Why Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (VV) Didn't Give me the Kicks

The negatives far outweigh the good things about the movie...

-ve

1. There are too many things to remind one of Kaakha Kaakha (KK) -- the names (Ilamaran, Maya), the actors (Jyothika, Daniel Balaji, Jo's family members), the lingo (poturlaan daa...and all the swear words censored jarringly), loud acting by Daniel Balaji that seemed like a poor imitation of Jeevan's Pandya.
   
2. Not enough background to let us know why they turned into serial killers - one would believe they started the whole thing as some sort of a hobby, that's how shoddy the treatment of their past is! This exploring of rationale / motivation is something Kaadhal Kondaen and Thiruttu Payale does quite well.
3. What was it with Homosexualism!! Pointless and an injustice to gay men.
4. The incessant killings
   
5. The stock escape situation featured in the Mumbai airport
6. The heroic opening that doesn't jel with the rest of the story
7. Loud, mood spoiling BGM
8. Why does the Hero have to get plain lucky in cornering the guys
9. Raghavan instinct, my foot!!!
10. The needless romantic angle - perhaps it was necessary because there was not enough powder in the keg.
11. The songs - each one slows down the pace.
    
12. The 'pathbreaking medical research' crap blabbered in the end
13. The severed finger as a signature - Why should he even do it for all his avowed intelligence and then admit it was a mistake?!!
14. How does Kamal figure out where Jyothika has been buried alive? Why is Jo spared torture and rape (apparently...) - In a nurry to wind up the story?

+ve

1. The confrontation between Amudan and Ragavan in the former's apartment
2. The very short introduction between Ragavan and Kayalvizhi in a marriage
3. The locations are brilliant, but only partly, as the bgm screws up the mood
4. Prakash Raj, kamal for their performance; Kamalini merely for her presence
5. The sequence in which Kamal tracks down the body of Prakash Raj's daughter is brilliant: Everything stands out in this, for example the performances - Prakash Raj, the 'beggar' who gives the right leads, Kamal
6. The molestation of Amudan and Ilamaran by the eunuchi n the prison cell

** (Interesting)

1. The sniggers among the audience when Kamal says 'neenga homosexualsaa daa?" doesn't bode well. And technically they should have been called bi, but that might have been above our audience!
2. The volte-face climax. The film was much better for the happy ending - Otherwise the film's very creation would have been pointless as it would have further sealed the similarity with Kaakha Kaakha
3. I am not sure why I am making this comparison: I think Thirutu Payale was a far better movie even after taking into account its sleight of hand and information witholding game it plays with the audience.

New York Nagaram: A Liberal Translation

There is a simple joy in translation, akin to a craftsman’s. Instead of the pain of creation is the precision of re-creation, and what a recreation it turns out to be!

The terrain is familiar and safe because it has already been mapped out and for someone like me who owes no special allegiance to the source material, it can be re-imagined to various degrees to please oneself. So as long as one is not aiming at an official translation you have the best of both the worlds: you use someone else's terrain but for your own literary pleasures. Isn’t it like having an affair with another’s wife, sans the complications!

In the above said manner I had set out to translate the recent hit 'New York Nagaram...' in which AR Rahman performs the alchemy of turning a lyric of uneven quality (lyricist: Vaali) into a cool song that I am sure is the anthem for many a young onsite guy's longings, fantasized and real.

Here is the output.

“As the city recedes into sleep loneliness takes over,
Snow spreads, from the seas winds alight to stroll the shores.
Amidst glass panels am I, lonely and pointless
Having dinner in the company of candle sticks.

No more conversations that double up as lullaby
Or kisses alongside morning coffee.
No more you to taste dust in my eye
Or straighten the wrinkles of my psyche.

You over there and me here:
Blessed by the loneliness, minutes drag as years.
Blue over there and bleak sky here:
Why is it upon us to illumine this metaphor?

In my diary is your name penned myriad times.
And lo, streams of ants array behind the honeyed lines.
Though the winter has chilled earth even,
This moment scorches like an Indian summer.

Come home, oh alchemist’s magic!
Won’t you turn this red ember into ice…”

I would like to thank the following site for the lyrics:
http://arrahmaniac.blogspot.com/2006/08/thanimai-thanimaiyo.html”

(C) MaheshC.