Saturday, May 15, 2010

Paiyya


Was warned a bit about it.

Finally went to watch it mostly for the hero Karthi. For the ill-informed, Karthi is an erstwhile assistant of Mani Rathnam's and younger bro of Suriya and the younger son of actor Shivakumar. A few-films-old actor who's pretty good at it. The story, if one has to find one in this film, has this disinterested, supposedly-job-hunting guy being pepped up for an interview by his sister and friends. The first few scenes had cliched dialogues -- a kind of banter between friends that didn't quite cut it. Then, the hero catches sight of, and falls hook, line and sinker for the heroine Tamannah somewhere. This girl by the way, does better Tamil lip-syncing than most other Hindi actresses. Somehow, he ends up driving her as a 'driver' from Bangalore to Mumbai whilst being chased by two separate gangs - one's after him and one's after her. A make-believe story that comes nowehere close to being believable. Pure acting for the sake of acting in the film.

First of all, the dubbing. The actors, especially Karthi's sister in the film grates on your Tamizh-loving n Tamizh-speaking nerves with her idiotic rendering of dialogues. Even Milind Soman does a better job.

Milind Soman is one villain. A lean, mean, bloody machine. Nothing more, nothing less. The other villain is some 200+ kilo guy who is overflowing out of a jeep. Speaking of villains, there are too many. WHY would one hero beat up some 30 villains single-handedly every half an hour in the film and still be the last man standing, is beyond me. Especially in today's world of supposedly well-informed and brainy audiences.

Tamannah. Is Ok. Not too glam, not too simple. Not great at acting, but not bad either. Pleasing enough without IN YOUR face beauty like Ash Rai Bachchan or in-your-face villy-face like Shriya.

But the heroine ditching the hero once her job was done ...and him still in love with her after realising it ...(well, the audience realised it, dunno if HE did!) ...and THEN getting royally hit by a steel rod some dozen times...is painfully absurd. Then, he wheels around from half-deaddom and attacks all his attackers! Smooth!

STUPID.

The music was OK, nothing earth shattering, with some surprisingly pleasing steps by the stocky hero. Ahhh. Must dwell on stocky. The guy's not really PLUMP, but quite healthy with the required basic shoulder muscles and leg-lifting, for some good villain-kicking and all. What a refreshing change from the puny souls who are the metrosexual actors of today! Welcome, Karthi. Please don't lose weight!! Some of us like our men healthy and well-fed.

Finally, because the film had to end somewhere, Tamannah hugs Karthi. A *sniff sniff* into handkerchief moment. Those three hundred and fifty bucks I will never see again. Waaah.