Baahubali: The Beginning.

At times a worthwhile talking point precedes the reputation of a film so much that while it doesn't quite color my viewing, it does hamper me with preconceptions. This was the case with Baahubali, the first part of the big budget Tamil/Telugu two-parter fantasy action film, and its alleged sexism. Yet, there are a lot of other facets that deserve discussing, too. In a year where I barely watched Indian films (and also neglected this poor blog of mine) it makes sense to begin the new year by breaking down the biggest blockbuster of the previous year.

Shiva (Prabhas) grows up below a magnificent waterfall, above which he knows there is a land he must get to, even as his mother forbids him not to climb it. But climb he does, to discover the warrior Ananthika (Tamannah) who he has been besotted with ever since he found her mask on the bottom of the waterfall. Ananthika's mission in life is to free the queen Devaseva (Anushka Shetty) from the clutches of the evil king Ballavadeva (Rana Daggubati), and Shiva joins her in this mission, unaware it is all his destiny.

In terms of the good, the look of the film is spectacular. The bombastic Southie masala style has always fit the fantasy-history stories, and it does here as well. The story never stops moving, and is so vast it can't be contained in this single film. I absolutely loved Rana Daggubati's horrendous villain and thought all female leads did fantastic. Prabhas is an actor I've never quite become a fan of, but he continues to be just fine in my books.

I liked how well incorporated the visual effects were, though not flawless, particularly in the massive crowd sequences. These scenes owe a lot both in terms of technology and inspiration to the scenes in Jackson's Return of The King, and while the inspiration is cringeworthy, it feels okay to place such a scene in a new, Indian fantasy concept. The racism in depicting the enemy as human but distinctly dark-skinned savages who seem to speak a language aping an African language is so offputting it turns comical.

Then there is the sexism, which has inspired criticism better written than mine, as well as counter-criticisms. It is gross and objectionable but it is also just so tired. The reduction of Tamannah's Ananthika from a woman with a mission, a skillset and if not a fully fleshed out characterisation then at the very least potential for one, into just a pretty young thing would be annoying in and of itself but it goes further. This change is brought on by the hero, sneakily, because his infatuation with her looks renders all other facets of her unimportant.

I suppose there are more forgiving interpretations of this that one could conjure up, but the film is pretty content in this laziness. It's strange how I've never been that annoyed with the overblown masculinity of Southie heroes, or even the casual sidelining of the heroines that comes with it. It is only these extreme cases that truly get under my skin.

The next installment in the Bahubali series promises more backstory on Anushka Shetty's character, which I am cautiously optimistic about because she is among my favorites in the Southern industries. Naturally the sequel could be as bad as the first film in the exact same ways, but I'm hopeful. As it stands, Bahubali: The Beginning is a decent spectacle elevated by its visuals and success, but not the story or its characters.

Arundhati - a woman and her dagger.

It is so rare to see an actress at the centre of a Telugu masala film, that when I spotted the Malayalam dubbed DVD of Arundhati, a 2009 Telugu supernatural thriller, I knew instantly that I had to buy it. The cast also intrigued me - Anushka Shetty, who is typically a solid performer, was at the helm and Sonu Sood, my favourite scumbag in both North and South Indian cinemas, played the horrifying villain she has to conquer. The plot tells of a woman being reborn in modern day to conquer the evil that once plagued her court.

I didn't have subtitles for this movie, so all of its subtleties, or lack thereof, escaped my understanding. What I could gather was the gist of the plot and the performances, which are all solid. The CGI was probably never amazing to begin with, so it looks a bit dated now, but serves its purpose, as this tale of black magic and all kinds of sorcery wouldn't really be told without the help of computer-generated special effects.

I wish I had had subtitles, though, because I feel like regardless of quality, this film would've been more interesting. What I gather is that it's an okay film, not a spectacularly good one - it has all the tropes of this type of film, from the revenge angle to the ludicrous horrifying lengths Sonu Sood's villain reaches. It's not quite Magadheera levels of fun, partly because it's so serious and has almost nothing in it to truly lighten the mood (even the songs never really make it fun). Some scenes are almost too dark, lending it a bit of a horror film feel, which may be entirely intentional. There is also one film shamelessly copied from a well-known Chinese film from the early 2000s.

It is so rare to see a female-lead film in this manner, though. There is no hero here - Anushka's two characters are the focus, and even though she gets some help from men, there isn't a single moment where it looks like the focus might shift towards somebody else. It's refreshing, but at the same time it's not as revolutionary as one might hope. There is no part in which the traditional gender roles are necessarily questioned - the heroine is given agency but she's kind of portrayed as the exception, not the rule. A devil's advocate might ask whether that's so different from how heroes are portrayed, too, though, and I suppose that's true.

Perhaps more telling is the fact that even if this was a pretty decent hit in the box office, I've not really seen it mentioned much. I suppose that could just be a sign of its reputation, because like I said, even without subtitles, I didn't get the sense I was missing out on nuanced storytelling, or even intriguing supernatural world-building. As it stands, I might recommend it to those who like the leads and don't mind dated-looking CGI combined with stern supernatural stories. 

Thaandavam - true action is blind.

The biggest joy of watching the Tamil action flick Thaandavam was probably seeing it with stimpy, an old friend and a fellow Vikram fan. With her I could simply chuckle at the ludicrous bits of the plot, and also laugh at the genuinely funny intended comedy (with Santhanam playing a hapless cabbie). Still, the overall take-away from the film was still that it did not quite work. 

Vikram plays Kenny, a blind man who plays piano at a London church. His paths cross with Sara (Amy Jackson), a British-Tamil beauty queen, who quickly falls in love. Meanwhile, a detective (Nasser) is trying to hunt down a killer who kills seemingly random targets, and afterwards always seems to leave behind his driver, the completely foolish Tamilan cab driver (Santhanam), who is not of much help with the investigation...

The first problem with the film is what I described above is only half the story, and in an 90 minute flashback we get to see the majority of the story - Vikram's character's past, and the scheme that lead him to where he is now. This part of the story is genuinely quite gripping, though perhaps suffers from a plot hole or two. It also adds to the cast the hugely likable Anushka Shetty, who also acted alongside Vikram in the splendid Deiva Thirumagal (review here). This all improves the film, but it takes quite a while to get to the backstory, leaving the beginning of the film to feel hopelessly slow. 

Vikram's action sequences as a blind man are pretty impressive and nicely choreographed, but I wish they were surrounded by a better movie. The plot holes really start to stack up towards the end, and when the film ends you're left with more questions than got answered during the film. It's not a good sign when whatever you can't figure out on your own (ie that isn't completely predictable) is just very confusing. While I appreciate that the villains here aren't your usual terrorists, it would've been nice to see a more coherent story around them.

I also emphatically question the casting choice of Amy Jackson, a white British girl, in a film that is strongly about Tamil pride (every Indian in Thaandavam's London happens to speak Tamil, amusingly enough). Kollywood film makers (and Bollywood, Tollywood etc film makers), you can't have it both ways - you can't be about nationalistic or linguistic cultural pride and loudly proclaim that Tamil is best, Tamils are the smartest, and then go and cast a white girl from the model school of acting, clearly picked not because of her acting prowess but because of her looks. We all know the problem with promoting white beauty as the standard in non-white countries; harmless skin-lightening products and the works. I'm not against white actors in films when their casting makes sense (like in English Vinglish, or Rang De Basanti) or when they're actually good actors (I wouldn't tell Kalki Koechlin to hit the road). When the case is neither, I'm just annoyed. Sorry, Miss Jackson, I understand you're just getting work where you can - it's the producers and directors I'm blaming, primarily.

But back to the film: even the soundtrack was pretty uninspiring. Still, I suppose it's worth seeing if you like Vikram, like Anushka and don't mind a bit of Nasser and Santhanam, either (their scenes together are pretty hilarious). Vikram's career post-Raavan/an has been pretty sparse, but seeing as how I enjoyed both Rajapattai and Deiva Thirumagal, I don't really mind the fact that Thaandavam flopped (for me, at least). It's also streaming on the US version of Netflix, so you can easily catch it there if you're a subscriber!

Deiva Thirumagal.

There are things in A.L. Vijay's Deiva Thirumagal that work splendidly: the casting is great and the performances are all pretty much superb. The mood and humour of the film is just right, and I was certainly moved by it in the end. It knows which strings to tug at, and when it does, you're smiling through tears.

Vikram's performance as the mentally challenged father, trying to gain back his young daughter, could have borderline offensive, but ends up rather subtle and believable. Anushka Shetty is great as the female lawyer who helps him, and the child actress playing the daughter is solid, too.

I saw a couple of reviews questioning the premise (can a mentally challenged person genuinely marry and be with another person in order to bring about a child?), which based on my (limited) knowledge of these matters is a very legitimate concern. But I suppose if you suspend your belief, as I did, the film is worth watching. Certainly if you're a fan of the main star, as I am, I wouldn't not recommend this, as it's one of his more memorable performances.

There's just one thing... And script-wise, it's a somewhat big problem. It's also a SPOILER, so look away now if you've not seen this film yet.

I found myself punched in the gut by the ending, and really by the whole story and everybody's inability to see the credible, completely acceptable alternatives to the either/or situation the film presents (which creates the drama). Why can't Krishna live with Bhanu's family in Madras? Or why can't Nila visit him every weekend? There are virtually limitless options that offer good compromises to this situation, rather than the horrible "either/or" the film forces us to accept.

I get that it's the saddest ending. But it doesn't have to be like that.

END SPOILER.