Autograph - The Movie as I see it
– Ok, it’s 2:00 AM in the morning and hence forgive me if what I write is a meaningless blabber. –A great movie! Must view! 5 Stars! Makes you write about it when you would normally be sleeping!Cheran (the director and also the male lead in the movie) knows to direct a fine story, no kidding. The thing that I like about the movie is it is not a ‘typical’ tamil movie. By typical I mean: a movie with meaningless dance sequences with lightly clad women pretending to be horny or giving you the impression, a movie with unbelievable fight sequences, a movie that kind of raises the hero’s status to that of a demi-god, a movie about someone other than the common man, a movie that is made with the sole intention of making monetary profit. I forgot to mention that most tamil movies are sentimental and Autograph is no exception. I couldn’t take it after about watching 1/3 of the movie, but then I knew the sentiment part is actually a direct reflection of that experienced by a Common man and hence proceeded to watch the rest of the 2/3 and yeah, I am impressed.
The story is seen through the eyes of the male protagonist (no way will I call him a Hero, it would deprecate the movies image): Selva (a subtle and effective performance by Cheran). He is getting married and personally goes to the various cities that he grew up in to invite his friends to his wedding. Memories can hit you like a gale at any time - a long forgotten sound, a smell, a song, a book, a movie and so on - can trigger a series of chemical reactions in our body and the amazing brain recreates the past - as we saw it - in the present- sometimes painful, sometimes heartening. So yes the song Mudhal Mudhal which is peppered across the first half combined with the visual images tell us about Selva’s teenage years in a small town in Tamil Nadu. Enter Kamala his teenage heartthrob who -he later realises- is his first love. Again, no stupid songs with them running around, no sir, this movie a lot better than the masala crap that is full of these dances. Then they separate, later realizing that the untold love is still present ( in what way I don’t know).
Fast forward a few years and we are into Selva’s College life. Selva’s father is a Postmaster and as with most Government Employees (at least in India) gets transferred evey few years, now to a town in Kerala. Enter Lathika- Selva’s college mate- a sweet and charming girl who fills in the void created by his ’separation’ from Kamala. I think this is the strongest part of the movie: the scenes in Kerala where he tries to win Lathika’s heart and succeeds in getting her to love him back. This part of the movie paces up the movie from the sentimental part preceding it. And yeah, no dancing around trees, actually while checking again, there is a song “Manasukulle” but I can live with it.Lathika’s family oppose her love for Selva and gets her married to someone else. In the process Selva is beaten up by men sent by Lathika’s father and there is also a fight sequence, I have to admit Cheran has enough guts and sense to make the fight look as realistic as possible and it’s a pity that films released long after this movie haven’t understood that the unrealistic fight sequences makes no sense to someone with even half a brain and they are mostly repelling to a person like me. And again separation hits Selva, he is taken aback by what has happened and becomes almost deranged-mentally- until a thoughtful and understanding father saves him from ruining himself.
Selva now is in Chennai, where he searches for a job, hear Divya (cute Sneha) sings an Inspiring song and I guess this motivates him not to lose hope in his job search and finally through his efforts and Divya’s help gets a job at Divya’s ad firm. Hard work brings him to a respectable position. In the meantime a strong friendship develops between him and Divya. As the story is narrated the suspense regarding Selva’s bride is very well executed. I for one thought that- Divya- was a strong candidate for being his final love.
Selva meets Lathika to invite her to his wedding and is shocked to see her as a widow. Selva is taken aback and wants to cancel his marriage, but a good friend as she was- Divya advises Selva to go ahead with his marriage and yes, in the picture above the three women are chatting with each other at his wedding.
Time is a big healer and Life (has to) moves on, that of course is the obvious conclusion. The movie also stresses the importance of friendship and healthy relationship with your family and also people outside it. This movie is as much about friendship as it is about cherishing it. An autograph that is inedible in your heart that just needs a slight trigger to be brought alive and Cheran has done that through this movie: he brings the emotion filled memories back to life. Well done, Master.
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Fos pou svini, To (2000) aka Fading light is the greek movie, I was talking abt in my earlier post and the actress i was referring to was Viki Volioti . i can sometimes push myself just too hard to remember things.the last two days,I had been fervently searching the web (googling mainly) to get these details.IMDB was pretty bad when it came to plot search.but finally googled SBS to get these details.after getting the movie title, i started diligently searching for Viki Volioti’s picture and couldn’t find anything on google, Yahoo helped me in finding that she is also known as Vicky Volioti and then i got to see some pics, she looked good but i was not impressed with those pics (not her).I read somewhere that yahoo’s search is getting better (than google’s), i would agree to an extent because when i search for kesavan on yahoo my 2 sites come in the first page, while in google they don’t should justify what i read abt yahoo, i suppose.
while searching for the greek movie, i was also trying to remember a very good aussie movie which i saw 6-7 months ago and i remembered it as Malcom (1986), a movie abt a very very likeable character, i remember that the soundtrack was also impressive.
the thing that surprised me was i found it extremely difficult to find these movies on the internet. i guess there is nothing like a human brain when it comes to processing and finding data hidden somewhere in the grey cells.
i am sitting here, typing this on a friday night after having pizza from ilianas, after a hard days work (my boss would not agree, but i am entitled to my opinions and for god’s sake it’s my site) and after meeting someone I really like and am unable to forget. am working tomorrow as well, so guess should get gud nights sleep, as i start early.c what is in store tomorrow.
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just finished watching Malena on SBS and enjoyed watching it.the main characters in the film are a 13 year old boy and a very attractive women played by eminently endowed Monica Bellucci .showing the impact that a woman can have even on a young boy.it also shows how rumour and jealousy can play a big part in ruining peoples life and how time is a big healer.the film was gr8 to watch not only because of Bellucci, but also because I like seeing Italian architecture creating wonders in the streets of sicily.
i love seeing european films, most of them seem to have a soul in them, they are very realistic and people oriented, exploring the emotions of humans against the backdrop of beautiful architecture.some other films i enjoyed watching are Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain, Le (Amélie, 2001)- the innocent screen charmer , Abre los ojos (1997) - the english version Vanilla Sky which i didnt like much.
One of the best films I had seen was a greek one, the title of which i am unable to remember, to my dismay.the film was abt this boy who is a gr8 violonist (misses his father who is divorced from his mother), tries to come in terms with his mother’s new lover and while losing his sight is helped by a very very beautiful teacher (i wud like to remember the name of the movie, just, so i can get more info on this actress) all in a picturesque greek island, just amazing.i shall leave the review to the people @ The Internet Movie Database, as they seem to know what they r doing, unlike me.
thanks SBS for showcasing these movies, i am not sure wheteher i would have been able to watch these movies back in India.
that’s it for now, not working 2morrow (semantically 2day), but wud love 2 get 2 bed, without having to worry abt getting up-to go to work.
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it is great to know that the Film Nayakan (1987) is in Time Magazines Top 100 movies.I like Kamal Hassan (the actor) and Mani Ratnam (the director), these guys are widely respected in the Indian film industry and also in abroad.
it is also interesting to note that most of the top 100 films are non hollywood based guess these films are recognised not only for the fine perfomance by the actors and great direction of the directors, but also because of the universality of the themes presented and also their relevance even today.
i am not the best person to tell abt the intricacies of moviemaking or the sometimes subtle meaning in movies, but the movies I enjoyed watching apart from Nayakan are Goodfellas (1990) and Pulp Fiction (1994).
i wud have included One flew over the cuckoos nest (1975) , if i had a chance, but who am i to include or exclude???
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