treats me like a princess or walk over me”. Yet, he does recognize what is making him less of a man and wants to make amends. But how many chances will he get from a girl who is stunning, confident and intense. She falls for his charm but is mature enough to understand his flaws and yet couldn’t control herself from falling in love with him over and over again. Does she take his promises to change blindly? There is strength in her character but for how long? How is she able to forgive his abusive manners just like that? In the end, the answer is Love. However old the notion sounds, there is no other tangible explanation for both behaving the way they do and yet end up they way they did. It is in fact Love where, along with the other plot carrier War, everything is fair.

For an actor of Karthi’s talents this isn’t the most difficult character to pull off but after Paruthiveeran and Madras, this is his finest performance. However, the real revelation is Aditi Rao Hydari. The struggling Bollywood actress could have permanently sealed a place in the south putting her heart and soul to a role that could very well add some trophies to her cabinet during the next award season. R J Balaji’s role was pretty close to his one word summary of his meeting with Mani Rathnam for the part, “Nice”.

You could see why Mani chose Kashmir and Kargil as his conduits to tell this story, The ever changing landscape of the region and the circumstances of war makes for the perfect metaphor. Yet in some ways, it also lets you forget the fundamental flaws in the movie’s writing. You get a sense of climbing Mt. Everest and yet had to return before the Hillary step. So Close! Ravi Varman’s cinematography blends so closely with the story and Rahman is as majestic with his music as the mountain itself.


Why Mani Rathnam left the questions unanswered is anybody’s guess. But the impact those questions have on you could very well be what he intended. And therein lies his genius. Leaving some things to audience’s interpretation is what any intelligent director would do but the desired effect happens only if the plot is thick and the writing strong. It is those areas that Katru Veliyidai falls short. The air is thin as you climb. Again, a metaphor!

Monday, April 03, 2017

Wrestlemania 33 Reaction & The Road Ahead: What were you thinking Vince?

Vince Mcmahon, Oh you demented arsehole.! I know Vince can be an ass sometimes with his bookings (Remember the Invasion!) but this must be his greatest failure yet. How would you explain retiring the one person most synonymous with your greatest show in that fashion. Oh that's right! Put him against a guy who has been a massive failure in your attempts to baby face him and clearly can't work a proper match with an ageing superstar. And what's up with a two week (no) build up to that retirement? You Goddamn Maniac! The Undertaker's loss to Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 33 is the most clearest of all indications that WWE has completely lost it in the way they book matches in a night filled with so many mis-matches. With not a single 5 star match on the card and part time wrestlers made to look great, this could be the beginning of the end of WWE if they don't learn from what is one of the worst Wrestlemanias ever. 

Vince's success lies with the arrogance that we as fans would still be watching any bullcrap he is making us do because there is no alternative. TNA is alright but never the level of competition WCW posed to the then WWF during the monday night wars. And so he thought he would put Roman Reigns against the Undertaker with two weeks of build up in what would be Taker's last bloddy mania match. The match itself was so bad and not even close to main event material. Mark Calloway is old and clearly cannot do any of the heavy duty stuff that he is known for which is why you need an opponent who knows how to carry the other person. Cena, HHH, AJ Styles could all be better candidates than Roman 'Boring' Reigns. When Jim Ross walked out to commentate it was pretty sure that this could be it but atleast give him a match worthy of an exit. Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels did not have to have to put over anyone and ended up with the most memorable farewell matches ever. Undertaker deserved that after all he did for the company.

The rest of the match card failed even before it even began. Except for the return of the Hardy Boys which was mental, none of the matches felt like Mania worthy. Sure the fatal four way for the women's title was alright along with HHH Vs Seth Rollins and so was Kevin Owen's vs Chris Jericho but if WWE has to move forward then they have to start giving their goddamn title matches more importance. Lesner Vs Goldberg could have happened even without the title on the line and Randy winning it was expected. But title matches ending in less than 15 minutes combined for both is just plain bollocks. They wasted AJ Styles and John Cena in unwanted matches. There was no underdog moment that makes for a great Wrestlemania Moment like Bryan's crowning glory at Mania 30 or Chris Benoit and Eddie Gurrero hugging at the end of Wrestlemania 20. There were no technical masterpieces like Michaels vs Angle at Mania 21 or the sheer showmanship and story telling of Micheals vs Taker or Taker vs HHH, the end of an era match. 

It now begs the question on how WWE is going to promote their brand now? More part timers stealing the show from the ones who bust their ass day in and day out? Despite being the last genuine attraction in the WWE, Brock Lesner needs to out the title down even if it is against Roman Reigns if he is still going to be a part timer. A champion needs to be there for every Raw. AJ Styles needs to be back in the title hunt. Seth Rollins, Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe are all exciting and so is Shinsuke Nakamura who needs to come to smackdown in my opinion and restart his great rivalry with Styles. WWE has some very exciting talents in store but evil Vince or any of his halfwit writers needs to step it up. Strong story lines, great storytelling and memorable matches were their thing. Now they have to start all over again.