Monday, May 23, 2005

Belated B'day wishes to Mohanlal

Just saw balaji's b'day wishes to mohanlal. Thought i would say a belated one to the 'phenomenon' Bharath mohanlal.This three time national award winner celebrated his b'day on May 21st.




I remember Mani Ratnam telling me, 'Hereafter, I will never work with a man of whom I am a fan.' I asked why. He said he often forgot to say 'Cut' in Iruvar. Mani said he did not expect him to perform at that level.An excerpt from priyadharshan's interview on mohanlal

He did bit roles in Malayalam and Telugu films to keep the home fires burning and dabbled in dubbing. All those years were not wasted, Vikram told me once. It is appropriate to recall his words now that he has won the National Award, 'If they describe my acting as good, it is only because of the experience I got from those Malayalam films. I had watched all these great actors act and the natural acting that I do now is not even five per cent of what they do in Malayalam films. I want to do good roles in Malayalam cinema too because I love those films. I want to do the kind of strong roles that Mammookka and Mohanlal do there.From vikram's interview

An actor who learnt sanskrit to act in the sanskrit play karnabaram.Why would an actor do a stage play??.Why take time from the big budget movies and act in a play which is not gonna get any money?.The answer is his love for acting.When his collegues are trying to get as much media attention to trumphet how great an actor they are, here is an great actor who never bothers to self boast.






rehearsal

A natural actor,who can ease into any kind of roles.He stands amongst the best actor's india has ever produced.Wishing him a belated b'day




Comments:
When his collegues are trying to get as much media attention to trumphet how great an actor they are, here is an great actor who never bothers to self boast.

You could have named him as well, as the reference is quite obvious when you are talking abt actors of the calibre of one-of-the-greatest-actors-kind ;).

Another debate, anybody?
 
I have always heard about his skills... but never managed to see any full fledged movie of his... The one I wanna watch is "Udayanaanu Thaaram"...

Have been wanting to watch "Manichirataal" too, esp after my Chandramukhi experience... Missed it in Asianet this Sunday !!!

Did you see "Pop Con" in Jaya TV this Suday ? I wish he had not acted in that movie... Cant blame mohanlal coz the movie itself was pathetic !!!
 
zero,
i dont have a clue what you are talking about :).

somu
His latest movies are waste.popcorn was garbbage.watch vanaprastham.Let me put a list of movies for you :).
 
I was just asking if you had anybody in mind, when you said this -
When his collegues are trying to get as much media attention to trumphet how great an actor they are...

Cheers.
 
zero,
i understood what you said.But i still didn't understand it.Do you understand what i am talking about :).
 
Senthil!

I did suspect u had understood!
But, if you had added a wink instead of ":)" in this - i dont have a clue what you are talking about :). - I would have confirmed!
 
so you understood. what i didn't understand ;).
 
Senthil, Is mohanlal a better actor than Kamal?

Cheers,
Vimal
 
Mohanlal from coconut land... hhahahaha! better actor than kamal? I watched a movie with Mohanlal in Tamil whose name I have conveniently forgotten. His pronounciation of Tamil is amazing, I couldnt tell the difference between tamil and malayalam, well unfortunately kamal has not reached that level of perfection. I am sure mohanlal is miles ahead, even comparing mohanlals tamil diction to Kamals would be sin:P jeez!! You should watch that movie of Mohanlals with Gowthami immediately and rate him as an actor then compare him with Kamal.
 
aah!! someone mentioned pop corn here!! yeah thats the name of the movie!! did you notice mohanlal pronouncing the world kalaignan? hey would pronounce it kalijnan, well why blame him when most tamilians dont pronounce tamil properly and btw I am sure kamal would be allowed to go scott free if he made such a mistake... :P. We ramble on endlessly about such mediocrities like Mohanlal... why bother talking about such people? and dedicating a blog on coconuts? Write something about Kamal haasan his versatility, his diction, acting, movies that hes been part of? I heard Nayagan was rated among the best 100 movies by time magazine? Any discussions on that? I hope I dont insult any Malayali here if I did I am sorry (to be read as sori)but mallu times are over... move over coconuts its sambar time... and sometimes it can be araichu vitta sambar...
 
Robbie,
i myself told that popcorn is a garbbage.Do read the previous posts.
kamal is a good actor within the context of tamil nadu.But he is not compared to lot of other talented actors in india.i would say you have to watch more GOOD movies come out of tamil movies, watch the benegal & govind nihlani movies , watch the good mohanlal movies with an open mind.you will then understand what iam talking about.

i dont understand what you are saying,you are openly abusing the malayalis and then asking a sorry.Those statements where highly unnecessary.It is pathetic that we as indians are so divided, so regional and so small minded.
 
I might be divided and small minded but I would like to tell you one small thing... let mallus evolve and make something modern. I cant take the stone age crap anymore
 
Kamal always was a "film-maker" and never wanted to be just an actor.
thats a reason why u might have never got a chance to see Kamal working with Govind Nihalani who is a very close friend of Kamal Haasan. There has been instances of many arthouse directors wanting to work with Kamal. But Kamal was always making a movie by himself that he could never spend time only as an actor in a very ambitious effort. Call this indulgence. But thats the truth.
Wonderful actors like Mohanlal were never like this and were open to all directors and with the rich heritage of parallel cinema in malluland they always had a chance to work in high art movies. This essentially put them in the national map. Then Kamal still was working in the commercial domain and making clean/great movies.
Take the core-commercial movies starring Mohanlal (which are in no less number. his filmography used to have an an average of 30-35 movies per year) and see how pathetic they are (or) how bad Mohanlal is in those movies.
 
Zero,
I agree that mohanlal has lot of crappy movies.More crappy movies than kamal.But his good quality movies outnumber kamal's.And The biggest satisfaction for me in watching a mohanlal movie is that iam not watching a MOHANLAL movie.It is the story that iam into.I see an array of characters acting together to present a story that will move you.There are so many movies where he dies, he looses, where he comes only for an hour or so.The story is justified,the hero is lesser than the story.Iam happy

On the other hand you go to a kamal movie.You know our HERO will succeed at the end.you know that our hero who has practiced with the indian commondoes to act in a scene that comes for less than a minute will kill everybody.I find kamal's movie to be propoganda films.I find it something like this.
"My die hard fan's look at me this is what i learnt new,I know this, i know that. watch me.Appreciate me."
 
On the other hand you go to a kamal movie.You know our HERO will succeed at the end.
Man, thats a very unfair comment. What Kamal movies are we talking about. I thought We ve decidedly removed the crappy movies, in ur words (The movies which Kamal himself would not be proud of). Aalavanthaan was a bitter off-shoot on indulgence. If you wanted to judge him from that movie, thts very unfair. Rethink abt ur above comment with the better movies of Kamal like Thevar Magan, Mahanadhi, Kuruthippunal etc.
 
"There are so many movies where he dies, he looses, where he comes only for an hour or so.The story is justified,the hero is lesser than the story.Iam happy"

If I may add Salangai Oli, Moondram Pirai,Nayakan,Guna, Chankayan,Pesum Padam, Aboorva Sagotharargal, Hey Ram to Zero's list, just to put things in perspective..
 
Zero,
Thevar Magan he does kill the villian nasar. Mahanadhi he comes out & kills that phedophile guy.Kuruthipunal is the best example .i assume you saw droohkaal. Droohkaal the hero is the story and nobody else. In kuruthipunal, the hero is kamal who jumps before fast trains.

For kuruthipunal, Kamal did the same thing that p vasu did to manichithra thazhu.Take a good story, commercialize it and do hero glorification.

vijay,
Except for salangai oli and mundram pirai rest or the movies are hero glorification movies only.mundram pirai is a beautiful movie.Where there was enough scope for both the hero and the heroine to show there talents.Everything was within the scope of the story.excellent movie.

Iam talking about a movie where the protoganist dies as part of the story and not at a ripe old age or after killing the villian.

I think it is varavelppu, where mohanlal comes back from dubai to kerala.he decides to start a business. starts a bus company, corrupt govt officials, communist wokers and lot of other problems makes his initial enthusiasm vane away and atlast people burn his bus and he looses everything.He is so frustruated that he promises never to return back to india and goes to dubai again.There is no scope for hero glorification in the story and the story has its dose of comedy and various other characters who contribute to the movie.you are left with a pain in your heart, not big sentimental pain, but the feeling that this guy who was so eager to start out his business has to go through all these and how bad and corrupt our country is.The hero looses. i dont care,good story presented well.

you forgot to include the movie that didn't have kamal's usual elements, Mumbai express. I liked Mumbai Express just for underplaying the heroism and letting all characters contribute to the completeness of the movie.
 
Adap Pongappa!
Mohanlal nadichaa "'Pop Carn' was garbbage"...
Aanaa, Kamal nadichaa...
Senthil!
If you talk abt Saanthu Pottu song and the fight sequence, I ll accept. But, just because he kills Nasser in Thevar Magan.. man! You don't even seem to want a good story.. but only stories in which the hero (Kamal, in this case) failing time and again and is put down by all chars for the whole movie. But, even in that case, Kamal had played a loser in so many movies.
I ll say he played a midget in Aboorva Sagotharargal and in the movie there are a dozen ppl who ridicule him for that; But you would retort "Aana Villains'a Kolraarae!".
Accept that the train-jumping sequence was added as a commercial element.. but not for glorifying himself. Kuruthippunal has much more things than the train-jumping sequence.
And, I am amazed by your choice of aspects of various movies when you drive your point. You say, in Thevar Magan he kills the villain. But in Kuruthippunal h himself is dead at the end of the movie. So, you go for another sequence showing him jumping across a train.
Whats your point. We do agree Mohanlal has acted in so many crappy movies. Dint they have these sequences. U felt that Mohanlal movies (all the much-praised commercial ones) with all its masala and comedy stuff great efforts. Is this not double-standard?
And claiming Mahanadhi is hero-glorification movie is blasphemy, IMHO!
 
My thoughts exactly as Zero, Senthil..I noticed you always have this tendency to talk around in circles whenever arguing about Kamal, bringing up irrelevant points out of the blue..Also dont understand why you feel Pesum Padam, Mahanadhi, etc are hero glorification movies
Let me borrow your train of thought and bring out an example:Mohanlal kills the macho villain in Kireedom and goes to jail. Does that make it a hero glorification movie?
 
guys,
Misunderstanding.
zero,
i thought you listed me movies where "HERO will succeed at the end" as u qouted it before.And all these movies that killing the villian was considered as hero's success.I didn't realise that you listed me movies where kamal has played down his heroism.

On that case yes mahanadhi has the played down heorism.But aboorva sagotharargal does not.It is again indulgence by kamal, common he plays 3 characters in the movie.appu is treated badly yes, but he is not the total "pity" character.He is also portaited as the smartest, even smarter than his brother and more smarter when he kills all the villians.

Yes he dies in kuruthipunal.yes it is a different ending that his other movies.I dont know how to put my views on droohkaal and kuruthipunal. you have to watch both the movies side by side to understand what iam talking I felt the spirit of the story was lost in kuruthipunal.In droohkaal i was only concentrated on the story, but the experience is different with kuruthipunal, you cannot gel wih the story and the characters.Mainly the fear part, I felt kamal did not portrait the fear part that well.

vijay,
i was considering just your list and not zero's.that's y i missed mahanadhi and pesum padam is my mistake it is not a hero glorification one.
 
My point was this that kamal tries to get as much attention in so many ways that he is more of a hindrence for me as for as getting involved with the story.

Yes i get diverted a lot.Let me go back and stick to the point.Going back to zero's first statement.I wont completely agree that he was a more of a film maker than an actor.He did vasool raja,indian and now he is doing vettayadu villayadu which are other director movies.And mohanlal has not been put in the national map.
I agree that he has given some good movies with in the COMMERCIAL domain.yes he was better than the rest in the tamil commercial world.SO comparing him as the best actor india has ever produced or putting him in line with the talented directors of india is blasphemy as far as iam concerned.

As i said before the no of good mohanlal movies are more than kamal's.

There is a difference between us on what we ignore and magnify as far as kamal movies are concerned.I hate indulgence,all that matters to me is the story and the rest is secondary, i look for creativity and originality.
 
May I remind you I quoted what you said in italics, in my comment.
On the other hand you go to a kamal movie.You know our HERO will succeed at the end.
I wasnt talking about movies in which "our HERO will succeed at the end." Since you said so, I specified movies where (of course, it was the case) calling it a HERO movie is very very unfair.
And, Aboorva Sagotharargal was a light movie and it was meant to be so. It dint carry the same vein for the Appu character as it did till Appu decides to avenge for the villains' deeds. He was smarter! yes. Whats there to get peeved so much when a character is smart. In that case, isn't playing the same dumb character again and again indulgence?
Telling, "On that case yes mahanadhi has the played down heorism" about Mahanadhi and all that is very inconsistent talk. The question is whether the movie was good or not. If you did feel "mahanadhi has the played down heorism", then why did you have to talk about "he comes out & kills that phedophile guy"? Can that be a crib for any movie-goer? That gets gelled with the story and is as much as it gets in any goddamn movie. Whats the prob if Kamal kills the villain? My argument holds for other movies in our current discussion as well.
Sad that the argument did turn up like those one-upmanship arguments. And heck, we are comparing Mohanlal and Kamal by the number of ppl they kill in their movies! And yeah, Mohanlal does that too.
 
zero,
i dont have any peeves in him playing a smart character in aboorva sagodargal.my mentioning of aboorva sagodarargal was a reply for your argment that he played a looser in that movie.I just wanted to point out that as you said he is not a looser.
"But, even in that case, Kamal had played a loser in so many movies.
I ll say he played a midget in Aboorva Sagotharargal and in the movie there are a dozen ppl who ridicule him for that"

"HERO will succeed at the end".what i meant was a different story structure where there is no villian at all.No bad guy at all.The example i gave before "varavelppu", "manichithra thazu" and there are so many other movies where the protoganist fights against the society or faces family problems etc.There is no villian at all, a different story structure.Kamal has a few of these non villian killing ends.But mohanlal has far more. And again this is in the context of things that we talked before
"I thought We ve decidedly removed the crappy movies, in ur words".NO crappy movies just the good ones.
 
Senthil!
I was talking about Aboorva Sagotharargal (AS) to drive my point that he doesn't try to suit his image or stuff. Aboorva Sagotharargal (AS) was a light movie and it steered clear of the midget's emotional thread part after a few sequences.
He plays a far worse loser in many serious movies of his. I quoted AS primarily for the main reason that he does take his revenge in the movie and you ll repart telling the same. But, that doesn't make his effort of shedding one's hero image and playing a midget, to any lesser level. Thats the reason why I talked about AS.

Kamal has a few of these non villian killing ends.But mohanlal has far more
Talking at a broad level, is this a way how one ll compare two actors/artistes?
 
Zero,
As you said before when you talk about kamal, apart from acting invariably his part as a "film maker" also comes into pic.So if we have to talk just about acting then we should have struck to a few films and how he ACTED in it.We diverted a bit and somehow ended here.Anyways this topic is boring now.
 
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