Nov 18, 2005

Modifiable endings

Rediff has asked its readers to write on "Which film's ending they would change". I thought it would rightly serve as a sequel to my earlier post. When I wrote that, I was thinking 'why only on heroines.. why not heroes too?'. Rediff's question is in a broader sense, so here I go..

Even as a child, after watching a movie, I would think about it for a while. How much time I think would depend on whether it is a good movie or a bad one and how it affected me. Like in my post on the best titles, I realize that, Rajini's movies would not qualify for this list since their climax is always predictable and always ending on a happy note. When was the last time he died, '85-Raghavendra? (Balaji and others, can i expect some brickbats? :D )

IMHO, a movie's climax IS important, but not to such an extent that a tragic climax would leave a much greater impact on the audience. If the rest of the movie is crap, who cares about the climax? So, in addition to the previous post where certain deaths could have been avoided (by me.. :-) ) in movies, here are a few more:


* Moondram pirai - My modified climax would be: Kamal, after all his crying, rolling on the road crying, monkey-acting, etc., sits on a bench and thinks.. He realizes that she is going to Chennai, since he brought her from there (pl. correct me if I am wrong). He calls for a friend's car (hehehehe.. what for Silk Smitha was there?) or a taxi and goes to Chennai Egmore station and waits for her. She comes out, and goes with her mom to their home. Now, Kamal knows her address and he does all he can (bring evidences from Ooty, talking 'normally' to Sridevi and her parents, etc.) and makes her realize all that he had done.


* Uyire - mm.. she was a terrorist; involved in a huge conspiracy; ok.. but she didnt do anything, right? Poor Shahrukh was already molested by the Police. Could he not have changed her mind, thus avoiding an assassination? She could have even become an approver and brought all her aides into justice. Instead of terrorism triumphing over love, why not the other way around?


* Sethu - A good movie, already in somber mood thanks to Bala's morbid touch. My climax would be in the asylum: Sethu sees her walking out of the asylum after seeing him lying on the floor. With the mayhem around him and too much noise, she cant hear him calling her. Then, all of a sudden, the shouting of the people stops (c'd be the effect of some saamiyar coming, or a similar miracle by which he got cure). He calls her with all his love and she sees him. The saamiyar realizes that Sethu is cured and sends him with her.

* Kurudhi Punal: Another Kamal movie.. Irresistible. One of the unforgettable climaxes ever; but, if Kamal dies, all 'Dhanush' can do is to become the leader of the terrorist group and know about their activities. Whom would he report to? Would he make just anonymous calls to the police departments about the immediate future activities of the terrorists? My climax: Kamal shouts to Dhanush "shoot me, Boy.. shoot me". Dhanush says "Sir, I now know pretty much about the terrorist movements, and their functioning. I dont want to lose you and thus my only contact and true identity. Pick up the gun, let us shoot the guys here and I will join the police dept. to work under you. By killing the guys over here, it would be send a rude shock to the terrorist network and dilute the activities for quite a while here.. We can arrest the terrorist leaders who would be meeting next week in North India, since I know everything about the place and time. Let us train 2 or 3 new 'informers' and send as spies into the gang, similar to the way you sent us; now, having stayed in, I can train them better". Thus, they kill all the terrorists in that location and take away 2 or 3 bodies, so the terrorists would have no clue who the actual 'Dhanush' was.

13 comments:

ada-paavi!!!! said...

kuruthi punal climax was good, i wudnt change it, i wud change the climax of

nandha (surya goin to madras maybe?)
nayakan (why does kamal have to die??)
azhaya kollangal (i wudnt kill the othre guy)

in addition to what uve said.

Anonymous said...

yeah, i agree with vatsan, kurudhi punal climax was great, it wouldn't have been good without the climax, well, they wanted to portray a realistic movie, i dont think they could have escaped anyways, it shows the power of the terrorists. yeah, nayakan should have had a happy ending, maniratnam just had to put tinu anand there to kill nayakan, that was sad. raju, good ending for sethu, i would have liked that, he needs to stop giving movies with tragic endings, he has done 3 already, its starting to get annoying, we see tragedy everday in news, and real life,lets have something else in movies. Uyire was allright, sometimes i feel maniratnam's movies are bizzare. Moondram pirai, i could accept the tragic ending, which made the movie spectacular, it would just be more time consuming i guess, if he goes back, and tells her what all he had done for her. Anyways, feel like watchin kurudhi punal now, kamal semma cop getup andha padathule, and gouthami good pair for kamal.

NaiKutti said...

i am perfectly fine with most of the tragic ends, as it looks practical...

the things i would change would be situations where the hero and heroin would have no chances of being together and all of a sudden, things change and they get back... the story line would have been such that they will never have a chance of being together and one fight, or one song or a strech of breathless dialogues would get them together :-)... too many movies to name :-)

Devilish Angel said...

After that kamal and sridevi got married in "moondram pirai"...

Adaengappa !! said...

Alternate hypotheses rejected !!

Visithra said...

i wouldn't change moondram pirai or uyires ending - i think the movies worked coz of the ending - will think and come back for ;)

Raju said...

Vatsan, no doubt the climax of KP was good.. but as a die-hard Kamal fan, I couldnt digest it, esp. since that is one movie I would never miss a chance to watch. :-)

I also thought about Nandha and Nayakan.. i agree with you on Nandha but since a suitable alternate ending didnt come to my mind, I didnt post it. As Nitin said, it becomes Bala's trademark touch to end the movie tragically..
Nayakan was like a biography of a gangster, so it had to end with him, IMHO.

I havent seen Azhiyatha Kolangal..
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Nitin, mm.. as I said to Vatsan about KP..
Like in 'Satya' of Hindi, the gangster ends.. but a solace that Kamal's character is already old. When I watched the movie as a kid, I was also thinking like you but now when I think of it, it seems OK to me..

Agree with you totally on Bala's movies..

Moondram Pirai's ending was indeed spectacular but, what to do with the Kamal-fan syndrome?

I have watched KP many times but it is a very unique police movie.. As you said, Kamal was superb as a police officer.. I am looking forward to Vettaiyadu.. for a similar performance..

When i think of Kamal's police roles, he has surprisingly taken it once every 10 years:
1985 - Kaakhi Chattai
1995 - Kuruthi punal
2005- Vettaiyadu Vilayadu (though it would be released in 2006).

Kamal, Arjun, Gowthami, Nasser were all spectacular in that movie..

Raju said...

Karthik, mm.. for the 'practical' sake, I agree with you.. sometimes I tend to get a bit emotional, so the different endings.. :-)

And, about the abrupt-ending love movies, that probably would have soemthing to do with the director's lack of imagination, illaiya?
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Vanathi, yeah.. of course, that is the angelic part of mine. Glad you didnt suggest any devilish thing after all I wrote about moondram pirai..
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Prabhu, enna appadi oreyadiya sollitteenga? :-( I accept your verdict.. I am happy to see so many voicing your true opinions against my post.. no, not kidding.. Truly.
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Vis, mm.. while Moondram pirai surely worked, thanks to a great extent to its climax, Uyire flopped despite the emotional climax. Of course, most of us, when we hear 'Moondram pirai' would remember the climax, right?

TamilPonnu said...

Moodram pirai climax

#1 Kamal could've asked Sridevi to spell "camel"

#2 may be she did recognize him , but didn't want to admit ( which young guy in the right mind would "adopt" 20 something chick for all the unreal reasons..CMON NOW!!)

#3 Silk Smitha was hot.. Kamal should've gone out with her instead.

RAJU - Rajini padam with a sad ending??? NOWAY!!! That's just wrong!!! ;)Thalaivar! Vaazhga!

Balaji said...

raju, no brickbats from me. the happy ending and predictability are part of any rajni film. love that when its a thalaivar padam :)

and most of the movies u mentioned, the ending is a big reason behind why the movies are so memorable for me. so i wouldn't change any of them though i personally like happy endings.

Raju said...

Tamilponnu, LOL at your climaxes for Moondram Pirai. Padathai ippadi vaaritteengaley..
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Balaji, hehehe.. adhu ennamo theriyale.. ungalukku Rajni pathi news podama thookkam varadhu.. Enakku Rajini-yai konjamavadhu kavukkama thookkam varadhu.. :-)

Since the endings were so different, these movies came to my mind when I started writing this post.

Ram C said...

Interesting way to twist the climax to a normal ending... I believe those striking ends made them hits (Except 'Uyirae'!!).. Not sure, if the ends suggested by you would have helped the film crew.

Raju said...

Ram, welcome back..

Yeah, I agree with you.. As I replied to Balaji, if the climaxes were different, they may not have had such a big impact even on me.. The contrastingly different ending was the reason we get to think of the movie long after we saw it.