How many times do you get invited to a movie made at close to zero costs ? How many times would you find a woman who is a mother of a 1 yr old and a full time MNC job making a movie so that she can continue on this alternate profession ? Even the actors of this movie have jobs , doing executive MBAs , writing short stories and winning competitions .. And inspite of all this, the movie is shot in 2 weekends flat , has professional editing and a background score .. It's like you enter a hall filled with IIT JEE toppers with a rapidex English course book in your hand , that's how underwhelmed you are ..
Although movie making is filled with stories of spot boys turning mega stars , there are absolutely admirable journeys in circles that I am part of , when I am privileged to be invited and in the past be associated as well..
So Aaravindum Aarumughamum is a short 30 min bilingual ( Tamil and Malayalam) movie written and directed by Shilpa Krishnan - a simple situation of boy (Balaraman as Aravind) watching girl from bus stop , not having the ' daring' to even talk , coaxed into it by the well meaning Aarumugham( Ram C) .
I feel movies can be reviewed in a simple framework at times and that's all I am going to do.
1. Did you feel for the characters? -- this is a simple one , every punch that Amitabh made into the villains solar plexus was not only for him but millions of watchers. If you ever watched ' raja babu' with the relish I did there is a scene where govinda is watching trishul in the village talkies and says ' Maar amitabh bacchan Maar' , this typifies it.. I felt that for Aravind , I wanted him to cross the road and talk to this girl before it's late just like my rose days in college. Brillianty played by Bala , the shyness , the diffidence is well done .. To make story telling simple as in politics , you polarize .. And that pole is Aarumugham an epitome of confidence. A guy who has a story of how he left a kampong in TN to be a security guard in Singapore to keep his girl Margatham like a queen by winning her fathers go ahead .. In a 2 character movie , getting this spot on is admirable with story telling layers ( e.g. Aarumugham is still ambitious since he dreams of having a grocery store a fighter of sorts). In the greatest of movies tertiary characters stay with you ( AK Hangal in sholay) and in weakest movies even the lead pair is regrettable . Once a director can get characters right with audience rooting for them , well begun is well cooked.
2. Did the movie have low to zero % of dull moments -- in fact a 30 minute movie makes it harder since you can lose the plot and the movie in 3 minutes of dullness. This is where the almost flawless Tamil dialogues and superior acting by Ram C make it interesting. Sometimes playing homage to his favorite Tamil comedians without the over excessive body language Ram C makes himself an unlikely hero. Dialogues range from mildly amusing - ' describing Aaravind as Rajnilal - combo of Rajni and mohanlal to keep his spirits high ' , to the humorous ( the Shivaji movie comment) to the sublime ' ungalaka road than crosspananaum ennake kadal thandanum ( you have to just cross the road , I have to cross an oceen) . Even the camerawork is done well , be it the first glimpse of the gal , the village scenes etc give the movie a complete look.
3. Can the director hold scenes and story telling moments -- this is simple yet difficult 'the directors cut'.. If you take someone's first movie , you will see glimpses of his potential even if the complete output let you down.. Not a relevant example,In kuch kuch hotta hai if you remove the layers of cream, chiffon , makeup and stardom , you will see Karan Johar the story teller par excellence -- the scene where Kajol dresses up once only to run away and many more.
I see this in Shilpa now very clearly compared to her debut in Mausams. Certain scenes with the crisp editing hand of Jenny show a very deft hand ..Even in its simplicity , to introduce the characters well in a bustop and show the ' whiff' when the heroine enters in a 2 min sequence with the scenery ( that shows that it will be a long walk home without verbalizing) is astute . Same goes for getting a flashback interject without reducing the pace .. using the background score ( there is a minor mridangam piece that does it magic) to effect.. This shows a director who knows the craft well.
Yes there can be questions like why did the girl agree so easily and a few other irritants like the sheer triteness , but we need feel good in this cruel world.
Take a bow - Shilpa Krishnan Shukla - this movie is your commercial for more amazing products and work in pipeline .
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