MAX is here!
...and finally NTU got its McDonald's outlet at Can A....not tat 'I'm loving it' totally...but definitely something to look forward to....

Aaydha Ezhuthu

Every student dreamt of this.
All of us have discussed it.
Still,none of us have ventured a step further into doing it.
UNTIL....

Aaydha Ezhuthu- Students Shall Script India's Future

This post on Aaydha Ezhuthu. the post in itself will form 2 sections, the first one where very little of story will be given away.It would be a general review so as to ensure it doesnt spoil the elemant of suspense for people still waiting to watch it. the second section will have a detailed story analysis.

3 young men from 3 different strata of society,their nature and the one defining incident than unsettles their style of life for ever- This is what Mani had promised from his side for Aaydha Ezhuthu/Yuva.
Taking a look at the different aspects of the movie-
The story is pretty different,and a strong one too.Mani, like he always does, has taken a new subject up for this movie-As the site describes(and the trailers too), it is about how one student..oops no-about how the student population,lead by one student, tries to change the political scenario in India, his region to be particular.If mudhalvan with a concept of one day CM with a vision was welcomed by our audience, this one certainly provides more logic. The story,ofcourse, deals with the lives of the three characters and how each ones life gets entangled with the other two.
Music by ARR was recieved, first with mixed feelings and as time went by -most of the songs became chartbusters. Mani, like for Alaipayudhe(saathiya), didnt want any song for this movie too. And thankfully, even though 6 tracks were added, he ensured they blended into the movie perfectly. In other words, there were no arbitrary scenes where the hero(es) or heroine(s)were instantly transported to the Alps or Swiss or Kilimanjaro,asked to wear wierd costumes and execute hysterical steps. This in my opinion is one of the biggest plus points for the director, kudos to his attempt to make a more realistic movie.

Fight sequences didnt have those ill-replicated matrix steps, random double..triple..quadruple...and multiple somersaults or "I am the hero and you shall not land a single punch on me" based stunts. Very realistic fight sequences.Full Marks for it(though there a couple of shots that involve some graphics appln.,but only where inevitable).

The movie had its share of romance, not worked on much...Inba's character sketch had a lot of romantic escapades. Micheal had a lot of serious business to do on screen and hence his love life wasnt handled in-depth.Arjun's love story also wasnt handled to any reasonable depth. But we can accept it because the movie was meant to be a serious one with a major social issue being addressed, hence the inadequacy if building the life and love aspects of the characters.

Janakaraj is bak in this movie-for a very small role though. It should be noted that he is the only comedian Mani uses, and also has the distinction of acting in maximum ManiRatnam movies.

As the thug, madhavan looks perfect. Unlike any other of his fast paced action movies, he has the look of a well built "born and brought up on the streets" appearance.
Surya is impressive with his performance and siddarth has done a very good job too.

On the whole, the movie did lack the 'Mani'Magic to a certain extent, but individually madhavan and surya outshone the rest of the cast and the movie had something new to provide as story.

Section 2....here will be a more detailed story line will come up here shortly-so those who want to hold on to their elemant of suspense,stop here.
The movie is taken in a style resembling Alaipayudhe and Virumandi(or Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction). The movie shifts between an event that just occured and the recent past life of those who were involved in it(shifting between past and present as handled well in Alaipayudhe)and focuses on the views, ideas and events perspective of three youths(like virumandi handled a sequenceo of events as viewed by victims from both sides).
The first scene shows Inba following Michael along Napier Bridge.It also introduces Arjun and Meera(Trisha), Arjun doing the "baby-I love u" running behind her like her dog. Inba fires at Michael.The injured michael falls into the Backwater stretch and a shocked Arjun who sees this saves him.This scene is held as the central event from where a brief history of the 3 characters are presented.
Inba is a typical chennai roadside rowdy, huge,arrogant,brutal and wild.He is hungry for money and power and becomes the right-hand of a power-hungry minister, played by Bharathi Raja.His wife Sasi(Meera Jasmine)loves him inspite of his wrong ways and activities that makes her angry and upset.Meera Jasmine has done a very good job and certainly steals the show from trisha and esha deol. The political problems that the minister faces due to the activities of student population, lead by Michael(a genius at studies, and a person who challenges what he believes is wrong-and goes to any extent to defend his claim) brings in the Inba vs. Michael clash. Siddarth plays Arjun, a happy go lucky chap, on his way to his dream destination-US.His life changes from the moment he saves Michael from the incident-and he goes on to join Michael in their(student's) fight against the minister-as they challenge him at the elections, and win their constituencies too. The second phase of the movie is about how one side tries to stamp the other, as the elections arrive and the movie ends with a brilliant duel between michael and Inba at the same Napier bridge followed by the news that the students (4 of them) won at their respective constituencies.Trisha and Siddarth's roles are relatively less significant in the movie, and they have done their roles pretty decently-trisha didnt have much to do anyway! Esha Deol could have done a better job,but given that this is her debut (for tamizh movies)and a big one in that-we can hope to expect better in years to come. Bharathi Raja as the villian has done a good job.He doesnt go around screaming abuses or overacting his role-on the whole a good start to his acting career as a villian(which apparently has been his dream for many years).

The plus,
1.No unrealistic love scenes or exorbitant dance sequences.
2.No major punch lines for the heroes.
3.Storyline has something to offer.
4.Character sketch of MAdhavan and Surya...brilliant and their acting skills match 'em. Kudos to Meera Jasmine.
5. Songs and the way it has been blended to being a part of the story flow.
6.Madhavan,Surya,Meera jasmine,Bharathi Raja,ARR, Sibu Cyril,Ravi K.Chandran
The minus,
1.Apart from Inba,Michael and Sasi, the rest of the characters have been hardly dealt with-lack of depth.The movie in itself had so much to cover, it looked like it lacked depth on the whole.
2.Isha Deol and Trisha fumble..they could have done a better job during the minutes they were on screen.
3.Against which 4 candidates do the students stand for which constituencies and whether there particular problems in constituencies(reasons) isnt given. this though,I wouldnt consider to be a major minus-Mani is not disclosed anything reg. constituency detail or opposing candidate just avoid further complications...I feel.
4.Trisha(she definitely is pretty,but no role),Isha Deol(thr is lot of scope for improvement).

Now For the TITLE
The Hindi Version is pretty simple :Yuva- for youth as the movie stands for.The story revolves around the youth characters, be it Madhavan or surya or siddarth.Rebellious youth and his actions.
Aaydha Ezhuthu,on the other hand,kindles a lot of thought .
--->aaydha-akk sollu...thirteenth alphabet in tamizh.
--->the akk sollu is three dots-here it would symbolise the three characters played by madhavan,surya and siddarth-and how their lives get interlocked. Lighter vein,look at the way they are positioned on the photo at start of this article-which is the poster for the movie-seen from the top, tats 'akk'.
--->The Last Letter, that is 'aaydha ezhuthu' could stand for the final say, the stamp of a new rebellion and hence the singnificant change-here in the political system. Proceeding in those lines, we can say it stands for the 'end' to an era of dirty filthy politics-the final word is here-tats its over.
--->The movie is about the Youth, students in particular, "scripting" a change..for the better, hence the script "akk" to symbolise it.

Do Comment on any interpretation for the title tat you can think of....or your opinion on the characters or the storyline...or the scenes etc.

A final note: With the current political situation..wat with a foreigner getting thisss close to being our PM, Lallo almost becoming home minister(and then trying for denfense too!!!!)..and all the comical things happening, this movie can come out at no better time than this!


(chami exits)

DEMOCRAZY
lot of funny things have been happening...LOT! One one side is USA fighting its never ending battle of legalization of gay marriages. yes they can...no they cant...yes can...no cant..yes..no.Ohh common! They just asked you to make gay weddings legal, not whether Bush could be catagorized as definitely male.
But is that the funniest thing...today, even the americans got somethng to laugh at.that too a non bush topic. Its all about the recently concluded elections of the largest democracy. only after the results were did people realise wat a major blunder they had done.

a reporter tried to find out wat was running in the mind of those people when they went voting
Reporter: so how come u voted for sonia?
tea kadakaarar: i misunderstood it when she said her every breath and love is for 'itli', saar.
reporter: wat do u feel about a foreign PM?
businessman : to my knowledge, this is the biggest job outsourcing i have seen.

I live in a country where there is soooo little happening that it covers the sonia issue and bollywood stars' arrival on the front page. To salvage some pride, i tried to explain the whole situation to my friends here.
A: so wats all these abt india i hear...wats happened to the billion indians?
me:No.lemme explain.sonia isnt any stranger. Only that she is an Italian-born Indian resident.
A: which porn?
me: born...BORN...she met rajiv during her undergrad.they found a lot of similarity, especially of the fact that neither could even get past half their undergrad course.
A: watever, No wonder they say India is the largest demo'crazy'.
Actually speaking, this could well be India's secret plan to match the Americans and Brits at the political circle, atleast in colour. Ofcourse, we have seen that we dont have to work much to match their intellectual level.
The democrats meanwhile are frantically probing into bush's past, they fear they have let thru USA's first woman president.
Indian situation attracted the US governments' attention too.
Rumsfeld:wats ur opinion on the sensex crash at bombay over last weekend.
Bush:yea,the same-sex problem. I have no idea how I am gonna hold these gay weddings activists under control anymore.
R: wats on opinion on india having a white woman lead the nation.
B: I dont think there shud be any problem, especially considering both the US and Briton have been having Whites at the head of the government for years now!
R: but sir,the situation is very different and far more serious there.
B:Ohh! In which case I would suggest we call Mr.Vajbay and tell him we are willing to send our peace-keeping army.Outsourcing is as big a problem as terrorism is. Also, skilled workers for low wage is more valuable than oil these days.

Personally, I am pretty depressed about India not being able to find one from its overflowing and definitely talented and capable population.
Ofcourse, if nothing has happened to a nation with Bush at the helm, i too dont think we are in that grave a danger.

(chami exits)

IROCKED
Its been in the news for quite some time... Our dear Big brother and their suckups, and their single-minded effort of goodwill ...to ensure peace, demo'crazy' and freedom in Iraq.
Here is explained, a phase of how they went about doing it. issue becomes public..and Mr. President, like always, is beating around the Bush!

(Chami exits)