Nov 27, 2005

Kumudam Cine Digest

This week's issue of Kumudam online was almost full of cinema stuff.. What is happening to it??? I read a few articles/interviews which made some 'interesting' news:

Ravi K. Chandran

The interviewer obviously goes overboard saying that the big bollywood Khans get his dates first before asking the story.. When asked whether the Indian cinematography has become in par with International standards, he says a disappointing NO.. the reason? We have to use bright lightings; hardly use natural lighting.. Reason for that? Bad movie halls, having poor projection facilities.

IMHO, except in multiplexes and in a countable movie halls in metros, most of the movie halls are poor in this aspect. The situation in B and C centers is even worse.. I am talking about stray light which dulls the picture and reduces the brightness and contrast. His suggestion is, the big heroes should declare that they would not allow their movies to be screened at such sub-par movie halls. I dont think that will ever happen.

Another thing he touches upon is the cinematographers-turning to-directors. Ram had a post on this a few months ago. Ravi says that, many directors, especially freshers, tend to be a lot dependent on their cinematographers, virtually making them accidental ghost-directors. So, the cinematographers think "Why not direct a movie ourselves?". Ravi uses the word 'Kuruttu dhairiyam' for them.

This bit was surprising and interesting. Especially since quite a lot of such conversions have taken place in the recent times. He also mentions that directors like Maniratnam, Shankar and Bala would take total care of direction, leaving a well defined role for the cinematographers.

SJ Suryah
mm.. He has been writing quite a lot in Kumudam nowadays.. According to him, 'Ah Aah' was pretty much what happened in his personal life.. So, we have another of director's own story, after Selvaraghavan's '7G..'. Interesting thing is, he says that his girlfriend was a film personality. mmm.. now I know. She is that famous Punjabi cutie... damn!! He reveals that, one scene in the movie, in which he leaves a long-awaited candle-lit dinner after a call from his boss indeed happened. When I saw that scene, I thought only a total-idiot can goof up like that.. no wonder.

Bharadwaj
The interviewer asks him "For the song 'ovvoru pookkalumey' that you have composed, the singer Chitra and the lyricist Pa.Vijay won the awards but not u.. why?" (What a dumb question...) Bharadwaj's answer is even more shocking.. He says "What did u find great in Chitra's voice? Isnt it not the same thing you are hearing for 20 years? If you read Pa.Vijay's lyrics without music, would u get any feeling? After planning so much and serving the song in the 'Sindhubhairavi' raaga, it is indeed very sad that they didnt give the award to me but to Vijay and Chitra. Both of them know that I created that song."

I can understand his feelings.. but this was not something I expected from him. IMHO, this is total arrogance. After the Cheran-Bharadwaj fallout despite Autographs's success, I read news citing Bharadwaj as the main reason for that. When Unni Krishnan, Swarnalatha and Vairamuthu won the awards for the songs in Kadhalan and Pavithra, composed by AR Rahman in 1994, he didnt mention anything remotely close to what Bharadwaj is whining now. And, in this interview, he is putting himself along the same lines of Ilayaraja and AR Rahman.. One big-headed guy, he seems to me..

And then director Perarasu proudly claims to be behind the thawing of the relation between Vijay and Ajit.

And, CM Jayalalitha kaiyale thaali koduthu Sivakumar's daughter (Surya's sis) kazhuthule maappillai thaali kattinaaram.. yaar yaarellam thaali eduthu kodukkuradhunnu vivasthaiye illaiya..

Vere velaiilley.. pongayya... neengalum unga cinema-vum..

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

heh.i wonder who sj.suryah's real life Best Friend was. didn't expect that from Bharadwaj, i liked his music in Gemini & Autograph, not much in Vasoolraja MBBS.But that is a rude thing to say, Cheran's new movie Thavamai Thavamirindu has OK songs, too villagy for me. yeah, everybody in the film industry is a suckup these days, asking Jayalalitha to hand the thali to the mapillai. Cant blame them, if they are having any problems, thats the person to go to for support. Wonder, when Surya's marriage will be?

ada-paavi!!!! said...

bharatdwajs attitude is arrogant, hi music in autograph was good, but after than downhill trend.

didnt sj suryah make an open challenge to leave the cine industry if ne 1 finds even trces of vulgarity in NEW?? he went round saying that after new was released. he is a complete joker, his interviews r really good fun to watch, but his movies are unwatchable

tt_giant said...

Yea, I read the articles you had mentioned.. was shocked to read Bharathwaj's comments. enna vaiytherichalo?. Maybe if he had got a national award for some movie, he would not have complained..

Anand said...

i saw an interview of SJ.surya before the release of his movie "Ah Aah". he said "Neriya directors padathoda kadhaiya appadiye vechitu.. peara mattum maathi edukuraanga.. naan mattum than kadaiyaiyum maathi paeraiyum maathi padam edukuraen".. too kiddish a statemnt in an interview.. avanoda interview ellam sama comdey.. luckily his BF escaped hehe...

Bharatwaj pesunathu..koncham arrogant.. enna thaan award kedaikalanaalum, he shouldn't say that the lyrics and Chitra's voice were not good. FYI, i heard that the lyrics of "Ovvuru pookalume" has appeared in school tamil text. Nalla paaatu..

Good info raju...

Ram C said...

I never read "Kumudham"... It's shocking to read the way Bharadwaj had expressed his thoughts. I also feelt that it is on the arrogant side. Sometimes, his straight forward talks hurt others... I remember couple of his earlier interviews on these lines.

Visithra said...

That was a pretty insensitive thing to say - if the voice n the lyric hadn't been good - the music would have appealed to instrumental music lovers only

but there is also something really wonderful about the lyrics that make that song shine

sigh reminds me about that jo surya movie on 2 music directors

Siddharth said...

i think arvind krishna(selvaraghavan's cinematographer)is going 2 start directing soon.it is a welcome trend.santosh shivan seems 2 b doing interesting stuff.yeah i always liked sj suryah...i heard that he was d only person from d tamil film industry that simran invited for her wedding.sentiment en?

empty vessels make the most noise ne provepananomine irukar polla iruke baradwaj...imho the words was the gr8 thing abt ovare pukalume...and chitra sang it superbly as usual.baradwajukelam romba asai.arr is 2 nice a guy 2 stoop 2 this level.

frankly i am an amma sympathiser!

Anonymous said...

yeah, sj.suryah's interview's are semma comedy. i dont think he is a bad director at all, and i admire the fact that he makes movies with stories created by him, and not influenced by other movies. but the fact is he thinks adding too much of sex can make his movie the best among the rest, it has worked with him. people flock to go see simran, or nila. but he needs to stop acting, because he seriously looks like drug addict, and doesn't have any qualities of a hero. as director gautham said when asked if he liked ah aah, he said, the movie would have been better if sj.suryah hadn't acted in it. the other thing also is he tries to do something new, but in the process ruins everything. when i heard ah aah songs composed by arr, i loved the songs, but when i saw the movie, it was picturized very bad, it made all the songs look bad too, too much special effects and graphics. i hear he is acting as hero in many more movies,i am not goin to see them, i might see movies which are directed by him. now, to cricket, hopefully india wins this game, its in the hands of Dravid & VVSLaxman. i think gambhir will be dropped soon, not playing well.

Anonymous said...

sorry, i mean yuvraj singh, not vvs.laxman.

Raju said...

Nitin, Surya's GF has the same surname as the deceased astronaut.. Got it? ;-)

About Bharadwaj, yeah.. I too didnt like Vasoolraja's music.. IMHO, he is not even in the same league as Yuvan, Vidyasagar and Harris. I would put him alongside Dheena, Deva and brothers. I havent heard the songs of 'Thavamai thavamirundhu..'.

I cant somehow accept anyone except parents, family elders or some mentor handing over the thaali.. Who is Jayalalitha to Sivakumar's family? Sick..

Surya's marriage plans now rest mostly on the decision of Sivakumar's acceptance of Jo..
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Vatsan, arrogance is the right word.. I liked the music of Autograph.. but, for the 'Gnabagam varuthey' song, I thought his singing was not that good.. I wish someone like Hariharan sang that song.. It would have raised it to a different level..

SJ Suryah is a joker, who wants to be in the limelight and thinks too high of himself..
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Deepak, vayitherichal ellam ippadiya kotturadhu? Probably the fact that another Tamil/Telugu music director Vidyasagar won it would have added fuel to the fire.. Even a great genius like Ilayaraja had to wait for over 10 years and 300 movies to win the national award.. Bharadwaj's outburst is amateurish..
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Anand, LOL.. I saw that interview too.. Surya-vukku avardhaan tamil cinema-vaiye kaappatha vandhavar-nu ninaippu.. Indha madhiri ninaippu puzhaippai kedukkaama irundha sari..

mm.. interviews like this help differentiate modest and humble music directors from the arrogant ones.. thanks for the info on the song taking a place in textbooks.. The good thing is, the kids dont have to study hard to memorize it.. they would have probably listened enough to sing the song even if 'thookkathuley irundhu thatti ezhuppuna'.. :-)

Similar songs from movies to textbooks were: 'Kunitha puruvamum' part of Rakkamma (of course it was from ancient tamil lit. Thevaram??); another was "Konguther vazhkkai..", the Thiruvilayadal 'award-winning' poem of Tharumi.. :-)

Raju said...

Ram, kumudam padikkiradhu illaiya? I am such an addict of Kumudam from age 7, I cant miss a single issue of it..:-) Bharadwaj better understands the difference b/w straight-forward talking and arrogant blabbering..
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Vis, insensitive it is.. When I first saw/heard the song, what immediately stuck me was the lyrics, then the singing.. I first thought SA Rajkumar was the music director.. that song had his imprints all over.. I totally agree with you.. IMHO, his music wasnt award-deserving..

Jo-Surya movie on 2 music directors? What was it? Or, are you referring to Jo Ajith starrer 'Mugavari'?
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Sid, mm.. cinematographers-turning into-directors is a welcome trend.. Their movies have usually been above-average so far..

SJ Suryah has substance.. and unique style of screenplay-rendering for sure.. but, as everyone is wondering, why does he need to sprinkle too much Sex and double-meaning dialogues in his movie? Probably aims only at front-benchers and college students..
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Nitin, yeah.. I too think Suryah has talent but isnt sure of himself yet.. Interesting news on Gautham's interview.. Gautham is quite handsome.. I think he acted in Kaakha Kaakha as the Mumbai encounter specialist who talks to Surya and his friends. Suryah said he came to Chennai with the primary motivation of acting.. but somehow got into direction.. And when he got the chance, he has become one.. Right now, he is acting only in 'Kalvanin Kaadhali'.. Hope that movie flops and he stops acting.. The same story with Cheran too.. Came to chennai to act, but ended as director.

On the match, yes, it is firmly in our grip now.. As I am typing this, we are inching towards victory, with only 6 runs reqd. off 24 balls.. Dravid is playing superbly.. Interestingly, he got nick early in his innings but both the bowler and wicketkeeper didnt appeal for it.. Mumbai crowd noise totally suppressed the noise.. :-) Otherwise, anything could have happened in this match..

Anonymous said...

yeah, Gautham comes in his movies, for a short role. he also comes in Minnale, in Kaakha Kaakha he comes in as the encounter specialist talking to the guys. yea, Dravid is amazing. im getting close to comparing him to sachin tendulkar, but sachin will always be #1.(Dravid #2).Kallis is also good, i haven't been keeping up with his scores until this series, i was wondering why they chose him in the world XI, but now i see his batting, he is definititely really good.

Visithra said...

i think it was poovellam kethupar

the one with irava pagala song

Raju said...

Nitin, did Gautham appear in Minnale too? I didnt notice..

Dravid is indeed in the best form of his career.. both in ODIs and in tests.. Good for India.. I too get the feeling that nowadays he is getting more dependable than Sachin..
Kallis has amazing averages in both forms of the game.. he scores a bit slowly (a strike rate of about 70 in ODIs), which takes the sheen off his records.. some people call him one of the most boring batsmen.. :-)
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Vis, Poovellam kettupaar is one movie I very much want to see... Lemme look for it..

narayanan said...

Interesting thing is, he says that his girlfriend was a film personality. mmm.. now I know. She is that famous Punjabi cutie

oru doubtu, Punjab'la enna zoo irukku? :D
~~~~~
Was'nt 'Ovvoru Pookalume's tune suttified from some other song. Autograph vandha pudhusula engeyo paatha madiri irukku. Donno about other, but I never felt Bharadhwaj did some extraordinary work in any movie. Some of his one hit wonders, Autograph, Amarkalam were good other than that it rarely raises a brow.
~~~~~~
Gautam is that short dark guy who delivers flowers to Reema Sen in Minnale.

-narayanan

Anonymous said...

really, i think Gautam was the Madhavan's boss from the office, he offers him a job in singapore, but madhavan says he is going to stay in chennai for his grandfather.

Raju said...

Narayanan, "Punjab'la enna zoo irukku" Kelvi puriyalaye.. explain plz..

Ovvoru pookkalumey, to me too, sounded very familiar to some song.. dont know which one.. Was it 'Oru poyyavadhu sol kanney' of Jodi? But, definitely one of the SA Rajkumar tunes, as I said before.. IMHO, Bharadwaj never gave a single album, Autograph included, in which all the songs were great. (I didnt like 'manasukkulley dhaagam' and 'meesai vacha peraandi' of Autograph)

Gautam is the flower delivering guy? I donno..
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Nitin, your and Narayanan's guesses on Gautam in Minnaley differ.. I gotta watch the movie before concluding who is right..

narayanan said...

SJ Surya always reminds me of a monkey. adhaan avanukku girlfriend'nu neenga sonna udane endha Punjab'la endha zoo'la irukkura animal'nu ketten :D

-narayanan

Raju said...

Narayanan, LOL.. idhu too much... I thought u are mentioning about the 'Punjabi cutie'.. Suryah-vukkum macham irundhirukku.. nalla velai, 'Bhoo' thappichutta.. :-)

apad 2 said...

This won't actually have success, I think so.