"Rowthiram" means fury. This movie has that aplenty. First and foremost the director has the rage. And it is clerly overflowing. Why!? My guesses
1. On the site of seeing Jeeva become successful than his more talented brother Jitthan Ramesh, a person with enormous potential and innovative marketing strategy to promote himself by publicly giving his cell phone numbers, to hear first hand opinions about his movie.
2. Maybe he was tied to a chair and made to watch TR videos back to back, Sam Anderson dance videos or a Balakrishnagaru song sans volume, that he immediately after being untied, doesn't go the loo but starts writing the script for a movie. Give back the audience what he underwent, but given the humane nature, he dilutes it- by adding Shriya Sara) and some amount of occasional originality amidst 'zero-watts-bulb-like-glows' of Mani Ratnam- Gautam Menon- Naan Mahan Alla- Sathya-Thambi influences.
Being influenced by top directors is fine. But just seeing the final outcome and trying to do the same in a 'my style' manner is never going to help. This movie is a solid proof for that. In order to capture the masses, he sets upon the Good vs Evil-MGR-Nambiar subject, only to give it a 2011 feel with slow motions, very slow motions and ultra slow motion scenes. If at all there is something difficult to understand than Rebecca Black 'encouraged' to dish out another song, it is the presence of slow motion scenes in an already snail paced screen play. The movie is as vague and superficial as Justin Beiber's songs.
Imagine Naan Mahan Alla, only that there is no personal vendetta, or dead father- you have a Hornswaggle version of it. This story can replace the Hare and Tortoise etc. that we learned at Kinder Garden . It is much simpler actually. A man with an innate drive to fight against evil, fights. Fights. Fights. If you are expecting me to give the reason, refer to the fifth and sixth words at the start of this sentence. The reason why I said its perfect for toddlers is because they wont ask questions. This film has just 6.. no- 7.. no- 6 fights between Shiva (Jeeva) and Goons. Period.
The villains look totally rustic and do their parts really well. New directors are synonymous with novelty. The novelty here is that the head of well fed, 250+ pound goondas is Gowri ( a guy) who is the poor, underprivileged,diseased version of Dhanush minus the charm.
Now where does Shriya come!? I seriously have no idea.. No wait! I remember, because this is another never seen before concept in Tamil cinema- she comes exactly when the hero smashes irresponsible college students into pulp on a main road. Love blossoms. Songs happen. Shiva being the silent hero who believes that being broody is more appealing than ''dudey'' speaks with so many pauses that at a stage a person commented "has he forgot his dialogues?" I don't blame him. There is absolutely no neccessity for him to speak in a base voice.
"The comedy is woven into the story" - typical cliched excuse and it is true in the case of Rowthiram because, the joke is on you. After Vettaikaran, sathyan yet again succeeds effortlessly in testing your patience. The best aspect of the movie is Jayaprakash as the father. All dads seem the same on screen. Jeeva delivers what is prescribed with consummate elan, as usual. Only dent is the fact that he could have had a second opinion on the diagnosis. The director gives the whole movie from a characterization perspective, the disappointment being inconsistency to emphasize it.
The climax is a welcome change. Seriously. The final scene strikes the right chord but is a weighty obstacle and contradictory in a way. Is there any uncommon sense in portraying an honest AC until the last scene, not paying heed to a woman in distress!? The action choreography was so good that Jeeva does not get hurt and is invincible to escape unscathed amidst men with machetes. Please don't look for any positives here.
So finally, Rowthiram is a slow poison, literally, but comes with an antidote called patience. If you think you posses it, surely you will live to 'fight' another day, excuse the pun, just like me.
1. On the site of seeing Jeeva become successful than his more talented brother Jitthan Ramesh, a person with enormous potential and innovative marketing strategy to promote himself by publicly giving his cell phone numbers, to hear first hand opinions about his movie.
2. Maybe he was tied to a chair and made to watch TR videos back to back, Sam Anderson dance videos or a Balakrishnagaru song sans volume, that he immediately after being untied, doesn't go the loo but starts writing the script for a movie. Give back the audience what he underwent, but given the humane nature, he dilutes it- by adding Shriya Sara) and some amount of occasional originality amidst 'zero-watts-bulb-like-glows' of Mani Ratnam- Gautam Menon- Naan Mahan Alla- Sathya-Thambi influences.
Being influenced by top directors is fine. But just seeing the final outcome and trying to do the same in a 'my style' manner is never going to help. This movie is a solid proof for that. In order to capture the masses, he sets upon the Good vs Evil-MGR-Nambiar subject, only to give it a 2011 feel with slow motions, very slow motions and ultra slow motion scenes. If at all there is something difficult to understand than Rebecca Black 'encouraged' to dish out another song, it is the presence of slow motion scenes in an already snail paced screen play. The movie is as vague and superficial as Justin Beiber's songs.
Imagine Naan Mahan Alla, only that there is no personal vendetta, or dead father- you have a Hornswaggle version of it. This story can replace the Hare and Tortoise etc. that we learned at Kinder Garden . It is much simpler actually. A man with an innate drive to fight against evil, fights. Fights. Fights. If you are expecting me to give the reason, refer to the fifth and sixth words at the start of this sentence. The reason why I said its perfect for toddlers is because they wont ask questions. This film has just 6.. no- 7.. no- 6 fights between Shiva (Jeeva) and Goons. Period.
The villains look totally rustic and do their parts really well. New directors are synonymous with novelty. The novelty here is that the head of well fed, 250+ pound goondas is Gowri ( a guy) who is the poor, underprivileged,diseased version of Dhanush minus the charm.
Now where does Shriya come!? I seriously have no idea.. No wait! I remember, because this is another never seen before concept in Tamil cinema- she comes exactly when the hero smashes irresponsible college students into pulp on a main road. Love blossoms. Songs happen. Shiva being the silent hero who believes that being broody is more appealing than ''dudey'' speaks with so many pauses that at a stage a person commented "has he forgot his dialogues?" I don't blame him. There is absolutely no neccessity for him to speak in a base voice.
"The comedy is woven into the story" - typical cliched excuse and it is true in the case of Rowthiram because, the joke is on you. After Vettaikaran, sathyan yet again succeeds effortlessly in testing your patience. The best aspect of the movie is Jayaprakash as the father. All dads seem the same on screen. Jeeva delivers what is prescribed with consummate elan, as usual. Only dent is the fact that he could have had a second opinion on the diagnosis. The director gives the whole movie from a characterization perspective, the disappointment being inconsistency to emphasize it.
The climax is a welcome change. Seriously. The final scene strikes the right chord but is a weighty obstacle and contradictory in a way. Is there any uncommon sense in portraying an honest AC until the last scene, not paying heed to a woman in distress!? The action choreography was so good that Jeeva does not get hurt and is invincible to escape unscathed amidst men with machetes. Please don't look for any positives here.
So finally, Rowthiram is a slow poison, literally, but comes with an antidote called patience. If you think you posses it, surely you will live to 'fight' another day, excuse the pun, just like me.
disappointing.. the teaser was interesting, especially the last frame. i thought this new guy would come up with something new and interesting. sad that it has turned out this way :(
ReplyDeletethe climax was the only thing worth watching.. but to wait till the climax is an ordeal da!
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