Dec 7, 2005

ABCD


(Pic adopted from indiainfo)

This movie is a great competitor to the teleserials - both in terms of the story and the 'hanki requirement' part. The way the movie moves and the pop-up 'funda' songs laced by some ordinary background music reminds us so much of the good-old Visu's movies of 1980's and the 'weep as u please' b/w movies of 1970's.

A=Anand (Shaam); B=Bharathi (Nandana); C=Chandra (Sneha); and D=Divya (Aparna). B, C and D have many things in common: they love A; they belong to lower middle-class; they see a lot of hardships in the world minus A. After 'Hanuman', ABCD was a humbling movie-watching experience for me.. The whole movie moves so slowly, as if the director shot it entirely in slow-motion; ABC and D talk slowly; move slowly; cry (a lot) slowly. If you watch the movie (which in itself would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience) in a DVD, it is better to watch it in 1.5 X or even 2X mode with voice on.. it would look like a 'normal' albeit a short movie..

Sharavana Subbiah, the director, appears as C's ex-husband and tortures C (and us as well) physically and emotionally; A is an MBA, but the way he hunts for a job suggests that either he was a just-pass MBA or, after passing MA, he thought it is MBA (since he would have got BA first). C has acted very well... her face and eyes speak a lot at times. Best performance from her so far. B, as the 'bread-winning elder girl with two sisters and one brother' and D as an orphan longing for love and care, are OK..

The biggest drawback of the movie is that all the characters talk a lot.. that too the cliche dialogues long forgotten. Shaam has tried to be 'different' by showing a poker-face for anything happens around him and sleep-talking.. Vadivelu's comedy brings the few lighter moments. The old man who acts as C's father is downright irritating.. He has scaled new heights in acting.. Worst father character in a long time.. (the father in Iyer IPS is comparatively far more bearable). Less said about music the better.

A Boring & Crying Drama.

23 comments:

tt_giant said...

i am staying clearly away from the theatre...

vithyaasama panrenuttu neraiyya per maNNai kavvi irukaanga!.

TamilPonnu said...

I will watch this on dvd- me like drama. Thanks raju for the review.

narayanan said...

This movie quenched my thirst for SUN TV :D. It was not irritating due to lot of dialogues but the way the dialogues were delivered. sneti padam paakalaam aana idhu konjam kenathanama eduthuttan.

-narayanan

Raju said...

Deepak, u better stay away... :-) In this movie, the 'vithyasam' was largely from Shaam.. and it was a terrible difference; the director is atleast 20-25 years late in bringing this movie..
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Tamilponnu, appadiya? mmm.. vidhi yaarai vittadhu? Rendu moonu hanki ready-ya vachikkuttu indha padam parunga.. Knowing a little about u, I think you will hate the melodrama..
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Narayanan, I read ur review too.. LOL on ur thirst.. mm.. the kind of dialogues and the mode of delivery both were bad.. Vidaama pesitte irukkangappa.. 'Sneti'? Puriyalaye...

Anonymous said...

aah, sad to hear that this movie is not so good, Shaam, is a poor guy, he needs a break real bad, i guess he is kinda like shrikkanth, if given proper chance, they can excel, although i think shrikkanth is getting lot more opportunities than shaam. i thought shaam was good in some of his earlier movies, but didn't do well in the boxoffice. i am waitin for some of the new movies to come out on dvd so i can watch it, haven't seen any in long time. i want to see kanda naal mudhal.

ada-paavi!!!! said...

i tot i was the only guy wholl watch all tamil padams, u beat me, i don have the patience to watch this padam,

i salute ur porumai and ur love n longgin of tamil padams!!

illati inda patathae pappengala??

Siddharth said...

i just saw tavamai tavamirunde.its awesome.but if u dont like slow movies u may not like it.

NaiKutti said...

anthe movie pakkame pogathe nu solringa... point taken :-)

paurna said...

dude again u prove u r unique how do u watch such movies.its really a very puzzling puzzle

Raju said...

Nitin, you wouldnt miss anything if you give a skip to this movie. IMHO, elder people such as parents might (I can even say would surely) like this one. It is along the lines of tamil megaserials. Shaam has been lucky to get reasonably good roles like in 12B, Iyarkai, Ullam Ketkumae and even this one. He could have made the difference in this movie too. But, he made a mess of it thinking himself to be a copy of Kamalhaasan; and a bad copy it turned out to be. I also think he and Srikanth are in the same boat in terms of their box-office stand; but Srikanth promises more; Shaam flattres to deceive. I am also waiting for 'Kanda naal mudhal'.
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Vatsan, hahaha... I am a hardcore movie fan; so whenever I get some time to kill, I watch the 'promising' movies. Like I replied to Aparna's comment in 'Hanuman' post, there has to be something attractive for me to watch the movie - the actors/actersses, music or directors. Otherwise, I would give a skip. I havent watched movies like 'Meesai Madhavan', 'Karka kasadara' etc.

As for this movie, I was impressed with the director's 'Tsunami-based climax' in his debut film 'Citizen' though I didnt watch it. Though Citizen's story was similar to Shankar's movies, I was willing to watch it and put it in my DVD queue. I thought he would have something better in this movie; but like most directors, his second movie must have been worse than his first.

If you want to see the 'ultimate porumai mannan', you have to visit Balaji's reviews site. He doesnt miss any available movie. :-)

Raju said...

Sid, I am waiting to watch TT. Good to know it is awesome. It is not that I dont like slow movies; this movie was not only slow, the screenplay and dialog delivery got unbearable after the threshold limit of intermission.
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Karthik, hahaha.. first I read it as 'Dont go without watching the movie'. I understood ur 'pakkame' as 'paakkaame'. :-) U got me..
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Paurna, LOL.. there are many such 'unique' people I know, machi.. As I said to Vatsan, plz. visit Balaji's reviews to know his tamil film-watching patience.

Vijay Ramamurthi said...

Neengalum Balajiyum..ellarum romba sooperaa irukkunu sollareenga..appo padathe paathe aakanaum ;)

Raju said...

Oh, ennai maathiriye ellarum solraangala? Appo kandippa paarunga.. ;-) eppadiyo, naan petra inbam, peruga indha vaiyagam..

narayanan said...

Raju: that was supposed to be 'senti'. typo ba :)
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bbthots Balaji is one porumayin sigaram. i have'nt watched the movies he's reviewed even when i was in a movie watching spree.

-narayanan

Raju said...

Narayanan, oh.. ennoda mind appo work aagalai.. Agree with you on Balaji. :-)

Balaji said...

raju/narayanan, ipdi en porumaiyai mechugiringale! hope its a compliment :)

narayanan said...

ofcourse it is a compliment :-) kadandha 2-3 varushama vara blade padatha paathu naan 'Anniyan'oda periya break potten. ungalukku eppadithaan ivlo porumai irukko :O. enakku free of cost'a padam paaka sonna kooda bbreviews'la neenga review pannina sila padam naan paaka maaten.

-narayanan

Raju said...

Balaji, yes, of course.. mathavanga oru dabba padathai parthu nondhu poga koodathunnu neenga double pain eduthkkureengaley (watching and writing).. Unga nalla ennamum porumaiyum yaarukku varum.. Naanum Tamil, Hindi, English-nu evvalavo kuppai padam recent-a parthirukkenn.. aana 'kadamaiye kannaayinaar'nu ellaa padathukkum review ezhudhura neenga 'Rhythm'le varra madhiri 'Nilamey poru nilamey... un porumai vendruviduenn'nu paadalam.. Nakkal illaatha, 100% nalla vaarthaigalal seidha compliment.. :-)
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Narayanan, :-)

TamilPonnu said...

Buy 2 Get 1 Free Kleenex on sale..!! I'm ready Raju!

Raju said...

Tamilponnu, hahaha.. thats cool.

Balaji said...

narayanan/raju, appo a big thanx :) padam paakka pudikum, ezhudha pudikkum - rendum kalandhu irukara velai thaane writing reviews :)

Raju said...

Balaji, u are welcome. Ellaa tamil padamum parthu ellathukkum review ezhudhura ungalukku Hats Off!! :-)

Raju said...

Vee-jay, amen.. :-)