I am really silly when it comes to certain things. Especially about movies. For no good reason, I would decide not to watch a certain actors movies in the cinemas. Simbu aka Silambarasan is one of them. Or should I say was? Sigh! I gave in and watched his movie last night. Yes, its his movie all the way! I made all kinds of dramatic dialogues like "Let History not say that Boo watched a Simbu movie in the theatre" and "I'm a card carrying member of the I hate Simbu club", etc.. much to Hds asmusement the last couple of days. "You want to watch the movie, don't you?", asked Hd. "Go and watch. I promise I wont tell anyone", he goaded! We could nt watch the movie together anyway and I did nt want to go alone so I decided to let it pass. Then the Universe conspired and a friend called me yesterday and asked if I'm game to watch the movie. The Universe is really jobless, I think. If it had to conspire, cant it do something about my weight loss or that lottery I'm hoping to win? Anyway, so I went with the friend, the friends friend and the friends friends husband(who does nt speak a word of Tamil) for a 11 pm show last night.
To say I LOVED the movie would be an understatement. Now I get what people saw in Vaaranam Aayiram. May be that movie resonated with them in some level and I just was nt able to relate to it. I'm sure there are loads of people who might hate VTV too. Its mushy, its long, its intense, its love love love, its confusing,... But I got zapped into the movie completely. I had a lump in my throat as soon as the movie began. And had it hours after it ended. I came home at 2.15 am after dropping the friends home and could nt sleep for an hour after that. I said all sort of mushy nonsense to a sleeping Hd. Yes, I had gone that crazy! And no, I don't drink.
I think Jessie is one of Goutham Menons fantastic female leads. Never in my life have I ever seen a film where I could totally be in the head of the female character and feel the same way as her. And Simbu as Karthik is such a revelation. I whispered, "Simbu is good" to Hd today morning and added "Oh who am i kidding? He was great okay. He was awesome!" and thankfully Hd was sitting down when I said that! He has played Karthik just perfect. Trisha was good too but its his movie all the way. The ending is what clinched the movie for me. Kudos to Goutham for that ending. You ARE good, dude! I sort of underestimated you after Vaaranam Aayiram and I'm sorry, OK?
AR Rahman - where do I begin? What can I say that has not been said already? Aaromale is so good that I want to drown in that song. Especially after watching the song on screen, I get the now familiar lump in my throat every time I hear it. Sigh! What a hopelessly romantic, mushy person I actually am! I'm embarrassed to admit that. The picturization of the other songs did nt work for me though. Except Mannippaya.
Now lets talk about Jessie - for some who call her immature, confused, b****, etc... etc... and say most modern women are like her - always leading the men on and then breaking their hearts and moving on - Yes, its true. Been there, done that. And whats wrong in that, may I ask? I ve never understood this blanket statement that women are so selfish and they are not in "real love" if they ve any desire of their own. Have nt we seen it in tonnes of Tamil movies where the hero berates the girl for dumping him? "Did nt you know I was poor when you roamed the streets with me? Did nt you know I was a lowly mechanic when you came to repair your scooty? You women are so selfish. You don't ve the guts to leave your family while we leave everything for you"! Yawn! Give me a break! He falling in love at the first sight is nt immature but she trying to see what kind of a person he is by going out with him is? He deciding that she is the woman of his dreams just by seeing her behind is nt stupid but she deciding that he ll be a mechanic all his freaking life and does nt want to be a part of his life is? He, leaving everything behind, is getting a woman of his dreams at the end of the deal. What is she getting out of it? Pregnant and alone when he is off to see some location and being a edupudi to a film director? Why should she settle down? Yes, he makes her head giddy and heart go boom boom, but how long is that going to last? When did being smart and logical become a crime? The only dialogue I did nt agree with Karthik in the movie was when he says that Jessies sister would nt be happy. That shes just acting. I disagree. Women are made of stronger stuff. When we can move on after burying our children, whats something as hormonal as first love? I can hear you ask, "So why get into the relationship in the first place?, Why lead the men on?" Because we want it all. We want our heads to go giddy. Our hearts to go boom boom. We want that first kiss. We want that excitement. We want to see if the guy is worth fighting the world for. Worth leaving the family for. And we can't decide all that based on his posterior. Even if it looks like Brad Pitt's. And as cliched as it might sound, we do believe its better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. And be loved.
ps.
Thanks Gowtham for the fantastic Jessie. And let me tell you one more important thing. Since we ve established the fact that the Universe is pretty jobless, it might conspire again and try to make you think of casting SJ Suryah in your next movie. But I beg you. Don't. Just don't. OK? Promise? Its the least you can do for a woman who left her husband and two little girls at home to watch your movie at the middle of the night. :)
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32 comments:
Ditto Sistah! Couldn't have put my thoughts down so well even if I tried!
*standing ovation* Boo. Good errr review. I loved your sentiments behind the post. And with you on the whole 'girls leave men for thaat n this' dialogue.
PS: S.J.Suryah va? Idhellam konjam too much. He'll drive Gautham over the walls for sure. Aaahhhhnnnn(SJS's style) :P
people still call me and flame me on the phone for saying Simbu was great.
I think this movie is going to change the way people think of Simbu.
who knows what puthu has what paambu huh?
:)
evn i did'nt dream i'd add simbu to my list of favs!! and he def was way bettr than trisha!
also enjoyd readng the 'porinji thallufyng' to the guys who say women jst lead and thn leave!:-)
You too Brutus?????????
And to your sister, you three Brutus?????????????
Nooooo.....oooooooo.......
ha ha... my husband said the same thing too... i wouldn pay to watch a simbu's movie.. i tried to argue to him.. cmon its a gautham menon movie.. he firmly said a NO and i left to watch it without him.. look now who is at loss for missing such a wonderful movie.. i wanna watch it again.. am trying to convince him... lemme see ;)
I believed you are doing gr8 with
C25k on weight loss,should world conspire?
Hi
The movie actually has two different ending. The one I saw shows them getting married. But it was an effort to sit through the movie for me :(
Ah very nicely written! And his next movie stars Ajith and not SJ Suryah. What do you have to say to that?!
I have only heard the songs. Not sure if the movie has been released in East Coast USA.
Most songs have lot of similarities to great rock bands of the 70's. It was disappointing in that aspect for lack of originality.
Boo, I agree with most of what you've said.
But it is like this: If you dump someone, it is easy for you to move on but it could leave the dumped person scarred for the rest of his/her life (or until he/she finds love again). And that is true for both gender. You know what I mean?
And if Trisha had indeed moved on for good and is quite happy with her decision, there won't be any "hurt in her eyes" when she asks Simbhu if he has a girl in his life (before the last song).. That itself shows that she is still torn.
We women could at times be masochists :)
- Another been-there-done-that.
"Oh my God,you have become so desperate,you wanted to go to simbu's movie " .... my husband's reaction and before going to the movie checked with my couple of friends about simbu's "torture level" as i don't want to be deceived by looks....
He has really done a good job (may be except for the dialogue delivery - i feel he has very strong accent).. and he looks damn cute in the last song...
this is the 3rd of 4th person i am reading, who have changed their mind about simbu.
listen to 'where is the party'. you may like it now :-)
Long time reader: could not resist commenting.
I loved the movie. Loved all the characters. The sidekick photographer was awesome!
But, my qualms with your quasi-feminist touch in the end :)
Your justification of Jesse's behaviour is ok, but the generalization of that to "We are like this" rhymes well with "all girls are selfish"
The movie is not about all girls or all boys. It is about a special girl called Jesse and a boy called Karthik, in their element. There is/was no generalization needed.
hi boo,
i do agree it was a good movie. but i would say it is more of a gautham menons movie than simbus thats y its so good. we did watch it in the theatre..but in the first few frames when he starts narrating and the jump over the gate seen we initially thought god he is again going to kill us..but luckily after that he looked well contained...yet cant help the feelin that if it was some one else it would have been a little better...
but i totally agree where u say it is chimbus best perforance and hope he continues the learning curve with manirathnam's film next...
after that we have watched the DVD again and the songs continue to run time and again in the car...
to say trisha perfectly fitted the character..and in real life even if we love someone deeply there are moments where we confront within ourselves which is so aptly portrayed...
of course it was a good call to watch the movie in a theatre even if we are overseas
jey
Was waiting to see your VTV review.
I too left my DD with HD and saw the movie with a friend. The marketing team VTV used must have been really good - making us mommies abandon our babies to see simbu movie.
I agree with the other commenter that it is the GVM handling of simbu that made the difference. I think even if Jessie had moved on and married someone else, there wud still be a - did I do the right thing in her head - her character is a pendulam (read it as pendu-ullam).
The only thing i dint like in the movie was the person Jessie finally married. Atleast Joy Thomas was far better looking than Abraham!
Somehow VTV reminded me of 500 days of summer, which is a recent release so there must be no idea-lifting.
-Vidya
I liked Simbu in Totti Jeya too...i thought he played the part to perfection..:) havent watched this movie yet..but will soon do so :)
oooh.. am equal. I hate that fellow too.. How similar.. so, I am not the only one who swore that would never watch a S...bu movie!!!!
boring movie.
I liked the performances...and I liked what the director has tried to convey, but felt the movie per se wasn't impressive. A woman brave enough to call the wedding off on the D day, need not have given in half way thru. I would hv liked it if she had regretted her decision (of cancelling the wedding in the church). That way Trisha's portrayal would hv been that of a confused young woman. And I don't think its unfair or selfish, being a confused soul.
Boo, this is great review, especially the views on falling out of love (applicable to both gender). Sharing it with daughters
- Chandra
YY - long time since we both liked a movie. phew.
Revs - Simbu va poi paapom nu ninaichamo? who knows what GVM will do next?
Sundar - aanaalum neenga next kamal nu ellaam solli irukka koodaadhu! You might be right but I dont want to hear it! I ve still not made up with the fact that I watched Simbu on screen! :)
MLC - guess we should never say never, huh?
Utbt - You please join the club and go watch!
Nithya - I made the Husband watch it too. thought my head will explode if he did nt watch! :D
Ambulis Amma - C25K is hard work. Universe might ve some miracle up its sleeve! ;)
Varsha - the ending is what was brilliant. if i had watched the happy ending, it would ve totally ruined it for me. Guess Goutham was confused.
Gradwolf - Ajith aa? Thats ok. Adjust pannikalaam! ;)
Anon 1 - The songs have grown on me a lot after watching the movie.
Anon 2 - Absolutely. My only problem is that almost all of the tam movies typecast the person whos dumping as the bad guy. more so if its the woman.
Anon 3 - But that scene was only in Karthiks movie. It did nt happen for real. And the last scene with Trisha, all I could sense was that Jessie is feeling bad for Karthik and may be even a bit guilty. But for once, she was nt confused and was clear that shes not even thinking about getting back with him.
Justaroundme - Yes, he has that pallai kadichikitu pesara accent. It annoyed me a bit too.
Hawkeye - Oh I ve listened and watched to Where is the party. Still not my cup of tea! ;)
Pratap - The rant was nothing to do with feminism, quasi or not. I ve always felt that way even before I knew what the word feminism meant. And sorry if it came across as generalizing. I would never do that. It just gets my goat that most of the tam movies make the person who dumps as the bad guy. Even if its the boy. I could relate here since I could identify with Jessie. The only movie I could think about which did nt generalize was kandukonden kandukonden. Remember the Abbas character? I thought that was quite neat. And there we did nt see Ash pining for the first love and making a movie, did we? So its the years of assault which made me rant.
Jey - Who else could ve done the role? I cant think of anyone else. May be Sidharth? But no one else.
Vidya - LOL at Joy Thomas Vs Abraham. But I thought it was a nice touch too that she did nt marry Joy. And wow, thats a good one. pendu ullam indeed! :)
IBH - Go watch. But Im not sure you ll like Jessie!
Archana - Oh, there is quite a crowd in the I ll never watch Simbu club. Some of us have the club, though! ;)
Raju - Different strokes.
Bouncing bubble - She thought she was doing the right thing, may be? I thought its equally brave to say no to Karthik too.
Thanks, Chandra.
See..for me, I am thinking (in a nervous way) that Simbu will go back to his veral vithai ways soon enough and all this magic will go away. Because of that, I can't really get a complete feel for this movie and appreciate his acting.
SJ Suryah ellam romba romba too much, Boo. Please don't put ideas into people's head. Then again, you never know, what kind of toned down acting he can do too, right? ;)
hi boo, may be jeeva, or suryas bro( karthi ?)
jey
I dont give a damn about Simbu's acting or Gautam's story telling but I have to admit your review is one the very best I have read in a long time!
You have put down your views/thoughts so very beautifully! Thanks for this post.
Incidentally, I have athamiz blog at http://balaji_ammu.blogspot.com
anbudan
BALA
PS: I have 2 daughters, too :-)
Boo,FYI..i read some where that maniratnam's next hero(after raavan) is simbu..arrgh
haven't seen it. but i am laughing my ass out on your ps. :)
are you implying that simbu's behind looks like brad pitt? I object so strongly to that. :D
Hi,
First time. Came from Yaadayaada.
Very well written..about Jessie and the modern woman. I started hating Tamil movies just because of those stupid dialogues, generalizing women.
A phrase that I tell my husband, "You might fall in love, have a crush or be infatuated, but you can marry only guys who I call marriage material."
On VTV, I liked the movie a lot, though didn't gush over it.Can definitely be watched more than once.
ROFL at the SJ Surya bit. I wouldn't be able to stomach that a bit *making face*
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