#manmadhan ambu

[sindhuspeaks-blog]

Manmadhan Ambu - Not a review :D

This one is not a proper review purely because it is a Kamal-Crazy-Mohan-combo fan doing the post-mortem of the movie and I had instinctively assumed that Crazy is there for sure! MY bad!!

  First things first, I am not sure if I must sue or thank those who claimed the movie to be just average. Sue part - Cmon! It was pure fun. Thank part - I did not have much expectations which made the movie all the more fun. More specifically, though it is a bit difficult to resist,  No comparison with Panchathandhiram !!  If you are a (Tamil) movie buff, repeat this to yourself 10 times,  out loud, before getting into the theater.

The genre is comedy and you know that right? So stop pondering over the logic for sometime !! Most of the parts did have their fair share of logic though. And the cast was brilliant. Everyone has done justice to their roles and Kamal was not the only one whose presence was felt. As a matter of fact, I think Sangeetha was awesome! That was one heck of a role and she had rocked throughout the movie. Many supporting actors have also been awesome (Usha Udup!! Maa!! Tussi great ho :P )

'Neela vaanam' picturisation speaks volumes of the team's creativity. A 5-minute song sequence describing a whole lifetime is typical Tamil cinema. But giving the entire sequence in reverse is typical Kamal cinema. My personal favorite was the  screenplay in the first half. And what happened in the second half? It was dwindling between 'ohh k' and 'good'. May be because,  the movie loses the importance to comedy in the second part, which is diametrically opposite the way, comedy sky-rocketed in Panchathandiram in the second half. (Oh Cmon!! With Kamal-KSR-Crazy combo (No Crazy!! Sigh!!), what do you expect my left brain to be? A lifeless gargoyle?)

Locations --> Well! Venice, Barcelona and Paris are picturesque enough and I don't think the camera did any magic in accentuating its beauty. (No! I've never been to these places so far.  Still PC Sreeram / Neerav Shah might just have done a better job!)  It did make look Kodaikanal , the cruise and Trisha much better though.

There was one major 'restriction' that might terribly hamper this movie's returns though. It is strictly strictly strictly for multiplex audience. Ok! Lemme rephrase - It demands a certain amount of concentration for it is definitely not a brainless comedy. By the time you end up being in splits for one scene, you might have missed the 'fun element' in the next minute, leave alone the next scene. And what makes it worse, the timing is so spot -on that it is best when watched in a multiplex(or theater :P ) with good acoustics. The fun part could be complete only then.

Speaking of sounds, what has gotten into DSP? Some good piece of music and background scores, though few sounded like flicks. But that's ok. Neelavanam and the so-called-deleted song (Thank you Youtube) were simply too good. And the first song -- *Glees* -- Like Kamal and Maddy were not enough! That was the first and may be the only surprise element in the movie, which I am sure is not going to stay that way for long.

Somewhere in the second half though, I began wondering, 'Where the hell is Crazy Mohan?' and Boom! Just in time, there comes the Crazy-style-climax and of course, few scenes before that. And one scene that was absolutely Crazy (I so badly wish it was a capital C) - The one where Trisha tells Kamal,  Neenga sema kat.. tayama kalyanam agirukkanum! 

Maddy was the next best to Sangeetha and Kamal (in order - yes!). No. I had tightly shut down the Maddy fan in me. Scenes where he was drunk are the highlights while watching the movie,  except for the fact that it becomes a bit too much towards the end (I told you - The Maddy fan is tightly shut!). And that is exactly when, Crazy-style-climax comes to the rescue of the movie, with an interesting last 15 mins (I repeat - Watch atleast the last 15 mins in a good theater)

And that little kiddo - Vish - reflects tomorrow's youth. I have done my level best to not reveal all the characters since, that might be too much of a spoiler. (Well! Not for the story part, but for the fun part)

Verdict?? What verdict? All I wanted was two plus hours of laughter therapy and I had it. KSR's way of saying 'Ask! And thou shalt recieve' ?? But still, watch it as many times as you want. But ensure that you are with a nice bunch of friends passing around junk food or with family members passing around yummy snacks and filter coffee (Well! you know what I mean ;) ). The movie will be  definitely worth the time spent. P.S. : Modified slightly after getting to know that there was no Crazy Mohan in the team. But, there was definitely a Crazy-influence throughout the movie. Like I said, it was just that his absence was clearly felt in the second part of the movie.

[tamilcritic-blog]

Manmadhan Ambu - Enjoyable but in bits

I happened to see Manmadhan Ambu only 3 days before - 10 days after the film released - due to various reasons. These 10 days stood out to me as the frustrating days as situations led to not getting a chance to see the most prolific actor of Indian Cinema, Kamal Hassan's movie. The reviews of the movie were mixed mostly to some negative ones. And Ananta Vikatan gave 40 / 100 marks - which didnt speak much volume of the movie. So I went with lesser anticipation and expected a slight disappointment from Kamal.

But Oh Boy! When the first half was over, I thought there could hardly be anything wrong in that movie. The pacing of the first half was neat and flows like a silent stream. The dialogues(Kamal hassan) were pretty good and they are no doubt backbone of the film. The problem however started 15 minutes into the second half. The pacing of the film was suddenly broken. The story which was narrated in a feather manner resisted to move forward. Characters tried to imitate Panchathanthiram like comedy. Why such a change in the screenplay when everything is going well is known only to Kamal Hassan.

Kamal's movies like Panchathanthiram, Bammal K Sambantham, Kaathala Kaathala which focussed high quality comedy didnt quite do well in theatres, but these films were hits in TV channels. And that is because people take time to understand Kamal's style of unique comedyness and they find difficult to bear it in theatres but when they sit and relax in front of TV, they quite enjoy it. I am just afraid the final hour of Manmadhan Ambu could do the same. The first half of the movie was never like any other Kamal's comedy slicks but the second half in fact was.

Trisha after VTV, its a great performance once again. Two scenes I would like to point out. One when she tells Madhavan "May be Not","May be I dont love you". You could see Love in Trisha's tearing eyes though her lips say "May be Not". Another scene where she tells Kamal "Neenga semma Katta...yama kalyanam aayirukkum". She naturally effortlessly pulls out this dialogue, credit goes to Kamal Sir.

Sangeetha is the stand out performer in this film. In some of the scenes, she has equalled Kamal Hassan. The last few minutes belong to Sangeetha and her natural acting with good tamil accent aides. Madhavan's performance - I consider - a disappointment. He never looked like a real drunkard. Ramesh Arvind and Oorvasi do their small part very well. Surya is a guest performer and one wonders why Oviya is there in the film.

Music by Devi Sri Prasad is a big plus and he scores in both background and songs. Live Recording has come out excellent mostly for bringing out the true ambience inside the  ship. I think Tamil Cinema should use it in more films and this also depends the content and locations in the film. Neeyum Naanum song has been shot with Kamal's lips synching forward and the clips backward. Excellent Idea for a flashback and Superbly shot. Kamal deserves every kudos for this song. The lyric of the song is so cute and my favorite being "Naam Vaazhtha Vaazhkaikku Saandraavathu, Innoru uyir allava". Another song Kamal Kavithai has been edited out and could have been another interesting song if it was present in the film. The song was reportedly taken in one shot.

The movie may be considered as another experiment by Kamal Hassan. But the experiment is partial in parts. Live Recording, all actors' performance, Kamal's avathar as Kavignar, Songs, Neeyum Naanum song picturisation make this film a watchable one barring a few tidbits in the second half.