Ayutha Ezhuthu/Yuva Watch [updated]

The trailers are out... First of all, the logo is (pardon the descent into teenybopper slang) way cool! (See it at the official website for Ayutha Ezhuthu). In keeping with my general impressions of the names of the Hindi & Tamil versions, the logo for Yuva is just about ok.

Anti on some of the rumours linking AE & the Oscar nominated City of God

A note on the trailers:

Trailers for Mani Ratnam films create quite a buzz usually, and the songs usually herald the film on TV (Dil Se for example). Not this time. They've chosen to establish the characters of the three male (stars and) protagonists. Ajay Devgan is the the man with the ideology, with a montage of jail, leadership and protest. Vivek Oberoi will probably in the center of the mental conflict, and is portrayed as a normal guy wanting to leave for the US. Abhishek Bachchan looks like being the negative pole of the film - wanting money and power, and with a unkempt look. I'm a known Kareena Kapoor baiter, but I must be fair and say that she looks quite pretty in the scenes so far, and the wardrobe looks elegant - trust Mani saar to get it right. >Rani Mukherjee is a flash here and there opposite the Small B (shades of Antara Mali in Company). No idea how the three lines intersect.

The trailers have chosen to establish the "intellectual" vibe of the film. And there is one more subliminal message: Calcutta looms not far behind in all the shots, clearly an important part of the movie. Adds to the buzz. The last metro to form the backdrop of a Ratnam film after Madras, Bombay & Delhi. Snatches of very Western sounding, clearly Rahman-esque music linger in the audioscape. More buzz. Haven't seen any Ayutha Ezhuthu trailers yet.

I really don't believe this movie will do well commercially all over India - sadly, films these days have been bracketed into "metro multiplex movies" too easily. So if it is a cultural partition, I'm clearly on the side that feels excited by these trailers. I have my doubts about the histrionic abilities of Messrs. Kapoor, Trisha, Siddharth & Deol and whether Oberoi & Bachchan can do it here. But Mani saar got Simran to dazzle in KM, didn't he? But just putting Ratnam, Rahman, Vairamuthu on the same line here sends a tingle down the spine. Add the rest of the names in Tamil & Hindi and ... can you blame us all for hyping this one? A man who can have it and doesn't want it, a man who would like to have it, and a man who wants it and can't have it - is that what the trailers want to tell us?