Dear Mr.Shankar,
Let me offer my congrats to the conman side of the director in you for making what seems the most financially successful film (Shivaji) in Tamil cinema history and my deepest sympathies to the real director who is waiting to create good, meaning full movies.
The artistic side is always felt by your urge to produce some of the finest movies like Veyil betting all your hard earned money in the process.
But it is the politically fascist and anarchic messages thrown in abundance in all your movies that irritates me.
Lets focus on the core of all your movies:
A protagonist (a martial artist, a young lover boy or a soft NRI man) comes on the screen, challenges the baddies, dances with the sweet heart and in the end destroy the villain.
So far its ok and you have the privilege to say that “What’s the harm? This is how any traditional masala movie is made”. You may add, “Annamalai was like that”…”Badshah was like that”
Annamalai was all about an ordinary milkman rising in his life optimistically by challenging an ex-friend who cheats him and Badshah is about a man who wants to move away from the dark side to lead an ordinary life.
But your conman side adds the fascist/anarchic text to what was plain vanilla masala stuff. You create a superhero, mix his story with pseudo- patriotism, add mythical legends (like Garuda Puranam (Anniyan) or vedic chants (Gentleman)), blow it on a larger than life frame and most importantly, take law in hands by projecting bureaucrats as corrupt, undisciplined lot.
Do you seriously believe that only NRIs/ people with vedic background (Brahmins??)/ Yuppies can offer solutions to the nation? And why is it that the American flag is somehow displayed in atleast one frame in all your movies? Your love for America, is it???
Governance, Bureaucracy, and the police force are very critical elements to run a healthy democracy. Despite corruption, India progresses because of these active players.
Anyday, corruption is more acceptable than anarchic/ fascistic elements.
Your movies are exactly like what your counterpart Hollywood directors direct. A classic example is Speed where the hero to save a bus full of passengers rams over 100s of cars and bystanders and utters patriotic nonsense in between. But the only plus point is that America does not carry (or atleast mix) religious, caste masala in its movies.
And anyways, Hollywood was never and will never be the benchmark of good movies. Many French/ Japanese/ Latin American movies can outclass them by miles.
This is plainly dangerous precedent.
You always say you want to make a low budget, decent movie. Lets hope that atleast after this mega hit, you follow the way of your heart.
Amen or shall we say Om Shanthi?
Yours friendly,
Cinema Seriouso
Thursday, June 21, 2007
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