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Ponniyin Selvan: Part Two (2023)
Ponniyin Selvan 2 ( in Mani's view PS2 )
Title card shows what the movie gonna talk abt. PS1 has a sword symbol which showcases war and peace across various situations. PS2 has a king chair which shows this is going to be a political drama about the power.
Kalangiya kadalil mudintha PS1, this movie starts with amaithiyana nathi.. is this the right mode to start the sequel when the last one ends with a storm where Vikram march likes a lion to take the vengeance.. some might like it and some may not.
Sara Arjun and the young Vikram love sequence : this is a crucial plot which is gonna play a vital role in building a core for this movie. Has this done justice, to me it's 75:25. Sara and Santosh sreeram on screen looks more like bro / sis than lovers. Both tried to show some acting skills in a couple of scenes but not that was impactful.
Aditya Karikalan and Nandhini : they were the only saviour of this sequel. Aditya fav dialogue comes to my mind while watching this movie..
Avaluku kaga thaan,
avalai marakathaan
Aval kaiyaal maranathai thazhuvathaan
Face off between Aish and karikalan was a pure emotional war between them. No wonder they are the best choice for this role - even their eyes act according to the emotions.
Umai Rani was the most expected one in this sequel but she became umai in the complete movie.
Punghuzhali and most of them were hardly used for 2 frames in this movie
Jayam Ravi has come out of nowhere and lived the role of ponniyin Selvan. Couple of frames, where he show case exact style of a majestic king with his walk, few words but meaningful and with his white shaded dress
Kundhavai and vanthiyathevan : has done a neat role what they have told to do. Aga naga was a pure disappointment since the movie also just had a glimpse of the song ( small teaser in the movie itself )
+ Ves
Good attempt by Mani & crew
Powerful starcast
Simple dialogue which can be understood by everyone
ARR
Art work
Camera work except the shaky movements just to show the scene is so fast-moving
Costume designer
- ves
Overall : brilliant attempt by Mani and team to fulfill the dream of 3/4 decades of film industry. PS 1 layed the strong plot of the sequel but more the people continue to call this movie as PS2 instead of ponniyin Selvan 2, mani mind la movie uhm suruki edukanum thonidichu pola like the the title.
Ponniyin Selvan kandippaga Tamil cinema vai por kaalathirku kondu pogum vazhiyai kaativittu ullathu!!! ๐๐ผ๐๐ผ
Ponniyin Selvan: Part One (2022)
Manirathinam views of PS
Is Manirathinam the smartest director who can show the characteristics of an individual with a frame?
Vishnuvin parvaiyil ponniyin Selvan!!!
Naan rasitha sila nunukangal
Nandhini - most of the frame is framed in a side shot, reddish background or half hidden in a curtain - He clearly communicates to the audience that she is just showing one half of her actual character and, whenever her full face is shown, that would be the scene where her cunning character comes out
Aditya karikalan - he is a perfect modern-era manager who most of us either try or act at least - People friendly manager. Mani smartly got his intro song where he celebrates his victory with his ground staff ( first level army folks instead of celebrating with top management). In the current management era - every manager has one loyal staff member to whom all the critical tasks are being assigned. Manager feels happy if he/she is in the office, which is exactly shown in the war field where he smiles in between the chaos when he sees Karthik. He also showed that he is not interested in power in the entire movie. He was never shown with a crown in a single frame.
Trisha - surprise for everyone that she nailed the kundavai character. Mani smart again placed most of the frame at a straight angle and her head is up, which shows she stands right, straightforward, smart.
Sarathkumar - Mani showed him clearly he was a puppet of Nandhini. In most of the scenes with Aishwarya, he removes his king attire and turns into a normal man. I see in a way that he removes his smartness and veeram look in front of Nandhini and is ready to lose the battle in front of Beauty.
Umai arasi - all the frames she is shown in the loose hair are probably because she is gonna play a vital role in the 2nd part in removing a lot of knots in the story.
Ponniyin Selvan - no one thought that Jayam Ravi would be idle for this role, which was done by Sivaji Ganesan. Probably Mani chose him purely for his voice. Arul Mozhi Varman's character showed in such a way that he is a soft, light-headed and strategic player. Soft is shown by his way of speech, walk despite having his heads up. It's very clear that he is not interested in power in a few instances - when he rejects the Srilankan kingdom and his Durban is always a light weight and simple one compared to other kings, which looks majestic. He is very good at strategy compared to his brother Aditya karikalan - JR gives away his attire to Karthik during the close of the movie to deceive his enemy, whereas Vikram always wants to fight without thinking, which is proven in 2 instances - once he wants to fight a strongest enemy without having sufficient back up and 2nd one he blindly go to Tanjore to kill Nandini when he heard abt JR missing despite his grandfather suggest him to take a move post thinking abt it.
Prakash Raj - Mani has shown him clearly in all the frames that he has lost all his strength but not thet the power or wisdom. Most of the scenes, he is either seen lying down or needs support for a walk but his head/chin is up. One of the beautiful scenes is the acupressure scene where the needles are poked at his back + traitors having conversation with him.
Nambi - the most notorious character of this movie but still requires a lot of screen space to show his actual importance in this role. But throughout the movie is shown losing the battle with Karthik, but that's not the case. He is plotting what Karthik actually needs to be doing for him. Perfect Chanakya material
Vanthiyadevan - i definitely need more time to write abt this guy. Don't think even Rajni would have done this role better if he was given to play. No wonder Karthik will be renamed as Vanthiyadevan going forward.
Not every battle scene needs a high budget support staff, huge set up and strong background score. A perfect example is an eye war between kundavai and Nandhini. Simple face off scene but a powerful one for this movie.
This movie definitely calls for multiple-time watches, not because we don't understand the story but to see the director's touch with this wonderful novel. The story is clearly told in the first 10 mins with the strong voice of Kamalahaasan.
Lot of people say Mani has a love with ARR music but I would he has an emotional bonding with Camera and colours than music
Ponniyin Selvan is definitely PORkaalangalin & PORkalathin Selvan.. ๐๐ผ๐๐ผ๐๐ผ
Malikappuram (2022)
Experience from this Sabarimala journey - eyes of Kallu
I'm not gonna talk abt the techniques, story telling, + or -. Felt like sharing what I felt watching this master piece
Maligapuram ( journey to Sabarimala). Maligapuram - sabarimalavin kaapaval aanal antha maligapurathukey oru sothanai endral Puli mithu varuvan en Ayyappan ๐๐ผ๐๐ผ
The movie starts with a frame of ayyapan ( for our super hero ). Any ayyappan devotees will have goosebumps seeing his hero on a bigger screen.
The first scene starts with Jyoti. What a moment - true bliss to watch and I'm sure everyone feels the divine behind it.
Jyoti aaga arambitha padam harivarasanam paattil mudithanar ( starts with Jyoti and ends with harivarasanam - song used to make ayyappan sleep / bring peace to ur heart ).
Deva Nandha ( girl lead and our own maligapuram of this movie ) - as the name means God's joy ( joy comes out of knowing god ). You can literally visualize how much this girl loves ayyappan , and wanted to see him desperately. Her actual joy is not about having then mittai but sharing with Ayyappan is actual joy.
The first half completely goes with dad and daughter bonding. Dad promised to take her to see ayyapan and how he couldn't make it up.
U will end up in tears wen she was forced to remove the maalai due to her personal situation. You would feel bad why god is cruel, why can't he give dharshan to the Lil one but our super hero is known to play all thiruvilaiyadal ( appan buthi iruka thana seiyum ).
As a director, u can teach an artist to emote any sort of scene but for a Lil girl - it's not easy to show that kaathal, ekkam, emartram, mana thirupthi, puripu, kovam abt ayyappan.. her eyes speak in lot of frames abt her wish to see ayyapan atleast for one time.
Ayyappan kitta enna ketka pora. Kid answer : en Patti sonnanga ayyappan kitta thaan en appa poittar nu , so ayyapan kitta en appa ah nalla padiya parthuko nu solluva nu. That maligapuram nailed it.
Ella thadaikalaiyum thaandi 18 padi erum kaatchi. Sathyam ah orutharala nadika mudiyathu antha scene unless neenga aathmarthama ayyana nenacha mattum thaan mudiyum. Kannula sottu thanni vazhiya, padikattula irukara thaniya thottu kannula vekara maligapuram - pure goosebumps moments. Malai podra kaatchi, malaiya remove panra kaatchi, pamba bus la eri pogum kaatchi, irumudi kattum kaatchi, ayyanuku then mittai kudukum kaatchi and all the frames Deva Nandha has lived as a pure Ayyappan devotee..
Best experience: night show 1am - movie ends : title card starts and our own harivarasanam ( yesudas Iyya voice ). Best feel that u can have ever. A lots of things I haven't mentioned but this definitely worth watch for all Ayyappan devotees.
Swami saranam๐๐ผ๐๐ผ