An Owl's 2 hoots

Saturday, December 24, 2005

hrrmph! Action!!

Clearing the throat - whether necessary or otherwise, that is how Kamalhassan would probably start his lights, camera action routine!.

Just finished watching the black & white classic - avargaL. Quite possible that Kamal started his casual way of acting from this movie - peppered with banging against furniture while walking, that hesitant way of talking... No, no, I really loved his acting, after all, he is born for acting. Somehow that has become his trademark way of acting, of course, his un-abashed on-screen crying!

Thinking along the same lines, most of the acclaimed tamil movie directors have their own trademark styles/techniques painted, sometimes, scribbled all over their creations. I am not trying to generalize their ways, but it is more likely that it may be the case.

1. K. Balachander:
  • most of his movies would have a house with a long set of rooms, with multiple entrances to each room. Just so because, the all-enduring female lead character can retort to each and every family members' rants
  • he will make sure you don't forget the mirror-reflection technique
  • symbolic scene settings - like kilo yenna velai for the depth of music interest
2. Manirathnam:
  • very short dialogs, which sometimes would be understood only by the writer
  • some of his older movies definitely had a rain sequence
  • one of the characters would be referred by his caste name
3. Bharathiraaja:
  • graamam
  • particularly in song sequences, a shot of a flower, or the heroine showing her pearly-whites (teeth!) or a group of birds flying would be repeated and merged in a transclucent manner
4. Visu:
  • simple sets - just one or 2 houses
  • character named Uma
  • this guy takes theorem-proving/tautology very seriously
  • climax scene would be a 2 page dialog. For every person in the house. For two iterations.
5. Baghyaraj:
  • makes us to wait for his "story, screenplay, direction" title card after a solid trademark scene
  • tremendously taut screenplay
  • subtle matter dialogs
6. Shankar:
  • rich sets. Vairamuthu or vaali must be partly blamed for this. Some of their over-enthusiastic lyrics makes Shankar think too literally and the CGI costs of those special effects run riot!
  • i believe he introduced the "jerky movement" scenes
  • glorifies brahminism - true isn't it?
7. Selvaraghavan:
  • no-holds-barred story settings
  • yuvan shankar raja
  • None of the characters are normal
Just for fun!. Have a nice weekend!.

PS: Merry Christmas and considering how frequently I post, Happy New Year!

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24 Comments:

  • Good ones.. LOL'ed all through.. oru vishayam ennoda tubelight mandaikku puriyalai..
    symbolic scene settings - like kilo yenna velai for the depth of music interest

    About the 'rooms with multiple entrances', they were started by KB and well-picked by his Sishya Visu..

    What I would add to KB w'd be:

    * Someone in love with some married person
    * Real close-up shot, with entire screen showing the side-view of the heroine's face (to be precise, from forehead to lips.. not even chin)

    By Blogger Raju, at December 24, 2005 1:36 PM  

  • Raju: Thanks!. ;-)

    Kilo yenna velai was a scene from sindhu bhairavi.. instead of saying Sulkashana knows zilch in music, the scene cuts to her bargaining in the market..

    Yea!. the close up shot.. i have noticed it in one or two movies.. LOL!.

    By Blogger tt_giant, at December 24, 2005 4:28 PM  

  • sooper list TTG,

    KB padathula women characters ellam romba empowered-a kattuvangal, delivering witty dialogues (konjam punch rangeku), be in sridevi in 3 muduchu, suhasani in sindhu B or manathil ooruthi vendum, any padam.
    chumma vaiya taranda, vali illati vairamuthu persara madri dialogue varum (in terms of poetic quality etc, in real like i wonder who speaks like that)

    By Blogger ada-paavi!!!!, at December 24, 2005 6:10 PM  

  • good summary... manirathnam la onnu vittuteenga... lack of light in the scenes...

    By Blogger NaiKutti, at December 25, 2005 7:46 PM  

  • Good one and true too.!!

    About Kamal - peppered with banging against furniture while walking......ROTFL....He does it in every movie in a sad scene.!!
    and his throat clearing technique.!!

    One point about Bharathi Raaja - His cut shots in songs are very famous. The next time start counting...you'll run out of numbers :)

    I watched Priyadharshan's Garam Masala today...( very rarely I watch Hindi) ..and boy...the movie was so nice...crisp/nice songs/nice settings Sibu Cyril...!

    I am sure he'll have his style too.! Have to watch more!

    By Blogger Narayanan Venkitu, at December 26, 2005 12:42 AM  

  • lol come to think of it u do make sense ;)

    happy new year and happy holidays ;)

    By Blogger Visithra, at December 26, 2005 12:44 AM  

  • Vatsan: Thanks!.. there is a long standing rumor in the tamil film industry that MGR wanted KB to direct a film with him, but he wanted a story central to the hero not the heroine. KB did not accept!

    --..--..--

    Naikutti: Yea, especially in Agni nakshtram and anjali..

    By Blogger tt_giant, at December 26, 2005 9:21 AM  

  • Narayanan: Thanks and welcome back!. I will try to see Garam Masala..

    --..--..--

    Visithra: So, ithana naaLa naan sonnadhu ellam did'nt make any sense?? ;-)

    --..--..--

    Hiren: Kamal is an extremely talented actor. Some of his later movies have been dubbed in Hindi, but he has acted superbly in an unsaid number of older tamil movies..

    By Blogger tt_giant, at December 26, 2005 9:24 AM  

  • Hey..nice comparison on the directors! Everybody sure have their unique styles..some of them are out of the roof hilarious :)

    By Blogger Maverick, at December 26, 2005 9:13 PM  

  • aiii adada praise panna ipdhi telling ah? Pasangehleh ipdhithan - nala vartai sohlaveh kudadhu

    By Blogger Visithra, at December 28, 2005 12:38 AM  

  • Maverick: :-) Thanks!!

    Why no updates in your blog?

    --..--..--

    Visithra: ;-)

    By Blogger tt_giant, at December 28, 2005 8:30 AM  

  • ive just started writing about my goa trip..check it out.

    By Blogger Maverick, at December 28, 2005 9:08 PM  

  • Off to Orlando for the weekend.. Happy New Year, Deepak.. Will try to call u sometime..

    By Blogger Raju, at December 30, 2005 5:24 AM  

  • Maverick: will read them!

    --..--..--

    Raju: cool.. where are you going there now?. will talk soon.

    By Blogger tt_giant, at December 30, 2005 8:01 AM  

  • Have a wonderful and peaceful year ahead Deepak!

    By Blogger NaiKutti, at December 31, 2005 6:56 PM  

  • Deepak, roll on with 2006 :-)

    By Blogger Krish, at January 01, 2006 9:24 AM  

  • Karthik: Thanks! and wish you the same!. Have blogrolled you.

    Thennavan: :-D, wishes for a wonderful year!

    By Blogger tt_giant, at January 01, 2006 11:20 AM  

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