Long Post warning. Ponniyin Selvan - Part 2

My take.

Happy to have got tickets on the 4th day of its release. PS2 has been watched. Here’s the thing. For PS1, all those who had read and loved the book(s) were cautioned not to compare movie and book and they ended up having a great experience watching PS1, for the most part.

With respect to PS2, everyone seems to have forgotten the movie NOT-equal-to book thing and also, I guess there IS a LOT more deviation from the original story. Having not read the books yet, I was in the ‘Ignorance is Bliss’ mode and the experience was pretty close to bliss, I must say. The music was more uplifting in PS2 than PS1 I felt, despite ‘Ponni Nadhi’ being a favourite song of mine. I don’t know if the song ‘Veera Raja Veera’ was meant to cause goosebumps, but it did for me. Tamil blood and all that jazz. 

May I say that Vikram must only act in such films and STOP choosing his own scripts (!)  which have mostly been rather abominable starting with Bheema. What a magnificent performer who’s not acted in good-enough films for too long. It’s such a relief to see him in this one.  He steals every scene he’s in. The other (apart from Actor Karthi)  who is his partner in crime in stealing scenes, is  Aishwarya Rai. I haven’t ever given her too much attention as a performer because like all the kings and princes who are stupefied by her beauty in PS, in real life too, it’s her beauty that distracts. This role as Nandini has GOT to be the biggest feather in her cap as far as I know.

Someone online weirdly suggested that Nayantara could have been Nandini but er…erm, NO! A resounding NO. First of all, Mani Ratnam aka MR, knows better (!) and second of all, let her emote more first. Sure, she’s pretty and has an amazing screen presence, but I’m sorry that no director has brought out her acting skills to the fullest as yet. I believe she has IT but is largely under-utilised as an actor. Keeping a poker or serious face ain’t no proof of great performance. We’ve all played STATUE as kids, eh. (Granted, we lost to giggles and snorts)

Besides, to add to the mind-numbing beauty quotient, the colour of Aishwarya Rai’s eyes enhances the effect. (No, no don’t say contact lens can do it and all). Her countenance in every scene was simply riveting. 

I feel that all the actors have FELT their roles in this one. I bet the coach had a lot to do with it (MR). Not everyone can be a Sivaji Ganesan and wear the role of a king or GOD (!) like their first skin — not even second. Today, most folks need help. Well, they’ve apparently got all the help they need and the costumes are super without being over the top, the sets and scenes are stunning without taking away from performances, and the music has truly uplifted the film with the right crescendos at the right moments. The language is also not overwhelming.

Karthi is just getting better and better as an actor and so is Trisha. Jayaram is always a class act in any role.
Performances 
Music  - ARR Vaazhga!
Story  as a movie. Blissfully ignorant about movie versus book but let me share that there seem to be plenty of miffed Kalki / PS fans out there. But even they must agree that it’s a good film. The producer must be gungho! Great result.
Fight scenes  I dislike violence and gore like yanything, but in a movie like this with a war scene, what to expect if not bloodshed. Even that was tastefully done.

I’ll be watching it again sometime later.
Make of that what you will 

#ps2 #ponniyinselvan #moviereview #personaltake
Images Courtesy: Google / somewhere online