Jul 30, 2008

Chiru for Chief minister? (And Kuselan Mini-Review)



I haven't been following Andhra politics for sometime now, but still this news came as a huge surprise to me. Chiranjeevi and politics? Well, he was the megastar of Andhra after NTR so he is definitely aspiring to test his luck. With the state assembly elections around the corner in a few months, the announcement come along the lines of what Vijaykanth did three years ago. I watched Chiru's recent 'Tagore' and it had failure written all over its face and was duly rejected by the audience. Isn't it a sign for him to tread his path carefully? Hmmm... we never know what Andhrites think, when it comes to politics. Let's wait and watch..
Kuselan Mini-Review:
Not having watched Baba, Kuselan is the most boring Rajni movie since Pandian.
Rajni - Savior of the movie. Injects at least some life into an otherwise irritating story.
Pasupathy - Looks disinterested in the proceedings throughout. Is funny when he tries to dance with his family.
Nayanthara - Total waste, except for a couple of songs and some front-benchers. Among the entire cast (excl. Rajni) of double-chinners, pot-bellyholders and no-neckers, she is somewhat of a relief.
Meena - Tries to act as an 'ideal wife' which she just barely manages to pull off.
Vadivelu - Crass comedy, generously sprinkled with double entendres. Managed to show his true talent in the scene where he gets to meet Rajni.
Supporting cast: The less said about them, the better. The nuns of the school were shockingly silly; the gang of Livingston & co., were insipid, fellow shop-owners and neighbors of Pasupathy would have failed even a single episode of TV soap opera.
Music: One song sounds like 'Uruguthey', one like 'Veyilodu'.. Easily the worst album of GV Prakash.
Picturization: Horrible. Especially the song where the village praises Pasupathy. Dolphins and exotic waterfalls in a song were so hilarious.
Story & Screenplay: None. The main plot goes around and around and around until even the most patient of us scream "padathai mudingayya".
Dialogues: Amateurish. When Meena refuses the neighbour's food, and when Pasupathy refuses to meet Rajni, the dialogues sound deja-vu.
Cinematography: Zooming on the distorted mouths, faces and bodies of the fringe actors will not win you any awards.
Direction: P Vasu is back to his 'full form'. When a big deal is made out of a seamingly worthless issue, it is the worst possible plot one can get. I havent watched the Mallu original, but I doubt it must have been butchered by Vasu.
Attitude problems: Firstly, the film is not named after Pasupathy's character, as everyone thought. Rajni, in his final speech, makes it clear that he is 'Kuselan' (and there is a 'Krishna' twist to Pasupathy's role to justify that). So, this film is, after all, on Rajni. Secondly, when Sundarrajan asks some sensible questions to Rajni, I was truly surprised. The subsequent sommersault of Sundarrajan and Rajni's reactions to his questions, I thought, reflected Rajni's attitude on all of us who have and raise such questions.