Thanks to a good friend of mine, I got a DVD with a combo of, well hold your breath, Thalapathy and Nayagan! Well, that's a set of movies for which I wouldn't mind giving away two tickets to the US of A from Timbuktu :)
Anyways, got around to watching Thalapathy today and to put Rajni Kanth's performance in one word - Fantastic! I've always maintained that for an intense and underplayed role, any day, I would choose Rajni over Kamal. In this movie, Rajni, sans any of his usual 'style', comes as another slum dweller - he in fact, comes throughout the movie in some 3 - 4 shirts only. Full credit to the Magician from Madras, Mani Ratnam in making Rajni play a character which was right up to his strengths. And Santosh Sivan's amazing camera work - Since this movie has a Mahabharathaic origin, each shot has the Sun in it and the interplay of shadows reflects the moods and feelings of the characters in the scene - simply super shot composition and execution. I don't know how this movie was shot - with such accurate lighting effects and effects, I think they couldn't have more than a scene a day.... I simply loved watching this movie, for perhaps the 85th time. Also the still shown above is a rare one - but my personal favorite.
Lots of people like some other songs from this movie, but my favorite in terms of visualization and song is this ( I wish Shobana had also shown a glimpse of her dance skills - I generally don't see Bharathanatyam, but Shobana is one who really makes me see the art form):
Anyways, got around to watching Thalapathy today and to put Rajni Kanth's performance in one word - Fantastic! I've always maintained that for an intense and underplayed role, any day, I would choose Rajni over Kamal. In this movie, Rajni, sans any of his usual 'style', comes as another slum dweller - he in fact, comes throughout the movie in some 3 - 4 shirts only. Full credit to the Magician from Madras, Mani Ratnam in making Rajni play a character which was right up to his strengths. And Santosh Sivan's amazing camera work - Since this movie has a Mahabharathaic origin, each shot has the Sun in it and the interplay of shadows reflects the moods and feelings of the characters in the scene - simply super shot composition and execution. I don't know how this movie was shot - with such accurate lighting effects and effects, I think they couldn't have more than a scene a day.... I simply loved watching this movie, for perhaps the 85th time. Also the still shown above is a rare one - but my personal favorite.
Lots of people like some other songs from this movie, but my favorite in terms of visualization and song is this ( I wish Shobana had also shown a glimpse of her dance skills - I generally don't see Bharathanatyam, but Shobana is one who really makes me see the art form):
