Wide Angle with Natarajan Ramji : A feast for the movie trivia geeks

 

Mr. Natarajan Ramji is known as the "Location Guru" of Indian cinema who has travelled to over 140 countries and helped shoot movies in 80 of them. This interview is what I would call a hidden gem. It gives an overview of the whole location scouting process for movies and also gives a lot of trivia about really popular movies, the locations they were shot in and how the location was decided upon.

If you are a movie geek, you must watch this interview. He spoke about the key details that help in deciding the location.

1. Keeping himself updated in his area of expertise and learning about the world everyday.
2. The foreign exchange rate at the time of shoot which helps to reduce the cost of the movie. For eg: an opera location in France which would cost Rs.40 crores was completed in 1/10th the cost by shifting the location to Macedonia for the movie Mersal.
3. The ability to find multi-national extras required for the movie.
4. Weather. For eg: He speaks about how during the 90s and early 2000s there was a trend that started to shoot songs in Switzerland in Tamil cinema. However, it was not suitable during the winter months but the producers wanted to keep shooting throughout the year. That's when he discovered the beauty of New Zealand which has completely contrasting weather. This helped in keeping the shooting on through out the year.

Here are some of the trivia from this interview to draw your interest.

1. RRR's Natu Natu song location : Ukraine

2. Enthiran - Kilimanjaro  : Brazil

3. Dilwale - Gerua : Iceland

4. I - Pookkalae Sattru Oyivedu

5. Kaapan song : Indonesia and Russia

3. 

Dear Zindagi : A must watch for all youngsters for years to come

 

So yesterday I saw Dear Zindagi on Netflix for the 2nd time. The first time I saw it when it had released years ago. This time, the movie left a deep impact on me for some reason. Maybe I am a different person after all these years which is why the movie spoke to me and made so much sense. I also felt slightly guilty for not having appreciated this movie when it released. But it's better late than never. So here are some of things that caught my attention in this movie.

1. Alia Bhatt's performance. This movie was released in 2016 and at the time, she was just 4 or 5 years into the industry. But that did not stop her from portraying such a complex character with so much ease. She showcases so many emotions such as rage, anger, innocence, desperation to feel loved and belong, etc with such conviction that you are convinced that this person Kaira really exists.

2. Shah Rukh Khan as Dr. Jehangir Khan was just right. The role needed a superstar like him for the message that was conveyed to reach the masses. Hats off to King Khan for picking up such an unconventional role for a super star.

3. The portrayal of what goes through a person's mind before going for therapy and the fear of judgement from the society was on point. Even today, there are a lot of people who suffer silently due to the fear of what judgement of going to a therapist. People immediately label you as "Mental" if they hear that you are seeing a therapist of psychiatrist. The movie shows what therapy is and tries to normalise it.

4. There is a subtle message that perhaps is most important in my opinion - "Forgive your parents if you were wronged by their decisions in your childhood." That message is absolutely need and so different compared to typical Hindi movies that put parents on a pedestal and showcase that they can never be wrong. But the truth is, they are humans just like us and fallible. A lot of people keep blaming their parents for their career, marriage and just life in general and keep that spite in their heart. This movie tells you to bring them down from the pedestal and see them as mere humans.

Thank you Gauri Shinde for making this movie.

 

#Varisu - Old wine in a new, shiny, stylish bottle

 

Varisu is one of the Pongal 2023 releases. It's a typical south Indian masala movie filled with family drama, comedy, colorful songs, high-end cars, palatial houses and unbelievable hero fight scenes. The trailer of the movie tells you the whole story, there is no unexpected plot twist. However, there are still some scenes which make it a compelling watch on the big screen especially for the family audience. 

Here are my favourite scenes from the movie - 

1. Rashmika and Vijay meeting scene. 

This was a very funny scene and instead of the usual boy stalking girl love story that the old Indian movies used to show case as love, this was rather fresh where the girl has a crush on the boy and that blossoms into love.

    2. Yogi babu telling about the dining habits of the family to Vijay

Almost every scene with Yogi babu and Vijay was funny, this one was just a notch higher for me.

   3. Vijay's imitation of Redin Kingsley's characters

This was totally unexpected humour from Vijay. If I were Redin Kingsley, I would be really happy and elated for having made such an impact in such a short span. This mimicry during the fight scenes was very entertaining and had the audience in splits.

   4.  Jaya Sudha and Vijay's combo scenes in the first half.

There was one scene where Vijay tells his mother how she has just been assigned to be in the kitchen and there also, she has to cook food that his father (Sarath Kumar) approves. The mother-son combo worked out very well and the bond felt very real.

   5.  The chairman selection scene in second half

This was the most hilarious scene in the whole movie which has very interesting callbacks to Vijay's older movies - Bigil, Kathi and Master.

  6. Grandeur and colors in the movie

The movie's look and feel was very rich and colorful. It transported the audience to a larger than life setting after a long time. Grand mansions, rolls royce cars, helicopters and grand offices. Every scene's set looked like a million dollars.

There were several other small things that were memorable about the movie like - Vijay referring to #LoveToday , callback to #Ghilli, great action scenes filled with humour, etc. 

Ultimately, watching the movie felt like going back to a place of comfort and happiness. The audience came out entertained.

Hats off to the team of Varisu for making a movie with full conviction despite all the criticism.

Conventional dance songs are no longer welcome in movies ? #Vaarisu #Thunivu

 

I had an opportunity to watch both the Pongal releases this weekend - Vaarisu and Thunivu. Both were quite entertaining and completely different genres which was great for me as an audience. One was a family story filled with comedy and family drama while the other a layered bank heist story full of high paced action.

The theatre was packed and both movies were cheered by the audiences with full vigour. 

However, while watching Vaarisu, I saw that this popular song Ranjithame which has 140M+ views on Youtube, had a very luke warm response in the theatre. The problem was that this song was just stitched into the 2nd half of the movie very abruptly. While the audience were engrossed into the story, this felt like a very unwelcome interruption. Though it's a very nice song with great energy, it just didn't go with the flow of the screenplay. 

On the other hand, Thunivu did not have this unnecessary cut to a song in the middle of the story. The dance number was safely put at the end of the movie. 

This seems to be the trend that a lot of movies have been following for years now which is quite welcome by the audience. 

I wonder why Vaarisu makers did not do the same.

HIT 2 : A distant cousin to Goodachari and Evaru

 

Last night I started watching HIT The 2nd case with very high expectations on Amazon Prime. The premise was quite promising and I was pulled into the movie in the first 20 minutes. As the movie progressed, I felt there were a lot of loose ends that I couldn't convincingly comprehend myself from what was shown on screen.

At a high level, it is a good watch. However, having seen much better movies from Adivi Sesh (such as Goodachari and Evaru), this was weak in comparison in terms of how the mystery unfolds.

For the benefit of the makers and other movie enthusiasts here are the questions I had and how I comprehended some of these basis the movie. Let me know in the comments if you have differing opinions to these. I would be happy to consume a varying perspective. 

Resolved questions

Unconvincing but still I resolved these questions with some logic shown in the movie.

Q1. Why was KD pro live-in before marriage?

Ans: His parents were apparently a couple that fought a lot and now were on some world tour to reconcile. This was his reason to not get married without having lived in with the person maybe. 

Q2. Why was KD shown as someone with a very nonchalant behaviour initially during the first few scenes and suddenly his complete behaviour changes after this lady's murder case ?

Ans: Perhaps this was the most gruesome case he had seen so far and hence his confidence was lower than usual at solving this case. Also, he was not able to build a hypothesis as quickly as he was able to do in other cases given the nature of crime and hence it was natural that his behaviour and attitude changed to a more serious one.

Q3. Why was it necessary for KD to be angry with Varsha?

Ans: From the story's point of view, not sure why they had to show that KD was not trusting of Varsha. The only reason for that seems to be the need for her to put a tracker on KD's vehicle and save the day during the climax scene at the clinic. 

Q4. Why did Raghav commit suicide?

Ans: You could argue that he was depressed at being jailed, but it seems more of a convenience for the plot so that there can be escalation in the conflict between KD and his boss, the DGP. This makes the DGP spiteful and he fires KD and removes the protection for Arya leading to the kidnap of Arya and then the climax.

Q5. In the climax it is shown that Kumar used a teeth set to make the bite mark. Why didn't forensic think of that hypothesis? There shouldn't have been any saliva given that it was a teeth set. Also there was no other proof of an assault, so why would the killer just have bit the victim? 

Ans: The bite mark was more important than the heroine for this plot to be honest. The bite mark was the reason for Raghav's entry into the story, the conflict of KD and his boss and the eventual kidnap of Aarya.

However, it seems odd that the forensic team missed the hypothesis that it could have been a teeth set. 

Open questions

Q. Why does KD live in such a palatial house? What is his background?

Q. Why was there some callback to HIT 1 Vishwa and Vikram? What was the significance to this story?

Q. If KD got fired, why was the security immediately removed for Aarya? She still had threat and it is the job of the police to safeguard her.

Q. How did KD know how to whistle in the climax to call Max? In the beginning it was clearly show that he didnt have that skill.

Q. Why was Raghav's encounter planned? What was the minister's role?

Q. What was the need to show Raghav's workplace (steel factory) during his capture?

Q. How did Kumar know of Raghav and how/why did he plant the shoes in Raghav's house?

Q. How did the journalist air such a news of the encounter at such short notice and such short time?

Q. Why did KD not investigate Kumar's background and profession? Why did he simply believe that Kumar was unemployed and just spending his dad's money?