Finally some good news. Director Ranjith has found his groove. All reviewers agree that the film has freshness and is worth watching.
The very first shot itself gives us the mood and treatment of the film. Ranjith has taken good care in selecting the BGM for the shot and the entire film. The film revolves around three main characters, that of Prithviraj, Anoop Menon and Priyamani. The real hero in the film is the story itself. Once more hats off to Ranjith.
I was totally impressed by the narrative structure of ‘Thirakkatha’; a series of monologues that rampantly fling the viewer back and forth across vigilantly placed flashbacks. In all probability, the obvious unevenness is intentional, inkeeping with the complex emotions that it attempts to depict.
The highlight of the movie is definitely the exquisite script work by the director, telling the plot as monologues of different personalities involved. This juxtaposing of stories between past and present may sound very complex and confusing, but in reality ‘Thirakkatha’ is one of the simplest stories you will ever see. The complexity comes from the depth of the characters, the strength of the script, and the extra investment that every single actor brings to their roles.
PS: We are in the process of migrating VC to a new server. Hence the infrequent blogging. As Steve Jobs said recently, The news of our death is greatly exaggerated.
September 20th, 2008 at 3:40 am
No doubt its refreshing movie from Ranjith, who has been churning a set of nonsense movies for more than a year. yet the director could not shrug off his verbatim way of telling stories Especially we feel that in the climax sequences. Its lagging and lower to ths status of reading the dialogues of a play. The result was a lagging, melodramatic movie. All the characters come to the screen as if they are in a play and utter some dialogues coated in romance and literature. .
Why a film director relies heavily on words as he is having his visuals to tell the story. This is the common failure of our directors. Movies are meant to communicate through visuals not words. Priyamany and prithiraj have done decent job while camera and editing also came to the par. Music is the worst aspect of this film. It’s better for the Sarath and audience that he must go on with his reality show mockery.
It still can’t be digested why Ranjith put an item -number like song in a film. If his intention was a commercial success he could’ve taken a different theme unlike telling the story of a director who is never ready bend his policies for a commercial success. It’s ridiculous and contradictory. Ranjith has given a good performance as an actor and but couldn’t focus any where while dealing with a film that have many visual possibilities. It drowned in the sea of dialogues and faltered to indulge the viewers
September 20th, 2008 at 8:32 am
rakesh – lets look at the pluses more than the minuses. in these days of formulaic movies, thirakkatha is a bold attempt and people who have seen it have liked it.
renjith’s talent was never in doubt. hes indeed a great man who was led “astray” by prajapathi, rock and roll etc
September 20th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Rakesh i am surprised by your comment.You started off by telling that Thirakkatha is a good movie;but then you have just told its cons alone.Thirakkatha is one of the best Malayalam movie i have seen in the past 5 years or so.Some dialogues are of course melodramatic but it is acceptable in a romantic movie.
“Why a film director relies heavily on words as he is having his visuals to tell the story”-Good dialogues is a feature of good films.Script writers like MT and Renjith have proved it before.And the songs in this films have been apt and merging well with the situations.Honestly music director Sharath has made a really good comeback.(He has shown his stuff with songs in films like Pavithram etc).And please, the song featuring Anoop Menon and Priyamani was not an item song (At least it was not intended for that).And Renjith is one of the few directors in present Malayalam film industry who has some aesthetic sense in him.The song may be some exposing scenes but it is never vulgar.
Impressive has been the performance from the lead cast;especially Anoop and Priyamani.Anoop does well in his characters which stretches over a period of 25 years.The only bad point that can be pointed out in that the film was slightly lagging in the second half but apart from that it is a really good movie.
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:50 am
Going by Rakesh’s logic, all one would need to can a film is a camera. The story, script and dialogues can as well be non-existent, since cinema is decidedly a ‘visual medium’.
Akasha Gopuramm should be the best movie in recent times, when judged by Rakesh’s yardsticks.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
i am really at a loss to understand why my take on thirakkatha was lost in moderation.could you explain,please. menongbc@yahoo.com
December 9th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Rakesh,
Most of the films from Kerala
are seen by the Malayali audience only.
Hence, profits for a film can only be
made through this audience. So, certain
compromises are made by Renjith to make
the film a financial success.
Well, its amazing to see how things works
in Hollywood. I mean films like the
Coens’s “No Country for Old Men” made $160 million.
And PT Anderson’s “There will be Blood” made $76 million.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/m.....oldmen.htm
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/m.....eBlood.htm
I guess what British filmmaker Paul Greengrass said is right.
Hollywood is the place with the best system where
commercial films can come out during the summer and then art-house films can be released during the fall/winter by the movie studious
with the $$$ from summer.
December 13th, 2008 at 12:04 am
I just watched this movie. Very touching, havent seen such a malayalam movie in long time. Kudos to Ranjith!
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:52 am
I wonder if this movie is based on a real life story……….Think…….. if the story and the situation relates to someone in malayalam film industry………
February 17th, 2009 at 5:57 am
@ Vinoy
I think it is.
mainly on Srividya
July 21st, 2009 at 2:46 am
Its the story of Kamalhaasan and Srividya