Oct 31, 2006

Exploring the music of Iruvar :: Introduction - II

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Haven't seen Iruvar due to my language handicap. But its a nice review, both parts.

One thing didn't suprise me that Mohanlal was excellent. With whatever limited I have seen of him(Kaala Pani, Company), he is amongst the greats as far as acting is concerned, much above Kamla Hassans and Rajni Kanths, IMO.

The other thing which surprised me was that Ashwariya Rai actually acted !

If that was possible, and it must have been as you said, then no wonder why everyone consider Mani Ratnam a GOD on his field.

J Ramanand said...

Manish: hopefully someday you can get your hands on a DVD with sub-titles. As for Mohanlal v Kamal and Rajni, be careful of saying this to Tamil film fans :-))
Actually, the problem is unfortunately of the language divide. Luckily thanks to films like Company, more people have had a chance to see Mohanlal. There are many non-Hindi films in which even Kamal, Rajni, Mohanlal, Mamootty and others have performed exceptionally, but their audience is limited to their own domain. Perhaps the same is true of actors like Manoj Bajpai, Ashutosh Rana and Atul Kulkarni, though Hindi films do reach South India more than is currently possible in the reverse direction.

This is also quite true of the likes of Mani Ratnam, K. Balachander, Ilayaraja and A.R.R too - that much of their output is not available easily to those outside the region.

Salil said...

You happen to have a DVD/CD with English subtitles?

J Ramanand said...

Salil: Nope - I have a Tamil-only VCD. But when I do get the DVD, I'll let you know.

Unknown said...

There are many non-Hindi films in which even Kamal, Rajni, Mohanlal, Mamootty and others have performed exceptionally, but their audience is limited to their own domain

Take the point. Just that Mohanlal has been choosy, and others just joined the band wagon. Though I have seen some good Kamal movies - subtitled and even in Hindi too.

As for Mohanlal v Kamal and Rajni, be careful of saying this to Tamil film fans

Oh yes I have been party to one such discussion. In the end, it was surmised that Rajni is for masses, and Kamal is for classes, and Mohanlal was conviniently chucked away. I was out overwhelmly numbered.

Anonymous said...

Strange...I just stumbled upon Bharadwaj Rangan's write-up on Iruvar and a friend mails me your write-up as a cross reference!
http://www.india-seminar.com/2004/535.htm (The first link on the right)

Karthik
www.itwofs.com

J Ramanand said...

Thanks for the link Karthik - hadn't seen this before. Bharadwaj seems to have already (and uncannily) summarised pretty much all that I wrote or plan to write :-) I guess I'll just be expanding the theme at length.