Irandam Ulagam - my opinion

It’s been a while since I have updated my blog. After joining job in May, I didn’t get much free time as before. Being in a banking sector, my weekend is restricted to only one day, Sunday. That one day leave used to go off in either washing or sleeping or both. I almost forgot that I am having blog account and it was not updated after April 2013. Even now I have no big intention to post anything. But after seeing different reviews and opinions about the recent Tamil flick Irandam Ulagam, I feel that I also should post what my opinion about the film. A few days back, I watched the film with my colleagues in Ramesh Theatre, Ramanathapuram. One reason I chose to watch the film in that theatre rather than the one in my hometown is that, it was a well maintained, neat cinema hall with fantastic acoustics and ambiance.

Before watching the film itself, I’ve heard many reviews from friends and blogs with most of them happened to be negative. Much of them said that the script is worst, sema mokka film, can’t bear the length, no logic at all, blah blah blah. I don’t deny that the script is weak and lengthy. But the film is not as bad as the negative criticisms it got so far. Tamil cinema audiences enjoy films like Azhagu rajas, sagunis, singams, thalaivas, vaalibar sangams, etc, etc without any logic and story. But this is a fantasy movie. Why expect logic in a fantasy movie? Funny, isn’t it?

At the interval, my friend asked me how the film was. I said “story ellam sumaar than.. but parkirathuku sema colorful a iruku.. Fantastic visuals” (its little boring, but very colorful).

He replied me, “yes. Ithu vara tamil la intha mathiri visuals yarum try pannathilla. Brave attempt” (no one has tried visuals like this in tamil cinema).

I agree with my friend completely. Irandam Ulagam comes with never-seen-before visuals in tamil cinema. For that one reason I’d like to watch the film one more time despite its boring second half. This is neither the best of Selva, nor great like his previous ventures Puthupettai, Rainbow Colony. But surely a milestone in tamil cinema when it comes to visuals. So much vivid and I was amazed at the visual presentation of the film. Had the director concentrated a little more on the script, it'd be more terrific. I am not trying to exaggerate things here as a Selvaragahavan fan. As a movie buff, I quite liked this film because of its vivid imagery, despite some flaws the film has come along with. This was what came to my mind while coming out of the theatre.  Apart from the fantastic imagery, I liked the actings of Arya and Anushka also.

I still don’t understand why people don’t welcome such a new, brave attempt. Who knows... If it comes from a newcomer director or the same has been made in English by a James Cameroon or a Spielberg and dubbed into regional languages, they will silently watch it keeping aside the logic and other things and praise it, like how they praised Avatar and Jurassic park.

Ok. Let’s stop here. I am not going too deep. This is not  a review of the film. I just wanted to share how I felt after watching the film. Those who haven’t seen the film yet, please watch it in theatres and give your honest opinions. 

Special 26 - an excellent heist thriller

Remember the tamil film Guru Shishyan released in late 80s? In that film, there comes a funny scene in which Rajini and Prabu pose as bogus CBI officers and conduct raid in another police officer’s house. At that period of time, there actually happened ‘real’ bogus raid in a Mumbai jewellery shop by a group of persons posing as CBI officers. It is reported that they were never caught by the police. I don’t know whether that scene in Guru Shishyan was inspired by this event or accidental. But Special 26 is not accidental. It is made entirely based on those events.

Kollywood and Bollywood have a great similarity in getting plagued by masala flicks. There is a two way communication between these woods in remaking films. One need to forget that there is a word called ‘logic’ and should not even think of what the story is while watching those films. But there used to happen rare occurrences of good films then and there. Here comes Special 26 as the above mentioned the occurrence.

Special 26 is special because it deviates from many stereotypic elements of a usual bollywood masala flick. The mass hero turns into a thief and the most wanted villain turns into a honest government official. There is no song-dance (except only one), no songs set in foreign locations, no forced comedies, and no 1:10 fight scenes. Also, an Akshay Kumar film without any item number is very unusual. It’s about well dressed professional conmen who carry out raids by posing themselves as CBI officers. Their targets are the big hands having loads of unaccounted cash and jewels so that the crime could not be reported. They are perfectly professional and vanish without any trace.

  

The plot-driven approach by Neeraj Pandey (remember A Wednesday) works very well here, accompanied by the well acted cast and fantastic production design. Being a film based on real events, thankfully it didn’t turn out as a docu-drama. The script is well written and executed, making the story to go on in a gripping fashion. The narration spans across different places – Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Rajasthan and Chandigarh. There are many funny and comic moments which are not induced and rather subtle. 

The production design deserves a special mention here as it brought out the mid-1980s look very exquisitely. Old model dialing phones, type writers, the Rs.100 note, rickshaw-men, taxis, hand-drawn posters, costume design and hairstyles and other aspects are well researched. The 80s lifestyle is reflected realistically in a finespun way – buying imported goods from Bombay, lack of awareness about family planning (Anupam Kher has more than 6 children and one more is on the way), lovers communicating through letters, using money order service to send a sum of Rs. 100, etc. The photography is very proficient with long shots and color tone reflecting the period of the film. The background music is good but it reminded me of Billa and Don theme music at many places in the film. 

Special 26 bears a fantastic casting and amazing performances. In fact the performances by the trio – Akshay Kumar, Manoj Bajpai and Anupam Kher – is the biggest + of the film. Akshay Kumar as Ajay is the mastermind behind the fake raids. What an amazing performance Akshay ji! – as a silent, well-planned and determined in the job. This is the first time I liked him on screen. 

 

Manoj Bajpai who is very famous for notoriety in his works, takes up the role of real CBI officer Waseem. About his acting, he is no different from Akshay – an equally amazing performance. Special 26 will give a special place in the career of Akshay and Manoj and they will be remembered for their respective roles. Anupam Kher as Mr. Sharma j is Ajay’s accomplice. I don’t need to elaborate about his perfection here, as the versatile actor delivers an as usual excellent performance. Overall, the trio delivers A-one performance and adds more charm to the film overall. 

 

Jimmy Shergil has quality acting but unfortunately not given much part, as much of the focus is on Akshay and Manoj Bajpai. Divya Dutta makes presence in a few scenes as lady constable. Rajesh Sharma and Kishore Kadam as Joginder and Iqbal, are the other two accomplices of the team. They have no big part except raid scenes. I feel the romantic subplot between Kajal and Akshay is inappropriate here. Kajal has nothing to do except passing letters to Akshay, and weeping down tears. One difference from other films is that she already knows Akshay is a thief. The romance part gives a sense of boredom and is the only barrier in the gripping script. Either she could’ve given a more important role or ruled out from the film simply. Other than this aspect, everything is fine.

A movie without any conventional entertainment factors doesn’t mean it will fail to entertain the audience. Special 26, as a whole, is a very well entertaining heist thriller – with its well drafted script and charming acting that won't let down the audience.. Enough said. Enjoy the heist..