Well my apprehension was uncalled for since Kamal had underplayed the role as needed, maybe with a little difficulty while Naseeruddin Shah cruised through all along.
So far I have not seen a person or a review that has anything against the movie. So I am going to play the devil's advocate and concentrate on the flaws....or atleast what I can point to as flaws.
Remember the scene where the cop checks a high-rise building after being tipped by the man who supplied the explosive ? When he does not find him here, logic dictates that you send cops to check all high-rise buildings in Bombay (or Chennai) and narrowing them down should not be difficult because he has to still be in the heart of the city and a high place where he can have good reception and can still be obscure.
After all the hue and cry about keeping this whole case confidential, to the extent of not even revealing the perpetrator's name, his sketch is faxed to everyone including the FBI and interpol !! Will he ever be able to travel anywhere or get through an airport ever? Even if one assumes that the sketch was never faxed, Anupam Kher or Mohanlal even suggesting it is logically wrong, right ?
Another miniscule thing that nagged me is a 50 yr old man with a wife, who calls to remind him to bring home items for Kheer or Kesari, has to live on nearly stale (he smells them, grimaces before he eats) sandwiches...I mean I have never known a single day where appa or anyone in that age group in my family taking sandwiches for lunch....there are a zillion things in the Indian cuisine that one would rather eat. Exception: weirdos (mostly teens) who pay 120 rupees for a sandwich in the airport, when there is a dosa or chat stall for half the price next door.
One thing I hated about the tamil version was Lakshmi's role. I could have definitely done without her role and the unreasonable animosity between Mohanlal and her. Maybe this was an attempt to take a dig at the political situation in Tamilnadu but it was badly done.
To finish it on a optimistic note, I liked some of the dialogues in the Tamil version. I was glad it was not translated word for word because certain phrases are effective only in that language. I also liked the fact the fight was on behalf of society and was not a personal vendetta.
Some of the dialogues I enjoyed (from both versions):
I am replying on a Wednesday.....obviously
Mujhe tharike se parvah nahin, sirf nathije se.....dangerous argument
Terrorism is instant, why should Justice not be so ?.....to reply in a lighter note in Rajini style, azhikardha kashtam, aakardhu dhan kashtam
(pointing to the computers, hacker says) idhellam munnorgal, abhivadaye sollitu try panren....apdiyavadhu abivadaye sonna seri !
All said and done, every time there are movies like Indian, Anniyan, Wednesday they do extremely well. I don't think this is mainly due to the story and screenplay being different, it is because each one of us pour out our frustrations by identifying with the protagonist in one way or another. So each time there is one such hit, doesn't it also showcase our helplessness ?!
Liked this view point but loved the remake all the same :) There couldnt have been a better remake of a movie like A wednesday :) at least i expected a lot of drama specific to tamil and am glad that there was not too much of anything :)
ReplyDelete@Dewdrop
ReplyDeleteyup I like it too but like I said, I was playing the devil's advocate and the last part of the post always comes to my mind everytime there is a movies like this.
Quiet agree. The shock element was missing with kamal as the common man. Also he did put lots of accent for a common man!!!
ReplyDeleteSurprised to see no mention of Mohanlal in ur review.. he was simply amazing. IMO he is the most talented actor in the current lot.. he is like rajni and kamal put together!!! I also liked Ganesh Venkatraman in that role!!
I liked Lakshmi's role(not her!! with all the wrinkles!!).. It is to highlight the cold war among the beurocrats.. and the way they subtly make dig at each other.. it came off quiet well.
I also felt Islamic Terrorism doesn't appeal to majority TN ppl. Instead he could have taken a local issue(goondaism etc) it could have appealed more!! He was also quiet confused to take a Right wing approach..doing some balancing act..
some of the individual scenes and dialogues were too good like a scene where Mohanlal deals with Sriman(popular actor!!!)..
@Bharath
ReplyDeleteI think I am biased w.r.t the tamil version, since the hindi version kinda stuck to my head. I liked Mohanlal and Ganesh venkatraman too but I was not focussing on the +ves, for a change :)