Topic started by hindi (@ 202.142.94.232) on Mon Nov 26 05:18:09 .
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As expected, reactions have been very strong to Kamal Hassan's Aalavandaan and its Hindi brother Abhay. The film has been either strongly praised or soundly thrashed.
The Tamil version
Let's first take a look at the Tamil version and see whether the negative criticisms are justified.
Firstly, there is no film produced anywhere in the world which has not had a weakness somewhere.
In Aalavandaan's case, the first problem is the screenplay. But you cannot have a strong screenplay when the story itself is weak.
If Nandu's character is meant to be terrifying, then, the ending does not make sense.
An insane Nandhu, with his hatred for women, cannot commit so many murders and then express remorse at the end and blow himself up instead of killing Tejaswini and escaping.
It is like Osama calling Bush and apologising for the WTC attacks !!!
It is clear that Kamal Hassan was forced to make a compromise because we just cannot have negative endings in our films. Why is that so? Because we always want good to triumph over evil (If only that were true in real life. Then, all the politicians in India would be behind bars!).
Is there too much of Kamal in the movie? Most definitely, yes. But there is nothing wrong with that. The story revolves around him and it would be stupid to expect him to have given more footage to the other actors.
Is the character of Vijay too weak? Kamal has no choice in this because the protagonist in the film is Nandu. One cannot have two protagonists in a theme based on one insane character.
What about the music? The music could have been much better. But when watching the movie, the songs do not sound too bad. The only problem is that you cannot listen to the songs on your stereo system. There is neither melody nor rhythm. Remember Padayappa? Rajnikanth's fans created a furore when the songs were released and A.R. Rahman even received death threats. But when watching the film, the compositions made perfect sense and ultimately Padayappa did turn out to be a super duper hit and so did the songs.
Is there too much technical wizardry? Yes. This probably is the single most contributing factor for the negative criticism. Showing Nandu's mindset in an animated form is not something which will be understood by the bourgeoisie. Folks who have seen Feroz Khan's Jaanbaaz will know what I am talking about. Feroz Khan tried to show how Anil Kapoor's and Sridevi's minds get messed up when high on drugs. The concept was not well received, even though it was presented in an abolutely slick way. That film is one of the finest unappreciated "masala" movies ever made.
Kamal Hassan should be appreciated for trying something novel. There are hardly any directors in India who would have dared to do what Kamal Hassan has done (Sorry, Mr. Suresh Krishna. It is clear that Kamal has had a huge say in the direction).
And the last but not the least, there was too much hype surrounding the film, increased further by the delay in the release. When a film has as much hype as Aalavandaan did, then, the film has to be near perfect.
But inspite of all this, Aalavandaan is definitely worth watching once.
The Hindi Version
This does not need much analysis. Hindi audiences do not like complicated films. They like love stories with 101 songs and the families disapproving the relationship till the 18th reel or they want a typical masala movie with 6 songs, 6 fights, 6 comedy sequences and 2 rapes, whatever the story. Sure a Lagaan is also appreciated but such movies are very rare in the Hindi masala world.
They also do not tolerate South Indian heroes even though almost all of Kamal Hassan's and Rajnikanth's Hindi movies have been hits.
So, should Kamal Hassan have made a Hindi version? Definitely, but with a lot of changes, incorporating the "masala necessities" mentioned above. Kamal would probably quit films than do that !!!
Mon, Nov 19, 2001
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