Poor marketing and planning once again led to another dismal festival season this year.As the four films that were released for this Onam failed to draw audiences due to their weak entertaining proportions, the large group of the audience remained stuck to their TV Sets.Even in major cities more than four Tamil films were enjoying packed houses in the theatres.
Films like Thottal Poo Malarum, Munna, Sivaji, Thee Nagar and Love in London were those that were in city theatres. While in less known towns and B centres, the theatres owners very well found that it will be youths rather than families who are going to fill their centres and for them they also played mainstream masala filled Tamil films that just passed out from the A centres.
Hindi films like Hey Baby and Chak De India were also the favorites this season. Adding to the Mollywood's woes Mohanlal's Hindi film RGV Ki Aag also opened in full houses.
Monday, 3 September 2007
Saturday, 1 September 2007
AAG - NDTV Movies Report
After months of hype, controversy and court cases, RGV Ki Aag finally arrived in theaters this week. Ramu has never been short on guts. He has played by his own rules and created space for his brand of distinctive cinema.In Sarkar he took on the classic The Godfather. And now he reinvents the other cinematic holy cow: Sholay.The difference is that in Sarkar, the spirit of The Godfather hovered in the background. Sarkar was a fully realized film that stood on its own.In Aag, the spirit of Sholay has consumed the film and turned it into half-baked mess much like Linda Blair in The Exorcist.Characters, scenes, dialogue and even the background music echo the original. Only the names have changed because of legal complications. So anyone who has seen the original - and that's everyone over twenty-five-can't help but compare the two and I'm afraid there is no comparison.
Ramesh Sippy's Sholay is a classic because every element in it worked to perfection. The ingredients of popular Hindi film-action, romance, emotion, comedy-were blended perfectly to create the premium masala mix. Each character was finely-etched, every dialogue memorable.In Aag, only the drama of Narsimha versus Babban comes alive. Everything else, especially the romance and comedy, is absolutely limp.The milieu isn't the Bombay underworld that Ramu specializes in but a strange, half-urban-half-rural space called Kaliganj where Babban stomps around in giant boots.The stand-out performances here are Monhanlal as the upright cop and Amitabh Bachchan as the heinous criminal. Mr. B chews up the scenery with his psychotic bad behavior.There's a spectacularly funny moment when he looks at Nisha Kothari and declares: Toh yeh hai Miss Kaliganj. But beyond a point all the guns, gore, snarling and ugly men shot at impossible angles becomes totally exhausting.Thirty-two years after the original, the only improvement Ramu has managed is that he's fleshed out the character of Sambha, here called Thambe and performed superbly by Sushant Singh.Aag might work for teenagers who haven't seen Sholay but for those of us who've savored the original film not once but ten, twenty, thirty times, RGV Ki Aag is an exercise in futility.
Ramesh Sippy's Sholay is a classic because every element in it worked to perfection. The ingredients of popular Hindi film-action, romance, emotion, comedy-were blended perfectly to create the premium masala mix. Each character was finely-etched, every dialogue memorable.In Aag, only the drama of Narsimha versus Babban comes alive. Everything else, especially the romance and comedy, is absolutely limp.The milieu isn't the Bombay underworld that Ramu specializes in but a strange, half-urban-half-rural space called Kaliganj where Babban stomps around in giant boots.The stand-out performances here are Monhanlal as the upright cop and Amitabh Bachchan as the heinous criminal. Mr. B chews up the scenery with his psychotic bad behavior.There's a spectacularly funny moment when he looks at Nisha Kothari and declares: Toh yeh hai Miss Kaliganj. But beyond a point all the guns, gore, snarling and ugly men shot at impossible angles becomes totally exhausting.Thirty-two years after the original, the only improvement Ramu has managed is that he's fleshed out the character of Sambha, here called Thambe and performed superbly by Sushant Singh.Aag might work for teenagers who haven't seen Sholay but for those of us who've savored the original film not once but ten, twenty, thirty times, RGV Ki Aag is an exercise in futility.
Sibi Malayil - Mohanlal team with Flash
Sibi Malayil has kept away from Malayalam film industry due to some petty issues with the producers association, following a petition from the producer of his last film Amrutham about the bad audio track, the film carried. But now the associations have cleared off the allegations made against the talented director and have lifted the ban enforced on him. In his comeback Sibi is more energetic than ever announcing his two films with Mohanlal, back to back.
The first film titled Flash will start by the first week of October. The film scripted by S Bhasurachandran, an eminent journalist is a suspenseful film which has Note Book fame Parvathy in the lead. Produced by Tomichan in the banner of Mulakupadam films, will be the Christmas release of the star.
The second film of Sibi Malayil will witness the reunion of Lohitha Das with the master director. The film titled as Bheeshmar will start by March of 2008
The first film titled Flash will start by the first week of October. The film scripted by S Bhasurachandran, an eminent journalist is a suspenseful film which has Note Book fame Parvathy in the lead. Produced by Tomichan in the banner of Mulakupadam films, will be the Christmas release of the star.
The second film of Sibi Malayil will witness the reunion of Lohitha Das with the master director. The film titled as Bheeshmar will start by March of 2008
RGV Ki Aag
As the Onam films failed to create any impulse in the box office, now all the eyes are on to Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag to create any kind of waves in the Malayalam box office. The film which has Malayalam Superstar Mohanlal as the protagonist opened in a number of theatres all along the state.
The film which is inspired from Sholay has an ensemble cast including Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Mohanlal,Rajpal Yadav, Nisha Kothari, Susmita Sen, Prashant Raj and Urmila Matonkar. Mohanlal plays Inspector Narasimha, an encounter specialist with a justifiable vendetta against Babban, a psychopath killer played by Amitabh Bachchan. The biggest problem that the film face will definitely the comparison's with the original hit which even now continues to be the best in a million hearts.
The film which is inspired from Sholay has an ensemble cast including Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Mohanlal,Rajpal Yadav, Nisha Kothari, Susmita Sen, Prashant Raj and Urmila Matonkar. Mohanlal plays Inspector Narasimha, an encounter specialist with a justifiable vendetta against Babban, a psychopath killer played by Amitabh Bachchan. The biggest problem that the film face will definitely the comparison's with the original hit which even now continues to be the best in a million hearts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
