Thursday, December 19, 2013

Kalyana samayal sadam – a feast !






Finally in the last few years kollywood has come of age. They take an idea, live with it, use it, abuse it, sleep, live and eat and grow with it, sure that is the way to success as we have found. There is no 6 songs, 6 fights, punch dialogues, amma sentiment, no flying fire balls of auotmobile, there have been many refreshing new ideas and this is certainly one of those coming of age movies.

 I don’t want to play spoilers for this is no usual movie, there is definitely a firm thread of a story line which the movie captures which no other movie I ve heard of or seen has tried to venture into.. The time and events between courtship to marriage in an arranged marriage scenario. That is the actual period where love blossoms, smses get exchanged, fights happen, family politics play its part and so on before they get married and live happily ever after..  For those in love, they do not know the script of the movie they are acting, but arranged marriage is a like watching a tamil movie, you know the hero is going to win, and hence is a different ball game.. Speaking of ball games, you will see plenty of them in this movie. Too many sexual innuendos without actually showing flesh. Somehow I never felt like laughing though there was this burst out laughter whenever adult jokes (supposedly) are being enacted or dialogues uttered with double, no one and only meaning, requiring more than a parental guidance. Well, having established the main theme taking us through the period of courtship there was no need for emphasising the same problem in different lingo so many times, that certainly felt like trying too hard or having a set of A jokes and wanting to fully tick off the list..

The thing to appreciate about is the maturity of the screen play and the way each character reacts to the central issue the movie revolves around, take Delhi Ganesh, (come on when he speaks with a kerchief around the receiver just before interval, you can easily make his voice out while only the other end is visible to the audience). And sub consciously I went and picked a cold coffee in the interval being prompted by Delhi Ganesh asking the only question he wants to ask is whether a hot coffee or a cold coffee when Prasanna unassumingly starts to narrate the long story short, having been caught red handed by his father in law. The nosey relatives who try to be gossip-mongers, the hero’s mother, wanting to act like a typical mother in law, bossing over the bride and bringing out the son-parents relationship to the fore, all deserve credits..The heroine’s character played by Lekha Washington is a really strong one and she takes things very boldly, quite representing the reality of the times. But she could be less-stone faced and lacks an element of female charm which explains why she can never make it to the A list despite having a fair skin tone.

When Prasanna takes his parents, driving a car and the time when pops a gift before his bride, on one knee towards the end, it becomes difficult not to recollect the Arun Excello ads he appears in, you tend to imagine it is the keys to the house you think he is going to present.. Prasanna is getting sterotyped in non macho, doubting Thomas characters, like how Dhanush, RJ Shiva and so many other heroes are typecast. He scores in most scenes where he is unsure when confronted with overcoming the embarrassing challenge. Crazy mohan in his small role irritates with his 2000 year old wits. Prasanna’s friends contribute well to the movie with Raghav playing cupid to the troubled couple. Comedy is definitely not the forte of the dialogue writer, barring the inneundos which anyway bring a chuckle or a laughter here and there. Eg a gene / jean mix up relating it with progeny is a classic case in point which never deserved the laughter it is worth simply because of its poor dialogue delivery and intonation, probably it required more audience participation to appreciate it..

Getting into a fairly tale mode towards the climax, throwing a surprise was something almost everyone doing the routines in an arranged marriage would love to do but could never do because their lives were not scenes straight from the movies..

The script is the central pillar and characters have fallen in place perfectly and getting back to the initial section of this post this movie is both a multiplex movie and a A,B and partly C movie as the central thread is something that covers the entire populace. Not advisable for those under 18 due to the adult content, the movie is definite to be remade in hindi & telugu among other languages, who knows its definitely worth a few nominations and would do the rounds in the award circuits for its sheer freshness in treatment.


  
  

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