Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989)
April 14 is the Tamil New Year's day, and I would rate Apoorva Sagodharargal released on this date twenty six years ago as the best masala movie from Kollywood since then. (One of director Shankar's corruption-based movies will come a close second.) Apoorva has a deceptively simple framework of two long-separated brothers coming together to avenge their father's murder. But what a magic on screen! Apoorva demonstrates the possibilities in store when all the A-rated members of an A-rated team click in unison. This is not a movie where you can easily say "The music is wonderful!" and keep quiet after that. With this movie, you cannot leave out P.C.Sriram when talking about Ilayaraja; you cannot miss Crazy Mohan when mentioning about the scriptwriter Kamal or the lyricist Vaali. The same with inspector Janakaraj, mom Manorama and the villain team that includes the veterans Nagesh and Jaishankar. And all the entertainment - three Kamals including a dwarf, four innovative revenge killings, five fantastically shot songs, mother sentiment, great love tragedy, superb comedy, amazing background score and enjoyable circus footage - in just under 2 hours and 30 minutes. Has any other movie managed that? I doubt.
The movie has a placid start with a close shot of a duck in an idyllic village, only to catapult us to a racy trajectory with a jeep ripping through a thatched hut like an arrow tearing a tender heart. The action block goes on with the father-police inspector Sethupathy Kamal stealing the limelight - behaving like a roaring lion with the foursome villains and at once turning into a naughty kitten with his pregnant wife. Very soon, within 12 minutes, everything is over: Old-time comedian Nagesh gets established as a barbaric villain with a sharp humour, with another oldie, detective Jaishankar joining him as an advocate criminal; the villains are arrested and disgraced by Sethupathy; but court acquits all of them while throwing the upright inspector out of job; soon it is the baddies turn and they ravage the beautiful couple as the couple share some lovely moments; Sethupathy is over-powered and killed brutally; and the title credits keeps rolling as the poisoned, pregnant widow escapes on a boat, with Ilayaraja giving out one of his best melodies.
Only a few other movies might have reached this level of screenplay in establishing so much, so tightly, in just about a dozen opening minutes. Even the the sheet anchor scenes of Thalapathi (1991) shot in black and white - of a teenage, unwed mother abandoning her just born baby in one of the open bogies of a goods train; the baby being rescued by some kids only to be accidentally let to float in a stream; and soon the baby being regained from the flowing water and he growing up into a dejected, angry little boy with a single question that resonates throughout the movie 'Why did my mother abandon me?''; all this with Ilayaraja rendering an emotionally charged melody as the titles roll - that run for the initial ten minutes as the titles roll, and which are equally backed by Ilayaraja's masterpiece melody, is a shade lesser than that of Apoorva's prelude scenes.
The interval block comes around the exact middle of the overall running time of the movie, with Srividya revealing the brutal past to Appu Kamal and the dwarf-clown instantaneously deciding to take revenge. This change of mind of the clown is shown symbolically, beautifully with a shot of the clown shrieking with a long, shiny sword in his arms. The transformation of a despondent dwarf into a revenge machine is complete and conveyed with that single shot. What a thought! The second half is about how the Lilliputian goes about killing the villains - in novel ways. Appu uses one of his circus tigers to maul to death his second target, Nasser. This scene of merciless, gory murder transforms smoothly into a peppy number with Raja Kamal performing the puli vesham (tiger costume) folk dance. And in between this quick and enjoyable transition is ample humour by Janakaraj, as the investigating inspector and his sidekick constable, Sambandham. Neenga engeyo poiteenga sir! And Kamal Haasan, the ingenuous script writer, in an attempt to achieve the desired scene shift, has also used used 2-D cartooning here. It is highly creative, and humourous as well. (In the 2001 movie Alavandhaan, Kamal once again uses 2-D cartoons. This time to mellow down violence and blood flow. It is said QT got inspired by the comic sequences of Alavandhaan, and used the technique in one of the Kill Bills.)
In the scenes in and around Appu's love failure, the actor Kamal and the maestro compete terrifically with each other. These are a set of rare scenes in cinema, that work equally good - without audio or without video. Due to Kamal the actor's sheer brilliance, you can feel Appu's pain even if you cut out Ilayaraja's background score. Well, you have the same effect even when you turn the other side and just listen to the heart wrenching melody. It is like two extraordinary players easily winning the match on their own, yet preferring to come together - not just to win, but to create history. Lyricist Vaali's versatility is legendary. In Apoorva he proves his mettle and range hands down. Sample this: Andha vaanam azhudhathaan indha boomiyey sirikkum.. oozing with pain. Vazhavaikkum kaadhalukku jey! Vaalibathin paadalukku jey!.. pumping love and joy. The visuals too match the high quality of lyrics and music. It is quite interesting to see the car mechanic Kamal Raja dancing his intro song in the shop floor of an automobile factory; same goes for vazhavaikkum song that is made a part of the story, rather than just being left as a prop. That is the beauty of Apoorva. It is quite a task to dissect a scene and say authoritatively who has excelled. It appears the artists, the writer, the composer, and all others associated were in sync, were in flow, throughout the making. Every single frame has everyone's best output.
But if I were to single out one person who raises above the rest, it is probably the cinematographer P.C. Sriram. No hi-tech graphics was used in the movie. It is sheer, old-fashioned camera tricks, real hard work and some good ideas that made Appu look like Appu. Yes, the DOP had a solid support from Kamal. But PC is ultimately the brain of the movie. An angle missed here or there would have made the entire movie look like a high school drama where the kids play dwarfs with their legs visibly folded behind. Even to this day, the making of Apoorva awes everyone around. Even now, in the era of Transformers, Appu does not look childish. Looking back, where did things go wrong with Dasavathaaram (2008). More technology and less sweat?
The crowd of mechanics around Raja Kamal performs really well, though at times it resembles a well-managed stage drama. (Something similar to the kubeer jolly boys of Virumandi, 2004). But every star in the galaxy of artists that include Mouli, Delhi Ganesh and Gauthami shines just the right, best way throughout, and the overall effect it has on the movie is just marvelous. Hats off to director Singeetam Srinivasa Rao. It is not easy to manage talent. It is more difficult to manage more talent. Great movies are made bottom-down and it requires an able hand to weave the individual threads of brilliance into an inimitable tapestry of a very high standard. And the movie was in very safe hands.
A few heavy weights, including Kamal's Uthama Villain, are slotted to release this April - a full 26 years after Apoorva. What is a masala movie? It is not easy to define. What is a successful masala? Perhaps, this is even tougher to describe. But whatever they may mean, Apoorva Sagodharargal will be the most successful, big canvas masala of Kollywood since its release; the run will continue even after this April, may be.
Only a few other movies might have reached this level of screenplay in establishing so much, so tightly, in just about a dozen opening minutes. Even the the sheet anchor scenes of Thalapathi (1991) shot in black and white - of a teenage, unwed mother abandoning her just born baby in one of the open bogies of a goods train; the baby being rescued by some kids only to be accidentally let to float in a stream; and soon the baby being regained from the flowing water and he growing up into a dejected, angry little boy with a single question that resonates throughout the movie 'Why did my mother abandon me?''; all this with Ilayaraja rendering an emotionally charged melody as the titles roll - that run for the initial ten minutes as the titles roll, and which are equally backed by Ilayaraja's masterpiece melody, is a shade lesser than that of Apoorva's prelude scenes.
The interval block comes around the exact middle of the overall running time of the movie, with Srividya revealing the brutal past to Appu Kamal and the dwarf-clown instantaneously deciding to take revenge. This change of mind of the clown is shown symbolically, beautifully with a shot of the clown shrieking with a long, shiny sword in his arms. The transformation of a despondent dwarf into a revenge machine is complete and conveyed with that single shot. What a thought! The second half is about how the Lilliputian goes about killing the villains - in novel ways. Appu uses one of his circus tigers to maul to death his second target, Nasser. This scene of merciless, gory murder transforms smoothly into a peppy number with Raja Kamal performing the puli vesham (tiger costume) folk dance. And in between this quick and enjoyable transition is ample humour by Janakaraj, as the investigating inspector and his sidekick constable, Sambandham. Neenga engeyo poiteenga sir! And Kamal Haasan, the ingenuous script writer, in an attempt to achieve the desired scene shift, has also used used 2-D cartooning here. It is highly creative, and humourous as well. (In the 2001 movie Alavandhaan, Kamal once again uses 2-D cartoons. This time to mellow down violence and blood flow. It is said QT got inspired by the comic sequences of Alavandhaan, and used the technique in one of the Kill Bills.)
In the scenes in and around Appu's love failure, the actor Kamal and the maestro compete terrifically with each other. These are a set of rare scenes in cinema, that work equally good - without audio or without video. Due to Kamal the actor's sheer brilliance, you can feel Appu's pain even if you cut out Ilayaraja's background score. Well, you have the same effect even when you turn the other side and just listen to the heart wrenching melody. It is like two extraordinary players easily winning the match on their own, yet preferring to come together - not just to win, but to create history. Lyricist Vaali's versatility is legendary. In Apoorva he proves his mettle and range hands down. Sample this: Andha vaanam azhudhathaan indha boomiyey sirikkum.. oozing with pain. Vazhavaikkum kaadhalukku jey! Vaalibathin paadalukku jey!.. pumping love and joy. The visuals too match the high quality of lyrics and music. It is quite interesting to see the car mechanic Kamal Raja dancing his intro song in the shop floor of an automobile factory; same goes for vazhavaikkum song that is made a part of the story, rather than just being left as a prop. That is the beauty of Apoorva. It is quite a task to dissect a scene and say authoritatively who has excelled. It appears the artists, the writer, the composer, and all others associated were in sync, were in flow, throughout the making. Every single frame has everyone's best output.
But if I were to single out one person who raises above the rest, it is probably the cinematographer P.C. Sriram. No hi-tech graphics was used in the movie. It is sheer, old-fashioned camera tricks, real hard work and some good ideas that made Appu look like Appu. Yes, the DOP had a solid support from Kamal. But PC is ultimately the brain of the movie. An angle missed here or there would have made the entire movie look like a high school drama where the kids play dwarfs with their legs visibly folded behind. Even to this day, the making of Apoorva awes everyone around. Even now, in the era of Transformers, Appu does not look childish. Looking back, where did things go wrong with Dasavathaaram (2008). More technology and less sweat?
The crowd of mechanics around Raja Kamal performs really well, though at times it resembles a well-managed stage drama. (Something similar to the kubeer jolly boys of Virumandi, 2004). But every star in the galaxy of artists that include Mouli, Delhi Ganesh and Gauthami shines just the right, best way throughout, and the overall effect it has on the movie is just marvelous. Hats off to director Singeetam Srinivasa Rao. It is not easy to manage talent. It is more difficult to manage more talent. Great movies are made bottom-down and it requires an able hand to weave the individual threads of brilliance into an inimitable tapestry of a very high standard. And the movie was in very safe hands.
A few heavy weights, including Kamal's Uthama Villain, are slotted to release this April - a full 26 years after Apoorva. What is a masala movie? It is not easy to define. What is a successful masala? Perhaps, this is even tougher to describe. But whatever they may mean, Apoorva Sagodharargal will be the most successful, big canvas masala of Kollywood since its release; the run will continue even after this April, may be.
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