Watched this movie yesterday. As with any movie had its up and downs. Sonia Aggarwal as Anitha acted beautifully. I always thought the actress imported from Mumbai were glamdolls. But Simran and Sonia are an exception. I don't think anybody else would have done the character justice. Ravi Krishna is more than adequate and the supporting cast do their job.
The main point of this post is the sort of deja vu I had when I watched the movie. In 1973, K. Balachander made a remarkable movie espousing family planning. Now it is better remembered for Kamal Hassan's acting debut as an adult. This movie was titled Arangetram and its heroine Pramila lived rather than acted in it.
If you didn't watch Arangetram or 7G, there are spoilers ahead.
In Arangetram, the heroine is forced to be prostitute to support her family. The hero Sivakumar accepts her though she is a prostitute. Just when you think the director is brave and going to challenge the societal conventions, he backs off and makes her mad. It is one of most moving scenes in the Tamil film history. Probably 30 years back, KB thought that people would not accept a prostitute marrying and had a simple solution of making her insane.
In 7G, again there was a letdown. The lead pair have pre-marital sex. Just when you thought there was going to be a bold ending, the director takes an inspiration from KB by making it even more tragic. Kill the heroine and make the hero mad.
Not many people may like 7G or Arangetram but I like them for 2 particular reasons.
1) Exploring relationships in depth
2) Having a strong role for the female
KB did both really well most memorably with Pramila in Arangetram. Sujatha in Avargal and Saritha in Achamillai Achamillai & Thaneer Thaneer were the other movies I could think of. I think Selvaraghavan is following the path of KB. Hopefully we will get to see more good movies from Selvaraghavan soon.
6 comments:
good blogging anand sir.
good comparison btw the 2 movies. I like those KB movies too. but please don't compare selvaraghavan with the master. Selvaraghavan is more focussed on the 'sex' part.
I was thoroughly disappointed with 7G because it was a bad lesson for youngsters and gave a whole different meaning to saying a story with morals. Selva's priorities were in the wrong place.
Ranga,
My idea about a movie is that it should tell story as objectively as you can. Selvaraghavan was telling a story as it had happened. Most of the movies I liked, for example ``To kill a Mockingbird'' just told the story as it happened. It never preached anything. Had it been a story with morals it would be ended up as an also ran.
Variety is the spice of life. Differing opinions help improve the quality of any field and cinema is no exception. Ranga, I hope you appreciate my opinion.
Anand Sir
I do appreciate your opinion. I have had some folks tell me that 7G was one of the best movies in the last few years. Personally Jagan and I had a hard time rationalizing with the directors screenplay.
Either ways, good post. Keep on writing.
I would like to echo Anand's opinion that the director intended to show two ppl's lives as it happened. Acceptance of the movie in such a big way tells something abt audience maturity, while we also understand that there were no explicit scenes (atleast in the version that I saw). From what I understand, Rajini-Captain theories could've been true few yrs back. Makkal maarittaanga.
Panravanga yenna sonnaalum panna thaan poaraanga. Relationships and issues, namma naatla national issue aagra alavukku makkal vittadhae illa. We had never required CNN or FOX propagandizing 'teenage abstinence' or any such thing. Our way of life places a check at right places.
Agreed, specific instances anger us. But I guess, Selvaraghavan was careful enough to not have crossed the line. Finally, opinions differ. And "differing opinions help improve the quality of any field and cinema is no exception." Good one, Anand.
Pradeep ellam therinjavaru! Sonna correcta thaan irrukkum. Some of the scenes in the opening half hour probably indicates director's lack of confidence. As Selvaraghavan gets established, hopefully he will be more focused and won't need to have such titillating scenes.
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