Reviewing....

Some mystical forces are into play. I somehow find the temptation to blog soaring only when I study economics!!
Today I'm blogging about one of my favourite movies of all time (to while away time). It's Kannathil Mutthamittal (A Peck on the cheek). It traces the story of a little girl who is being brought up by a writer and his wife in Chennai happily until she is told on her ninth birthday that she was adopted. A very beautiful story, and...this post will be a little long.
What amazing portrayals by each person who acted in the movie! I don't know why this movie is somehow not appreciated as some other movies of Mani are, like Mouna Ragam. Being a Mani freak, I cannot understand how this movie somehow is missed out.
Madhavan especially, was amazing in the movie. Yeah, one thing is that I like him whatever he does, but I think he has put in a lot of effort for this movie and it's paid too. Who would imagine a typical lover-boy playing the father of three kids? A very neat essay by Madhavan, especially his portrayal of being a very short tempered person who, though, dotes on his adopted daughter. His short temper somehow never irritated me, one reason though could be that I was watching the whole movie with the "Hey this is ManiRatnam's movie" bias!
What is great in any Mani Ratnam movie is the naturalness of most of the situations that happen. In this movie again, the cute scene when Simran goes and quietly whispers into Keerthana's (the little girl) ears "En Amudha kuttiku Happy Happy Birthday" reminded me of how my mother wakes me up every year on my birthday. And all the kurumbu that the three kids do is all so natural and seems to be lifted directly out of life. The scenes where Keerthana goes and complains to her father saying her mother doesn't like her et al. are too good! And Madhavan's "so-cutely-fatherly" behaviour just made me long to be a kid again so I could go enjoy with my dad like this again!
And to top it all, is genius A.R. Rahman at work!!!! A.R. somehow gives his best to Mani Ratnam inevitably!!! That just makes this movie another of my favourite combinations at work - madhavan, mani ratnam and a.r.rahman, the other two being alaipayuthey and aitha ezhuthu. Aitha Ezhuthu is another movie which I feel did not get the recognition it deserved. Yes, it did have many shortcomings and disappointed mani fans, but it did not deserve such a let-down! In this movie again, Mani brings out so many natural things, lifted - out - of - life scenes. The spontaneity of the character of Siddharth, which was my favourite, was really great. Many people are surprised that I liked his character the best, of all people, but I do quite have my own justifications. What he is, I think, just truly represents how the youth today are, or at least majority of the well bred, (quite) spoilt youth. His dreams of going to the U.S. while wanting to please his dad for a little while by lying that he would pursue his I.A.S., I think, just represents us. Most of the youth today want to please our parents while ensuring we don't leave our dreams into thin air, and I feel Mani has done a great job in bringing that out. Here again, Madhavan showed his acting skills, easily switching from one mood to another, being fiercely angry enough to kill his friend to crying to his wife the next. And of course, Surya....a nice portrayal of the very committed person - to his ambitions and to love.
There was quite a huge mistake in the hindi version, though. I somehow felt that Abishek Bacchan wasn't able to bring out the emotions as successfully as Madhavan could. Ajay Devegan, again, was a bad choice to play a student, isn't he too old? It's as bad as asking Ajith to play a college student, if not worse! Maybe we can discount for the fact that Ajay is a better actor! (Sorry if I'm offending any die-hard Ajith fans!!)
Sorry again for the people who haven't watched either of these movies....but I'd say Kannathil Mutthamittal is something you should not miss!!!!