Pushpak - Post Morterm Analysis

Note : This article is a complete post morterm analysis of the entire movie segmented into chapters. The author has explained the general terms as well as some nuances attached to it. The author recommends to watch this movie and then read the article.

Pushpak, directed by one of the underrated directed called Singeetham Sreenivasa Rao (SSR) is what I am going to do a post mortem. It was also dubbed, oops, sorry released in Tamil as Pesum Padam, which was very contrary to the movie. I in fact loved the tamil title more than than the hindi. It's quite funnier to use the language for a movie which actually needs no language to watch. Let's start the post morterm.

First and foremost, Pushpak is not *yet another movie* kind that it was taken just for the sake of entering into the history. It deals a lot. Each and every scene was conveyed with a brilliant body language from each and every cast in the movie. It's not a movie where the cast were purposely silent, it leaves the audience an impression that the cast in the movie perhaps didn't find a necessasity to speak. The scenes where shot brilliantly to follow the same formula.

Introduction - Overview of Anand Bavan
Playing the title card with a background score of a movie running in a talkies is the place where Kamal lives adjacant to it. It was a night shot and the title card ends with a bizarre string BGM in the movie and moves to the next morning. This scene depicts the serial flat system where Kamal lives. It was portrayed in the form a servant maid. She starts to sweep along the corridor and surpasses the rooms (houses) continuing to sweep. One should listen to the background music here. As and when she sweeps and surpasses the rooms, the music from the radio changes according to the caste of the people and the rooms she passes by. It starts with some unknown Indian language music and then moves to Tamil devotional song and then to news. The servant maid then passes an old man smoking and watching her assets since she was dressed in a Odissi style revealing her assets. Just to see more glimpses of her, the old man put the ash from his cigarrate and asks her to clean the place to watch her assets in a better angle. Here also if you notice, the old man puts a sodakku and ask her to clean, which can clearly convey her a message. Once she clean, the old man bends to catch her cleavage, but alas, she notices it and drops the dirt and move on. The siren signals at the background when she climbs up the ladder to sweep another room where Kamal stays indicating that the working hour has started and still the hero is sleeping. Obvious reasons indicating that he is an unemployed youth. She knocks the door and peeps into the key hole to see his position of sleep and Kamal opens the door from sleep and she gets in and immediately started to sweep leaving a wink in Kamal face!!! As she sweeps, she takes the newspaper and a photograph of Kamal with degree and keeps it on top of the newspaper and throw the sandals on top of it. Once again Kamal winks. Another symbolism to indicate that his education is of no value now a days. As she moves on to clean the other things on the table, Kamal tries to squeeze the toothpaste so hardly and manage to get the paste. Poverty at its peak. As he squeezes the toothpaste, the servant maid sees a debanoir magazine lying in the table, she sees Kamal and peeps into the magazine to see the pictures and gives an odd look. This leaves an impression on her character and what kinda woman she is. She ultimately has some feelings towards Kamal.

First In First Out - Toilet
The next scene is one of the best scene in the movie. Kamal wanted to go to the toilet and it's a common toilet used by all the people living in the apartment. There will be three toilets and three people standing in the queue. As and when people comes out, Kamal tries to get into the toilet but the other person standing next to him leaves him behind and enters. The same thing keep happening for multiple occasion. At last, it will end with him and a person standing outside. Kamal calculates based on FIFO system and covers the toilet door. But FIFO system fails and the other person enters the different toilet. Kamal again disappoints and when there was no competition to rush inside the toilet, he will be left with two choices (doors). Kamal peeps into each of them and sees which is better (clean) and enters. If you notice Kamal while he was standing outside, you can notice the urgency in his face expression and reaction and especially the way he stands. Again in this scene, there is no necessasity for verbal communication since it's not place where one would wish to argue.

Crow's idea
The very next scene where he discovers that his shirt stinks because of the sweat and the way he tries to invent a new deodrant using the soap foam tells us the poverty. He doesn't have a spare shirt. Of course he has one, but that will be even worser than this. And next comes the tea boy who brings the tea in a can and gives tea. People living in the apartment pays him the money and he gives the tea. Kamal initially keeps a rupee and later decides to keep 50p and the boy reacts to it and gives him half a glass with proper measurement. His neighbour in the next floor shows him a full glass of tea and kamal waves him back with a reaction but sees a crow cawing. Brilliant piece of narration.

Challenge the beggar
Kamal on his way for the job hunt stands on a bridge and sees a begger and teases him by spinning the 50p that he has and smiling at the beggar in a sarcastic way. What Kamal got in response to that is something strange, the beggar gives another sarcastic smile and takes money from all the places of his body and shows him a lot of money, which makes Kamal to feel bad for he did.

Handloom Episode
It's in this scene in an handloom shop, where Kamal meets Amala. The initial conversation of the movie actually begins here where Amala tries to select a earing for her and kamal, who is a complete stranger advises her as a well wisher in selecting the earing with the help of signals indicating dislikes and likes. But Amala will not respond for his likes and walk way. In the car park when Kamal tries to escape from the shop keeper, he sees Amala wearing the earing which he liked. They both share a sarcastic smile and kamal whistles and pass by.

No Vacancy
This scene where Kamal stands in the queue and when someone spits the pan, Kamal tries to occupy that place and eventually will be pushed to the end of the queue and gets frustrated and leans on a car. Again, 'da da da da da', that's the music used whenever Kamal meets Amala, especially when Amala is in the car. It also makes one to assume it as the car horn. Kamal again appreciate her earing which he indirectly selected. Amala in return, appreciates the car in which Kamal was leaning assuming that it's his car. Here it gives an impression on Kamal from Amala's POV. Even here, director has again justified that they can communicate without verbal exchange. This episode also introduces the rich man who stays in the Hotel Pushpak. This scene also gives us on how Pushpak came!

The Catch!
Now comes the catch of the story. Kamal finds the rich man lying in the street and plans an idea and bring him to his house and tie him and he goes to the hotel in place of him. These scenes will be just mind blowing to see. You must notice Kamal being very cautious when he brings him to his house. It's not an easy task to lift the fat guy to the terrace where he stays. You should also notice the pre cautionary method Kamal uses in the room. The director also maintains the reality with the movie sound being played in the talkies which will scare Kamal at the first instant. Having made the necessary arrangement, Kamal will enter the Hotel Pushpak with some discomfortness which is quite evident by the way he walks into the Hotel and when he meets the security, you can notice that he is kinda scared. Also the elevator scene where Kamal initially uses the staircase. Though these are just small instances, it's still great. The moment he enters the room, he makes sure that he locks the door and sees the food kept at the table and relishes with joy because he wouldn't have seen such a meal. The mirror scene is one awesome directorial touch. He is alone, he is cheating, he is precautious and all of a sudden he sees his face in the mirror. Shocked to death. Brilliant!!! And once again he sees the mirror in the bedroom of the hotel. This time, he faces it. And another casual common man thought between a suitcase and an ordinary cover. Kamal neglects the cover and open the suitcase and later when he finds liqour in the suitcase, he whinks and pulls the cover back and finds a wholesome amount.

Another mono act
Another brilliant piece of communication between Kamal and Amala being exchanged from their balcony. Since they cannot shout and speak, they mono act and communicate and in order to catch their action, they use binocular and a camera. The way Kamal uses actions to convey will be brilliant and easily understandable.

The Changeover
Now Kamal changes completely with the outfit and goes back to his room. On his way to his room, the other people living in the Bavan will look at him with a surprise because of his costume. It doesn't leave the servant maid as well. Kamal never wanted to kidnap the rich man and hence he treats him with all the basic things. The way he cuts the Easy Chair for him to pee is something real funny. Funniest thing is that after he cuts, he will check the size by keeping it on his bum. Once he is done, Kamal will take a cloth to clean his ass. The BGM says all in that scene. Initially he shows the cloth to him and later he himself will accept to clean.

Shitty Parcel
This is probably the USP of the movie, which would make the audiece to ROFL. The preparation to this scene is the main highlight of the movie. One would never know why Kamal comes to Anand Bhavan with a parcel, gift wrapped to his room. He utilizes it to wrap the shit and dump it. Once he cleans the rich man, he walks out of the room with the gift wrapped parcel in his hand. You must observe how he carries the gift parcel. He will maintain a distance and you can very well understand the face reaction of Kamal while carrying the gift parcel. The ultimate USP of the movie is here when Kamal tries to dump the parcel near a bus stop. The parcel will be packed in a grand way that it's not a dumping material and anyone for the matter of fact, who sees the parcel unattended, will obviously try to open it. Yes, we have a man who watches Kamal trying to dump the parcel and Kamal knows he cannot dump it treating it as a shit because of the attraction material. And the funniest thing is that, whenever he tries to dump the box, the man watching Kamal catches him and Kamal reaction to it will make the audience to burst of laughter. This instance doesn't end in just one scene but it has got the aftermath as well. A few other scenes when Kamal tries to dump the shit, the next day, he again sees the witness who will be eating something and started to puke after seeing Kamal with the parcel again. NOW!! It still doesn't end here, there will be another instance where Kamal sees him coming out from an Hospital because of the consequence of that incident.

Once Again the Beggar
Kamal once again meets the same beggar who teased him initially. Without any wait, kamal takes a bundle of currency and waves it infront of the beggar. But the beggar wasn't surprised but rather gave a sarcastic smile.

Peaceful Sleep
Though he has money, luxury, etc., still he won't be able to find some good sleep. Hence, decides to record the music of the talkies sound and play it in the room. As soon as the tape recorder stops, Kamal wakes up!!!

Enemity
Remember the scene where an introduction was given to the Richman, who kisses his wife and then makes a call and a scene at the other end shows that she will be enjoying with his lovable friend. Now this scene, shows some serious plans of a guy preparing himself for a murder. The idea being adopted is interesting. Killing with a ice knife, leaving no marks of finger prints. Immediately the next scene indicates the same. The kalla kadhalan Prathap Pothean orders the henchman to kill the rich man. Giving him just the room number!!! Isn't it a great way to move the screenplay??

Magic Show
One can easily predict the scene with the help of the BGM. Whenever the magician, Amala's father comes, he holds a separate BGM track for him. The henchmen tries to kill Kamal here. Often he misses the chances. You can notice the people clapping & laughing is coincided with the series of the attempts. And apparantly, Kamal himself will take the ice knife and give it to him. This is probably the scene where they missed the flow of the movie and there would be a verbal conversation between them.

Slap
Slap and clap, Kamal and Amala, mistaken identity, unable to convey the message due to circumstances. Brilliant narration. The series of scenes and the background for each of the incident matches and conveys a lot to the viewers. Disappointed by the show, Kamal leaves the place. Followed by the scene is where the continuity in the form of curtain goes in hand between Kamal and Amala. That's a nice piece of affection.

Pushpak Margaya
The man, who sits in the wheel chair and roams around the hotel, expires. Even in his ceremony, the director would have utilized humour. With just a smile, Amala conveys to Kamal what happened the other day was a mistake. They keep coming around the dead again and again. You can see some funny reactions from different people.

Telephone Conversation
Here Kamal tries to speak to Amala over the phone but again circumstances will not favour because of her dad and mom interfering. Kamal's reaction and the voice from the other line will be portrayed well.

Waiter
Kamal dresses like a waiter and comes to Amala's room in order to give the chain. The verbal conversation is reduced using distubances material. Here, Amala's mom will be coughing throughout the scene in order to surpress the verbal conversation.

Hangout
Amala signals kamal that they can meet since her parents have gone out. Here probably the first time you will hear dialogues. But that's from the movie in a theatre where they watch. Probably one of the interesting scene where Kamal wanted to do some mischievious thing. He shows her what others normally do in theatre and he himself tries to do it. Even in their hangout, they tend to have some verbal communication and wantedly surpressed. But the entire hangout is actually in the form of a sync out song and since, you cannot have the song in this movie, it was done in this way. This is the scene where Kamal realizes love and luxury with a flower and currency note.

Chasing the henchmen
Now Kamal knows the person who was trying to kill him and in an incident, he follows the henchmen who travels to a different state(shown by the train) and meets Prathap Pothan. The henchmen explains everything what happened and his failure attempt. The entire scene is shown in Kamal's POV who is seeing these incidents outside the house and he can't hear anything. The entire episode reveals a lot to us.

End of the Beggar
While returning back to the hotel, he sees the beggar who is dead and a brilliant incident where people scavanging for money leaving the dead body elsewhere. Kamal realizes and goes back to the hotel and finds his clothes which he pushed underneath the cot and comes back as the old Kamal. Pictures in the room on how the Hotel owner has developed this hotel gives more meaning to Kamal's life. He still has one more duty, his love, he need to tell his love is genuine to Amala. He does that in the form of a letter. And a mark of respect, he brings the rich man back to his place where he was lying down. Rich man returns back to his room and gets angry but then sees the letter and realizes about Kamal.

End of the show
Everything ends. Magician magic show, the rich man departs, his wive's arrival, Kamal's rich life. All of them have some connection to one another. Kamal sees Amala and the way they communicate reminds what they have done before. She writes her location in a letter but poor kamal misses it too. At the end of the day, he was left with the rose. And Kamal is back standing in the Q of employment exchange but with a flower in his hand.

Kanthaswamy - Review

A movie that took 24 months for the making yielded us a 200 mins end product with huge expectations with a tag of Super Hero, carrying a heavy budget starting from the movie launch to the audio launch. What impression did it leave to the audience??? Here is the review.

Plot : Kanthaswamy just adds its name to the so called high budget movies plot sharing a space. Yes, take from the rich and give it to poor and needy is all about Kanthaswamy. Additionally, it also makes the audience remember what happened during the movie launch where the movie team adopted a village. Well, that message was conveyed or rather tried to convey during the climax of the movie. Eventually that message did not have any support from the screenplay of the movie.

Never a movie has given a sigh at the initial scene, but Kanthaswamy just broke that record. In all the movies that shared this plot, they would need some myth or an element to service the needy, Kanthaswamy uses the myth that happens in a temple and uses that as a medium of communication. Didn't it remind you the Anniyan website concept? Well the latter had a stylish introduction, but the way the so called Super Hero tagged Kanthaswamy's introduction scene is all enough to judge the quality of making and the strong basement for the plot. This could probably be the ugliest way to portray a Super Hero Introduction scene.

One way Kanthaswamy being a *different* from the other movies is that the director's justification for the Super Hero. He uses a team work behind the Super Hero theme to make the Super Hero's action *a possible* thing in reality. I was surprised to see the director's creative idea of using Tape Recorder to play Kanthaswamy BGM during the action sequences. But I never expected him to be so honest that literally he even used *clapping hands* as a re recording. He should have left that to the audience to decide, isn't it? One couldn't concentrate on the stunts rather everyone were focussing on the *making of the stunts* with ropes, pulleys, tape recorders, remote control, wireless, microphones, etc., But the director has given a fantastic justification to the role that he has given for each individual in the team in their flashback scene. He connects what they been doing in the past to the corresponding role alloted to them in the team. Bravo!!!

Coming to the interesting casting department. Except for Prabhu and Krishna to an extent, rest of the cast, including the Super Hero himself was so ridiculous. One should at least what the strength of the artist and use him appropriately for the movie. The reason why I am stressing hard on this is because Vikram is known for this acting skill and I really wonder why is he being used a doll in this movie where he had absolutely *no scope of acting*. Alas! he didn't even look good in this movie, he look very old in the movie. He lost his manliness in the movie. To put it simple, for such a character, he could have chosen anyone else other than Vikram, who had a lot of potential and has a good acting talent.
Shriya, a glam doll, the only saving soul in the movie for a group of audience who paid a lump amount for their ticket. Well, even then she irritates with her lip sync both when rendering dialogues as well as for the songs. But wonder why the producer who could lavishly spent for the making of the movie, couldn't be lenient for her wardrobe? Another stunning director's touch is bringing in each and every person into the cast and finally he himself emerged as CBI officer helping the Super Hero. We are set with different suprises by the director breaking the suspense often leaving us in Cloud nine.
Can anyone think of Alex the magician, in a DON getup? That's the extreme that director can go. It was a rib tickling comedy to see him donning a DON, that too an Internation Don with a funny character name *Mexican Pichumani*.
Prabhu has done a decent job and Krishna, the telugu actor comes as the Head of the CBI department was different for his voice and I thought he did a fair job too. Other casts that formed the team were literally doing the job of the crew members behind the scenes and nothing much scope for them showcase.

Coming to the technical department, where one would at least expect the movie to be rich and get a satisfaction in this area. The man behind the camera work, Ekaambaram, he was literally a night mare in the movie. Too much color correction literraly screwed our eyes. Even the natural things which should look natural were added colors to make it look very artificial. The mexican episode was literally a Disovery Travel & Living episode. One should wipe off the shade that shooting a movie in the helicopter doesn't make him a big shot and doesn't differentiate from others. Whereever he shoots, enormous amount of color correction was used which eventually made it look like one Eastman color movie in some parts.

Then comes the editor who shares another space in the movie adding salt to the wound. Abdrupt editing with shaky scenes left nothing but irritation. Fade In - Fade Out technique was over used in this movie to the core that too for the location title card. Gosh, this is the first time I am seeing a FI-FO technology being used in this area. Overall the editing wasn't smooth in all areas and it was really disturbing especially in the stunts sequence and in the initial scenes.

DSP, the music director, with sheer expectation of the movie, the songs were overrated and in the end became a hit. But the visualization of the songs were poorly picturized and as usual in Tamil Cinema, the songs were placed just for the sake of it with no proper reasons. Again the item number satisfied a set of audience because of Mumaith Khan. But Shirya's dance in Allega song was good though. Other songs weren't that great because of poor picturisation. BGM was decent enough for the movie but the arti numbers for Super Hero theme was like a rhyme though.

Now comes the Captain of the movie, Susi Ganesan. While playing the title card, I was amused with the way he used his name for Story, Screenplay, Dialogue and Direction. I wondered why it he scattered the credits, but the clever director wants the audience to realize that the story, screenplay, dialogue and direction play a vital role and we need to analyse them separately is what a clear picture left by the director. His creativity is very evident from the way he portrayed the Super Hero by stoping the critics often cribbing that the movie has no logic. Susi Ganesan comes with a strong FULL STOP for all the cribbing and has shown bravely the making of the action sequences. He draws a line between commercialism and realism and heroism and what else? Another area in which the audience patience was tested to the core is a dialogue conversation between Vikram and Shriya at his office. There would be a Q & A session between them that has seriously tested the audience to the core. What comes next to the scene is something extra ordinary. Fine, the director knew that the running length of the movie is big but still adamant because of his path breaking suspense spoilers at regular intervals. But the director really forgot that the normal interval for a movie should come in 90 mins. Adding to that, the master himself has casted in the movie in one of the important role when the movie was showing dull. He comes for a short span of time but makes us speak for hours.

To be honest, with a producer like Dhanu who is ready to spend money with no hesitation, I think Susi Ganesan failed to capitalize and misused his role in the movie.

Verdict : Spend the money for the needy instead of buying for this movie (Message of the movie)

Cheran's Pokkisham

It's been really a very long time since I wrote a review for Tamil movies. Recently I got a chance to watch the movie 'Pokkisham'. I actually saw the movie the second day of the release and I have already witnessed 90% negative reviews about the movie. Amidst all these, I wanted to watch the movie badly and I finally managed to.

'Pokkisham' (Treasure) is about a love story set in the 70s and the lovers exchanged love letters and that is ultimately considered as the Pokkisham in the end. Having said about the plot, I would need to stress on the significance of these letters and the way it was portrayed on screen by the director-actor Cheran. As I said, since it was about the love story in 70s, writing letters to your relatives or friend was habitual those days and it was practised as a routine activity. If you recollect the past, we would know how we or our parents would have reacted to those letters. Well, if it's an ordinary routine letter from your relative, it's different, if it's a love letter, shouldn't that be something special? Yes, that's how the writer moves the play thoughout the first half. The lead pair, Cheran and Padmapriya belonging to different caste, meet each other as strangers helping each other's family on an incident becomes close to each other and love blossoms.

I feel, the exchange of love letters and the way it's portrayed is the best part in the movie. Though it's repetitive, you must understand the feeling of it to enjoy it. Cheran, eagerness, anticipation, enquiries for a letter that he expects to come projects him as a better actor from what he was doing in his earlier movies. These scenes were neatly shot and it has come in much more realistic way. In modern days, it's like sending a SMS to your lover and eagerly waiting for a reply SMS from the receiver within which you would have went to the Sent Messages to check if the message has been successfully delivered to the correct receipient and in turn sending the message again to re confirm. Those feelings have been portrayed in a much more realistic way with the type of facilities available during that period. This includes telegram, trunck dialling, letters, following up with the post man and post office, etc.,

Another stunning thing about the first half, in fact throughout the movie is the Art Direction. I actually missed the start and end credits of the movie as I went late to the show and I was keen to know the man behind the Art Direction. Vairabalan, call him for any period movies, he can rewind the classics. If it's just 70's in Chennai, yes it's possible, if it's just 70's in Tamil Nadu, yes, it's still possible. Here we have Tamil Nadu and Calcutta, Vairabalan must have said it's quite easy to rewind there. I was stunned how he must have brought back those trams, even it's still being used in Kolkatta, the design during that time was something extra ordinary reflection. I noticed quite a few and I was surprised that it was very keenly observed and carefully deployed. The tamil script during that age is different from what's being used now. If you notice the hoarding and name board in the hospital scenes, you can catch the script used there. Even in buses. The moped used by Cheran, the vehicles parked outside the hospital, the police men costume, the calendar being used, the tamil magazines used. This man deserves some special attention in this movie and he should be given good credits for his hardwork.

Rajesh Yadav, the man behind the camera has done a neat job to make the design gets projected without any disturbances. It's quite difficult to shoot a period film and that too when the art department has done a perfect job. One must carefully shoot and understand what to shoot and what not to. Well, the cinematographer has done his job to the perfection. Nagoor has been beautifully shot with the sea shores and a few low angle shots in the second half when Cheran desperately searches for Padma Priya has been shot good. Also he has used stand still photography during the hospital scenes which I felt quite good and different.

Performances pack has shown considerable amount of improvement from almost all the cast. Though Cheran sometimes makes us feel bored with a few emotional dialogues, I guess the realistic portrayal has been done neatly by him. I would definitely say he has improved a lot as an actor and more to come and way to go. Padmapriya has done just enough for her role, but it gives me a feel that just for the caste that she belongs to in the movie, she was casted the role. She resembles a typical Nagoor Muslim girl. She has carefully concentrated on the behaviour of a Muslim and she has done that well. Of course her make up during the climax was something one must not think about it. Vijayakumar, as Cheran's father, has also done justice for the casting and he was able to replicate a father that too during 70s. Ilavarasu comes as Cheran's neighbout at Kolkatta and has done a remarkable job.

Coming to the negative part of the movie, the music and the BGM. The background score is such a vital element in such an experimental movie, but this area is a major let down from the Deva Brothers Sabesh-Murali. Irrelavant bgms and disturbing bgms was annoying thoughout the movie. In some scenes, the BGM was so annoying that the main dialogues weren't clear and I had to ask the person sitting next to me. Songs were another major let down because it increases the running length of the movie and it's was pleasant either except a few. Only song that I can remember is 'Nila Nee Vaanam' and that was good for the lyrics.

Cheran as a writer-director, excels in this movie. One should need courage to take such an experimental movie and period based movie portraying love. More importantly, after a knock out attempt, he has taken such a movie which is a brave attempt. Well, the writer failed to keep the pace of the play in the second half thought he has cut the major portion of the story which if included would have taken another 5 feet reel. First half was poetic and colourful with the exchange of letters and second half was quite dragging with songs and some unnecassary scenes.

Cheran has inspired the ONE LINER from the Korean Romantic movie 'Classic' but he could/should have followed at least the important cast framework of 'Classic'. If it has been utilized in 'Pokkisham' it would have been even more interesting and who knows, he could have even managed to create suspence that would have made the audience to sit a little longer till the climax.

Verdict : Watch it