4.01.2006

Ada Raam - aaH?

The media is going gaga over "Raam" for being screened and nominated for "GOLDEN APHRODITE" award in Cyprus International Film Festvial. I think the movie is plain mediocre. It just had an unique screenplay format. But that's about it.

The scenes in the flashback which are meant to unfold the eccentricities of Raam lacks depth and logic. It doesn’t provide enough reasons for why he behaves the way he does. This lack of a fineness in raam’s characterisation makes his actions and reactions irritating. Why the hell he has to chant those mantras on the top of hills? Is he mentally retarded or is he a spiritual person who has a different perception about the whole world? Or what made or changed him like that? There are actually no answers for all these questions in the screenplay. It is this week characterisation that makes Jeeva's performance forgettable, no matter how hard he tries to make it appealing.

We are disappointed when we come to know the real murdered instead of getting surprised and that is the biggest drawback of the movie. Also in a thriller, there must be enough suspects and only if they are, we will be surprised when we come to know that they are not and some other is the real culprit. So, as there are no many suspects the ending was not a great shock. Even the revenge episode at the end is not handled well and it turns a comedy by the inclusion of a song with visuals showing Raam chanting mantras on the top of the hill. It lacks depth, force and logic which “Adada” song had in “Pithamagan”.

But I am happy for Yuvan Shankar Raja, who won the award for Best Original Music score. He did a great job in scoring background music for the movie.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You voiced my thoughts exactly, except for Yuvan's score. I didn't find anything great in it. No originality, I thought.

-Kajan

Filbert said...

I am not sure why you say that Raam's character should have been given better explanation for its strange behaviour. I guess the fact that he is autistic should do it. I myself have seen perfectly normal people chant mantras and act in weird way :) The only part I didn't like about Raam was the revenge part of the movie which was ordinary. But our Tamil audiences are not yet ready for 90-120 min movies. If that had been the case, Ameer would have easily restricted Raam to 2 hours. If one thought that kamal's characterization in Guna was convincing, then they would feel the same about Raam too. And I am one among those few.

As far Yuvan's music, he truly deserves it. Tamil film music is in safe hands :)

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

filbert: don't ever compare the characterisation and performance of Guna to Raam. in my opinion, Raam is nowhere near Guna. I felt Guna convincing but not Raam.

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

filbert: don't ever compare the characterisation and performance of Guna to Raam. in my opinion, Raam is nowhere near Guna. I felt Guna convincing but not Raam.

Filbert said...

I know Raam is nowhere near Guna. In fact we should not be comparing those 2 movies at all, since they fall into completely different genres. But I was only talking about how in-depth was Kamal's characterization done in Guna. I dont think there was enough justification for Kamal's character in the movie, other than the fact that he was brought up in a brothel.

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

filbert: In the very first scene, you would see a old man shouting to Guna about Abirami and that he would marry her in a purnami night. Being said that he has become mad as he was brought up in a brothel and, he is naive to accept whatever the people around him says(how blindly he believes when Janakaraj points someone as Abhirami). It is also clear that this is not the first time that the old man is saying about Abhirami to Guna. In all his years in the asylum, Guna has been fed with the story of his marriage with a God-like angel named "Abhirami" by this oldman. So, it naturally gives a complete character sketch and a definite reason to all deeds of Guna. Can you point out anyone one scene in Raam which justifies his character or atleast which says what his character is? If you still are not convinced, it is fine. Opinion differs. Cool okay.

Filbert said...

Suresh, may be I will watch both Guna and Raam again bcos it has been a while since I saw them both. It was not that I was not convinced about Kamal's character in Guna but at the same time, I didnt find any issues with Jeeva's characterization in Raam as well. Anyway, as you said, opinion differs and lets leave it just at that. We are cool :)