Tag Archive: Gautham Menon


Ek Deewana Tha- Music Review by Ram Anand

Filed Under: Fourth Dimensions, The Beauty of Art, Voice of the Winds by Ram Anand — 7 Comments
January 5, 2012

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya (Will You Cross the Skies For Me) was one of the biggest hits in the Tamil cinema arena in recent years and it has gone on to attain a cult status among Tamil film followers- prompting Gautham Menon to finally make his long-awaited second attempt at directing a Hindi film. His first, a remake of his debut hit film with Madhavan, ‘Minnale’ didn’t turn out to be that much of a sweet affair. Probably keeping that in mind, Gautham produced ‘Ek Deewana Tha’ (There was a Crazy Guy), VTV’s Hindi remake, himself- to avoid the complications he faced with ‘Rehna To Teri Dil Mein’ producers.

VTV’s music, which represented Gautham’s first collaboration with AR Rahman, also attained a cult status and thus anticipations run high for the Hindi version of its music. The album has 12 tracks, including some famous, sought-after BGM scores that were missing in VTV and also one additional song to existing copyblock album of VTV.

Kya Hai Mohabbat (AR Rahman)

The album begins with an additional song that did not feature in the Tamil or Telugu albums of the same film. With delectable lyrics from Javed Akhtar, AR Rahman takes the mic to render a song that described the ambiguity of love itself. This song definitely will not have a picturization bestowed upon it- it sounds more or less like a song that would run on the background, or title credits. The song has a breezy jazzy touch upon it, similar to the composition of ‘Tu Bole Main Boloon’ from Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. This will probably not become a hit on its own, but for those who have a good ear for slow music with excellent lyrics- this will be a gem. A good candidate for those slow mornings in which you would feel appreciating ambiguity itself.

Dost Hai (Naresh Iyer, Jaspreet Jasz)

As a reviewer, first I would need to take the standpoint of a neutral when reviewing this song. ‘Dost Hai’ is meant to portray the angst and frustration of a man who’s advances are constantly pushed away by a girl who shows her interest in him in spurts. Naresh Iyer’s vocals are good, the lyrics flow well, the music puts the emotions right at the forefront, and there is a generous dose of English strewn in the middle. This a good number. But sadly it could have been way better. ‘Kannukul Kannai’ the Tamil version of this song, was by mile a better composition, mainly due to the fact that the song was not interfered by any unnecessary rapping and mainly involved only its Tamil lyrics. What prompted ARR and Gautham to come up with a version that sounds like a club mix of the original composition, I would never know. Hindi listeners might still enjoy it, but those who have heard the Tamil version are in for a letdown here. There are also some techno sounds so generously added into the song.

Aromale (Alphonse Joseph)

‘Aromalae’ is a classic. There probably was not a single composition similar to it in the past decade or so in Tamil cinema. Aromale was about a man’s trance while writing a script and was fully sung using Malayalam verses- representing the heroine’s character. My understanding is that Amy Jackson also plays a Nasrani, similar to Samantha and Trisha’s protrayals in the movie’s Tamil and Telugu versions. Keeping that in mind, Aromalae could have been left untouched, but probably not wanting to repeat themselves, ARR and Gautham went for a twist for having Javed Akhtar write Hindi lyrics and make it a ‘Hindi’ song. The interludes in the middle also uses different Sanskrit versions compared to the ones used in the original ‘Aromalae’. This is a composition that will hopefully be appreciated in Bollywood as well, but for obvious reasons, the Malayali lyrics, though not understood, provided more feel to the song rather than Hindi lyrics. Not to take anything away from it though, Aromale is just as good as other Aromalaes. It’s just that, in my opinion, Alphonse’s voice did not have the same passion that it had in the Malayali version.

Hosanna (Leon D’Souza, Suzzane, Blaaze)

Ah. The delight of thousands of music lovers down south in 2010. Probably one of the most romantic songs in recent times, it succeeded immensely in both Tamil and Telugu. Now the Hindi version has arrived. And as if making up for the disappointment of Dost Hai, Hosanna seemed to have upped an inch in this Hindi version. The new addition here is the singer Leon D’Souza- who gives a very delectable twist to the listening experience of this Hosanna. The English interlude in the middle sees Leon chipping in as well, and the pronunciation is clearer and slower to Blaaze’s quickfix in Tamil and Telugu. In this Hosanna, you can almost hear every word that is being sung in the song- making it more melodious to the other versions- which I don’t think is an easy task. Javed’s lyrics fit the tone perfectly, in fact they sound more in tune with ARR’s musical notes rather than Thamarai’s lyrics in Tamil. Brilliant.

Pholoon Jaisi (Clinton Cerejo, Kalyani Menon)

Another beautiful romantic composition that was already made extremely famous down South. But again, ARR seems to notch it up a little with this Hindi version by bringing in a different singer- Clinton Cerejo. I did have a small problem with the Tamil version of Omanna Penne, where I felt Benny Dayal’s voice did not fit the song completely. But the popularity of the music video and the movie almost made the whole thing seem natural, but Pholoon Jaisi sounds natural as a composition itself thanks to Clinton’s voice. His pronunciation is clearer, as was the case with Hosanna, and this adds value to the song. Excellent.

Sharminda Hoon (AR Rahman, Madushree)

To be honest, ‘Manipaaya’ sounded a little awakward when I first heard it. There were some great moments of singing by Shreya Ghosal but the overall feel was a little awkward due to, as I said, the first time combination between Thamarai and ARR. But with Javed, ARR seems more comfortable in this Hindi version. His voice has more clarity, and doesn’t seem to struggle with jumping notes. The flow of the lyrics suit well with the composition, which again makes it more ‘natural’. I would natural prefer Shreya to have kept her place and not replace her with Madushree, by the effect is not much judging by the overall feel of the song. A slow romantic ballad that made Kerala look so beautiful (Allepey to be precise). Very Good.

Sunlo Zara (Rashid Ali, Shreya Ghosal)

Anbil Avan found its takers as a happy wedding song celebrating the union of a couple. The song is given a slight melodious twist in Hindi thanks to Shreya Ghosal’s female voice and also Rashid Ali’s soothing involvement. The choice of singers is spot on for this song, recreating the same affect the original created in its own breezy way. The traditional marriage instruments at the interlude have also been tweaked with, in a good way.

Zohra-Jabeen (Javed Ali)

I have mentioned in my music review of VTV itself that this song is a gem. It is the title track in its Tamil version, and the same magic exists here as well with Javed Ali crooning (the original was Karthik). Slow, melodious, and full of soul- this a brilliant song and here’s hoping it doesn’t become as underrated as the Tamil version became.

Instrumentals

There are three instrumentals included in the album. The first one is ‘Broken Promises’, where you hear the voice of Shreya Ghosal humming a sadder version of Aromalae. This is as good as a BGM gets. Shreya’s Cranatic influenced singing shows her vocalistic slyllables without as much as uttering a word apart from ‘Aromalae’. The music is slow, simple, and similar to Aromalae. VTV had one of the best BGM I had heard in a Tamil film, and one of those that will linger on after credits is the ‘Moments in Kerala’, a great BGM that appears when the Sachien visits Jessie in Allepey and they share some special moments together. This is followed by the composition that was ringtone for sometime, ‘Jessie’s Land’. I took pains to get hold of this number after watching VTV, but thankfully it was made available through the album itself in Hindi. This will appear at the title credits in all probability, and will set the tone for the rest of the album. ‘Jessie’s Been Driving Me Crazy’ will drive you crazy after you have watched the movie. It is a rather a full blown composition in Hindi, so it’s just simply awesome.

All in all, this is a great album- if you can stop comparing, and even if you want to compare, it still has improvised tracks- which makes it still a very good album.

With that said, Wait for Jessie!

Rating: 9/10

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From Jessie to Priyas- Yearning for liberation

Filed Under: Fourth Dimensions, The Beauty of Art, Voice of the Winds by Ram Anand — Leave a comment
February 6, 2011

Gautham Vasudev Menon’s Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya has been showered with praises aplenty since the movie hit screens almost one year ago. The film particularly had a personal impact on me, just like how it did on thousands of other Indians who have watched this film the world over.

So I was pretty much unable to pass any in-depth comments when I first watched the film last year when it was fresh in theatres. It wasn’t until a television rerun recently that I chanced upon the movie and managed to watch it fully for a second time, and this time in a more detached manner.

But there was one thing that I agreed with a friend of mine (who is also a cinema connoisseur) when the film was fresh off the oven, and that is VTV (the abbreviation it goes by) is not a better film than Gautham’s previous film Vaaranam Aayiram.

It seemed though that for being more politically correct, VTV earned more approval from elite critics rather than Vaaranam. My friend somewhat unfavorably pointed out that the Indian audiences are so used to larger than life sentiments that they basically never find it appealing when a film tries to glorifies the subdued contribution of a father towards a son’s life. Both Abhiyum Naanum (though this film has a great problem of its own that I’m very critical of) and Vaaranam shared a similar fate in terms of its response from the audiences.

Believe it or not, many people’s grudge with Varanam is one major loophole in the film’s narration, whereby Surya travels to United States to meet his love even though it was well-documented prior that his family is struggling for complete financial liberty.

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya is, in its own right, a well-intentioned, perfectly suave, elegant movie that celebrated the beauty of love, even if the relationship couldn’t have a happy ending. In an industry where our audiences are so used either the fairytale triumph against all odds and barriers, or a rather morbid, blood shed, heartache ending, VTV treads in between both, it’s simply en ending that resonates life’s natural law and beauty.

It’s the kind of attempt that would please any Tamil cinema lover and critic like me, and be embraced with both hands by the same. The film also related greatly to many of the lovers outside there, and thus attained a cult film status.

This is probably owing to the fact that the film is a true story (according to some sources, it is the true story of one of Gautham’s assistants). It related greatly to real life situations, and it beautifully narrated how life sometimes doesn’t let two lovers unite. It is also arguable that Gautham drew inspiration from the cult Hollywood flick 500 days of Summer, which had a similar undertone and capacity of looking at life’s bad endings in beautiful way.

The film’s positives have been waxed lyrical about in the past, so I would not go there for a first. VTV has many positives, but also has its shares of shortcomings.

I have in the past championed the cause of more matured female portrayals in the film, and apart from VTV, no other film had the capacity of portraying a very real, next-door female character.  But yet while Gautham was consciously trying to break those grounds in this film, he also seems to consciously have some convenient aspects of characterization.

In 500 days of Summer for example, the female character isn’t your conventional one. She is deeply flawed, uncertain to a certain extent, very independent, and has been with men before prior to our hero here. In VTV, Trisha is yet another in the long line of heroines in the ‘naan entha ambalai kudayum palaganatha ille’ stereotype. We had had this kind of characterization countless of times in Tamil films, so much that it tires me.

We need to note that most ‘good’ films in this industry are set in rural backdrops, so it’s not often we get gems like VTV. In fact, like some point out, it’s probably the first film since Alaipayuthey to genuinely act as a story about two people. When some films charter the urban territory, filmmakers seem somewhat afraid of portraying the complexity of urban women and the history comes with it.

You have to admit that in the current urbane climate, even in Chennai, the ‘entha ambalai kudayum palaganatha ille’ types are hard to come by. Mani Ratnam’s Meera character from Aayitha Ezhuttu is probably the most in-depth female character in Tamil cinema, and yet it was short-lived.

And of course there is the whole love at first sight aspect. While the film presents itself as being so realistic, the way the two characters fall in love looks a tad out of place, though it can be forgiven thanks to a great song (Hosanna) and subsequent tempo.

Real love hardly happens in a similar way, and there is an element of disconnectedness about the movie there.

Probably I’m setting the bar too high, but it has been some ten years since Alaipayuthey hit the theatres, and we are somewhat at crossroads in terms of developing maturity in our films, and thus it is also a crucial time when our filmmakers can attempt to be a tad more bold. It’s time to push envelopes and test waters. If such hesitancy remains, it might take ten more years before we can take one more step forward, and thus wait ten more years for another genuine love story.

One of the best illustrations of female portrayal in regular Tamil films can be viewed through the films of one of the industry’s most recognized hit directors- Hari.

I had the chance of watching both Vel and Aaru in recent days and it dawned on me pretty quickly that the director’s perception of the female gender and his interpretation of ‘good’ to be as shallow as any.

In both films, one can witness countless of innuendos towards ‘skimpy dresses’ and interpretations that only girls who cover up as considered as ‘good’.

Vel flaunts most of this shallowness, where Surya’s character will charade with ‘pass marks’ for well-clad women while doing his supposedly ‘detective’ job. If that is the requirement in order to evaluate a girl’s ‘goodness’, one doesn’t need to be a detective in order to diagnose that fact. This mentality has already consumed our Indian culture like a vulture and any man with a half-baked brain would tend to make similar judgements when judging which is a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ girl.

It certainly doesn’t help that our film condone rather than trying to clamp down on this dangerously consuming mentality.

I don’t need to go very far aback in order to name two films that best epitomize the mentality that clearly exists within the film industry itself when it comes to the male-female dynamism.

As recent as last year, we saw Vishal play a Casanova in Theeratha Vilayattu Pillai. Only in our industry will we witness films desperately trying to glorify a Casanova act as being forgivable, and at the same time the heroine who gets the guy at the end of the film will be well-clad, well-covered homely girl who will forgive and accept because of the genuineness of the Casanova.

If this bias doesn’t convince you, then Manmadhan will. The 2004 film was a runaway hit. The film tries so hard to justify a man’s Casanova murder acts because the girls whom he beds and subsequently kills are ‘bad’ girls who ‘cheat’ on guys.

Let me ask this question- what about the very lead character? He too beds multiple women in order to murder them, what makes his supposed goal and ambition more ‘pure’ than the woman who cheats?

What then about the countless amount of guys (and obviously larger amount) who cheat on their women?

Could a female Casanova a-la Sharon Stone’s Basic Instinct come on the screen, strip, bed, kiss them and later kill this men. Would she be celebrated a-la a hero and have a guy genuinely love her because she is contributing to a pure cause?

Would our audiences make such a film as big a hit a Manmadhan-, which is an immature, shallow, one-sided film, made by a 21-year-old young adult (Simbhu’s age back in 2004) who is probably just bitter about one past failed relationship?

Unless a day comes when we have the maturity to reject an entertaining film because of its blatant chauvinistic attitude, our industry will linger with the same biasness that has haunted us for years.

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