Monday, August 4, 2008

Kuselan-A review

Before I embark on a journey to the USA, I thought I should somehow watch Kuselan here in India. Not for any special reasons other than the fact that I am a Rajini fan and that tickets are way beyond what I can afford there in LA! I should say that I was a little disappointed at the way the subject was handled. It's a tale about friendship and from the way it has been packaged, it is very evident that the director, P Vasu has had a lot of trouble 'filling' it. The movie was completed in very quick time and the haphazard nature of the first half is indicative of it.
There is nothing in the first half to actually make the viewer sit up. But, you just can't doze off as you are sure to be woken up by the din created by Vadivelu and his skimpily clad wife! The 'laughability quotient' in Vadivelu's gimmicks have been on the decline and I hope Kuselan is his nadir-it can't and shouldn't get worse than this. I don't understand how this film managed a 'U' certificate with scenes in which he looks at his exercising wife out of the window, one in which he stares open mouthed at Nayanthara in her dressing room etc. There aren't too many positives to write home about in the first half.
The second half of the movie betters the first half quite easily due to the low standards set. Pasupathi excels throughout, though talk of this role as being his best is only laughable. Meena gives a neat performance, though her costumes could have been much better. Rajini has a role which demands emoting after a long time and shows glimpses of (what I believe) his untapped acting potential. The true Super star is brought to the fore in the 'movie inside movie' sequences. Ironically, with a whole battalion of comedians, the most comic one involves none of them-the conversation between Rajini and R. Sundarrajan is the best in the movie. The climax sequence is sure to bring tears to the eyes of the average viewer.
Graphics leave a lot to be desired-most are unwarranted and misplaced; dolphins diving in and out of a flowing river, in an otherwise realistic song picturization is an example.
'Cinema cinema' song is the best among the otherwise unnecessary song sequences.
On the whole, it is a movie which has a reasonably good story line in which commercial elements have been forcefully and clumsily added by the director. Cinematography by Arvind Krishna is very plain-nothing extraordinary akin to some of his previous movies like Kadhal Konden, 7G Rainbow Colony etc.
With the ingredients of a typical Rajini movie almost zilch, the saleability of the movie is a little doubtful. Lewd sequences and an unimpressive comedy track don't add much to the commercial value of the movie either. Nayanthara's glamour and most importantly, Rajini's image can only help bring smiles to the producers and distributors.

1 comment:

shyamvenky said...

total a veruthutai pola iruku!! naanum pathutu vanthu polambaren.. ;) but didnt we all know before itself tat it wud be a letdown?? why go with big expectations then?? ;);)