Is it worth all the hype? Does it meet all the expectation?
Lets jump right in to the point. This is going to be a very honest, from the heart
review of the recent release, "Navarasa". Well as I mentioned as the topic, by the end of the review, I am going to answer these two important questions and give it a star rating. So before diving in, Navarasa is the 9 emotions that a human being contains at different circumstances, that is well established and expressed in the classical dance "Bharatanatyam". So this is a Series of 9 short films emoting/expressing these 9 emotions. Well, with proper Post production and a great production team (including the great Manirathnam), the film was hyped. I was amazed when I watched the video for date announcement with that enchanting music with strings by ARRahman and also the trailer. If not for you'll at least I was anxiously looking forward to its release, and I am really glad that I'm writing the review right away.. So without further ado, let's get back to the business.
Episode #01
Title - Edhiri (enemy)
Rasa/emotion - Karuna (Compassion)
Director - Bejoy Nambiar
Composer/Re-recording - Govind Vasantha
Cinematographer - Harshvir Oberoi
Cast - Vijay Sethupathi, Prakash Raj, Revathy, Ashok Selvan
Run time - 31 minutes
Tag Line - If it cannot hold and protect the tress, the soil is useless. If it cannot empathize and care for others, the heart is useless.
The story is about a young man taking revenge upon the boiling rage within him, for what happened to his elder brother years ago due to the interference of a stranger, and the aftermath. The cinematography, along with the opening shot is something I could never brag about, It is extremely beautiful. The way the camera work is done, Just a huge kudos to the cinematographer. The story line doesn't seem to fit in with the rasa/emotion it should showcase. I mean, I am able to interpret it in terms of compassion, but I don't know how many audiences would be able to buy the same point. I will let out my perspective though. Revathi has some sort of a disagreement with her husband, and stops talking to him in a long run. Her husband has been behind the suicide of VJS's brother and for that sake, VJS tries to talk about it with him, when he is tolerant and ignorant about the same, he murders out of rage. Revathi is taken aback by the event and resentful and also regrets the fact that she has not been in good terms with her husband, so when VJS asks for her forgiveness for what he did to her family, she says when she is at fault, and when she had all the possibilities to prevent this from happening, she didn't so she is at no position to forgive anyone. Which also means that she is compassionate towards others, and blames herself for the occurrence. Ha ha, seems a bit lame, but ultimately makes sense, she sees through his point and also realizes if the revenge is happening back and forth, none will be happy, so she showers some kindness towards him. Well, moving to the acting and performance, everyone of the important cast has done pretty decent job, especially I think Revathy has done a great job, She had less dialogues, but most of her expression spoke and it was at the peak. Not a bad story, but was compassion the main core of this story, I'd say no. I've watched the directors previous works before, he has this weird kind of story telling, which sometimes doesn't make any sense, at least most of the times. He has this quirky way of getting his story told, this is yet another one to be added to his list.
My rating for this Episode #01 - 2.2/5
Episode #02
Title - Summer of '92
Rasa/Emotion - Hasya (Laughter)
Director - Priyadharshan
Composer/Re-recording - Rajesh Murugan
Cinematographer - V. Babu
Cast - Yogi Babu, Ramya Nambeesan, Nedumudi Venu
Run time - 34 minutes
Tag Line - A day without laughter is a day wasted!
A popular film start reminisces his old times in school when he is invited by the same school itself for an annual program. While he is asked to speak a few words, he delivers his past in school which was filled with ridiculously funny acts and how it affected one of the teacher. To be honest, the most boring of all the episodes. A very strong cast, but yet it failed to pull off and I didn't have much of excitement, neither did I smile at these jokes, which were extremely lame for me. As the director himself is very well known and established, the expectation on this emotion was of a greater height, yet it was not funny at all. But I should not fail to appreciate the cinematography. The sceneries are a bliss to watch. The performances were also Okay! Didn't seem to be appealing for me.. May be because I had higher hopes that this would be comical, I was utterly disappointed. But this is the least favorite in this entire series. Nothing much to explain too.
My rating for Episode #2 = 1/5
Episode #03
Title - Project Agni
Rasa/Emotion - Adbuta (Wonder)
Director - Karthik Naren
Composer/Re-recording - Ron Ethan Yohan
Cinematographer - Sujith Sarang
Cast - Arvind Swamy, Prasanna, Poorna, Sai Sidhdharth
Run Time - 30 minutes
A renowned Scientist carries out his experiments in trying to connect the subconscious mind with the reality and future. He discovers an equipment called "Drifter" that could actually used to be interpret the dream world that's already stored in our subconscious dream and that's what drives towards the future. He knows the potentiality of this equipment along with a solution called A, which could be used to destroy the world with the maximum amount of power, and this secret is known by his assistant, who tries to illicitly use the powers in his favor. So he tries to save the world by talking to his friend about his discoveries and making him know the destruction that could be caused by these discoveries. What happens next is the plot. The most intriguing episode of all. It's of sci-fi genre, which hasn't been taken up well by kollywood audience. Karthik Naren has accepted the challenge of taking up the risk of delivering this hard concept across the audience, and I should say that he has exceled well. He never fails to amaze the audience. When the episode started, my head started spinning, as a lot of things were happening and it was hard to grab the concept and idea, but when he explains the theory, I was in awe. It is literally incredible, I hope this is scientifically the same. Would love to see directors evolving around sci-Fi which would not fail to impress people. This truly is an important episode of all the nine episodes and fits well or even connects the puzzle of wonderment. It was really amazing and I'm glad I paid much of attention to this movie to understand the concepts that brings you a package full of surprises. The cast played a major role in this, All of them had done their part perfectly, especially Arvind Swamy, the scientist, I was left speechless by his attitude and minute detailing of a reserved scientist. A must watch of this entire series.
My rating for Episode #03 = 4.9/5
Episode #04
Rasa/Emotion - Bhibatsa (Disgust)
Direction - Sai Vasanth
Composer/Re-recording - Justin Prabhakaran
Cinematographer - Satyan Sooryan
Cast - Delhi Ganesh, Aditi Balan, Rohini, Karthik, Kathaadi Ramamurthy
Run time - 35 minutes
A brahmin, who hates his nephew for all the fame and attention he gains from the villagers, is been forced to attend his daughter's wedding that is taking place. He hallucinates his wife, who is dead long time back and pretends as if he could talk to her during the course of taking bath and praying. The hatred he shows towards the nephew and anything related to his nephew makes him do one such disgusting things. What is it? and why? is the question. Again, the plot ain't much appealing to me. There ain't a stronger reason for the main character to hate his nephew and plus, the after effect of this hatred didn't lead to that much of disgust, I'd say. I expected Vasanth to deliver something that's as exciting as his usual movies, but this is an utter fail. Cinematography is impressive. Really love the handiwork of camera throughout this movie. Aditi Balan is a potential actress, has acted only one movie, but yet her skills are remarkable and she is just wasted in this movie, which makes me feel for her. She is a widow, daughter of the brahmin, who lost her husband in just 92 days. Her scope is very less though. Delhi Ganesh, yet again proves that he is capable to carry any sort of character given and can adapt himself accordingly. Rohini also stands out. But the story line fails to hold the emotion that was supposed to be shown, yet we come across another low or even below average episode.
My rating for Episode #04 = 2/5
Episode #05
Rasa/Emotion - Shantih (Peace/Harmony)
Direction - Karthik Subbhuraj
Composer/Re-recording - Santhosh Narayanan
Cinematographer - Shreyas Krishna
Cast - Bobby Simha, Gautham Vasudev Menon
Run time - 25 minutes
Tag Line - Once upon a time in Eelam....
The story is set to occur in Sri Lanka, based on the civil war that took place. four people who belong to the group of rebellions are beginning to build a bunker at an elephant pass area, where there are a lot of threats from the Army soldiers. They come across a small boy, whose parents are dead due to the war and lives with his grand parents and claims he lost his younger brother while vacating the place due to shell explosion. One of the rebellion who empathizes and puts himself in that situation decides to help the boy and his group agrees to cover him up during this journey. The rebellion finds that the younger brother was supposedly a pet puppy, and what happens after wards is the plot. I don't understand the obsession Karthik Subbhuraj has towards the Tamil civil war that took place in Sri Lanka, seriously. He had a major plot in Jegame Thanthiram, which was wildly condemned saying half of the information showcased were wrong and now this. Seriously! It was just an okay movie, which again fails to emphasize the rasa it should be emoting. What has this plot got to do with peace? I don't know. Gautham Vasudevan's character creates a lot of cringe moments, his pronunciations are accentuated, which makes me uncomfortable, didn't sound like Sri-Lankan Tamil at all. This is again a let down in this entire series. Loved the rerecording and the cinematography though. the place looked like an elephant pass where a bunker can be built. Amazed with these details but plot could have been more engaging. I loved the puppy though, he he.
My rating for Episode #05 = 1.5/5
Episode #06
Title - Rowthiram
Rasa/Emotion - Rowdra (Anger)
Director - Arvind Swamy
Composer/Re-recording - A R Rahman
Cinematographer - Santhosh Sivan
Cast - Azhakamperumal, Rhythvikaa, Ramesh Thilak, Sree Raam, Abhinayashree
Run Time - 38 minutes
Tag Line - A person with poised mind with anger will be destroyed like a forest that caught wild fire.
An abandoned mother with two kids faces difficulties to bring her children up. She cleans wash room to earn money so that her kids needs could be fulfilled. How the status of such people are taken advantage of and how does this affect the children is the plot. As Anger is the rasa, I think the entire plot had a lot of scenes where it brings in the emotion very well. Arvind Swamy as an actor, also as a director has exceled well. Rerecording was taken to the next level, it was well merged with the story line. The small twists in the story telling was amazing. The dialogues were also commendable. Seriously, there was this scene where the daughter asks the mother what her opinion about women empowerment is, so she says something what her mother had told her. She says women are like gold. Both should be valued, but in this case women are not valued, but gold is. A non-living thing holds the most value compared to a living. Women should be able to be flexible, should withstand any counts of beating to bring pleasure to men, just like gold. That dialogue just strikes right at the heart. This would be a huge slap across the face of men who are still dominant, and also never acknowledges the efforts of women. Talking of performances, Sree Raam has done a perfect job. way ahead of his age, a very matured and subtle performance. Even Abhinayashree. The only thing that i couldn't accept is the fact that the daughter over reacts in terms of what the mother was up to, and still keeps herself from communicating with her. That just still bothers me, because she did what she did only for the well being of her kids, she wasn't willingly involved in such acts. The reason behind her anger is also because of the selfishness of people to just get small pleasures like this from the oppressed. Yeah, that I agree, and my blood boils at the fact that there are women out there who still don't understand their worth, rather give in to shitty men like them. Well scripted and one of the highs in the series.
My rating for Episode #06 = 4.2/5
Episode #07
Rasa/Emotion - Bhayanaka (Fear)
Director - Rathindran R Prasad
Composer/Re-recording - Vishal Bharadwaj
Cinematographer - Viraj Singh
Cast - Parvathy Thirtuvothu, Sidhdharth, Ammu Abhirami, Pavel Navageethan
Run Time - 33 minutes
Tag Line - Non acceptance of uncertainity
A rich Islamic wife, meets with a calligrapher, who claims to be working under her husband at home, who comes to get her signature in a document. She realizes that the person who comes to meet ain't someone whom her husband has sent. This leads to an eventful flashback, she seeks help from a guy who summons djinn's, pretending that she works for a rich old man who has brain tumor and soon to be dead, fell in love with her and married, but now torturing her severely that she cannot bear. The person warns her saying that if she lies and summons the djinn, and if the djinn harms the innocent, then she will have to reap what she sowed. And that is exactly the thing that is happening right now, the calligrapher mesmerizes her, makes her flirt with him and now reminds her of all the sins she has committed. She then speaks of all the good deeds she has been doing ever since that incident, but yet the djinn answers saying that lying and killing innocent cannot be forgiven by the lord almighty, even with the load of good deeds and prayers conducted. The rest is for you'll to watch out. I actually read a few articles where there are slurs and backlashes against a Qur'anic verse being used in the poster, which I wasn't aware until I saw the poster myself. I don't know what that means, so I will not be talking about it neither in favor nor unfavor too. I really liked the concept of the film. It delivered the outline very well. I was literally freaking out when she was flirting and giving in to him. I knew something was going to happen, and there we are. One should be aware of all the actions and occurrences that happen or involve themselves, because Karma is a boomerang. If you are afraid of god almighty, then you will be directed in the correct path and you will never want to commit crimes and this is a very good example for this. Very strong performances by all the cast. Parvathy and Sidhdharth leads the show. Sidhdharth looks damn good, this would definitely be a come back for him. Expecting him in more of the future movies. Rerecording and the BGM was terrifying. Cinematography and the art work of the movie was just scintillating, was mind blown. A very good episode indeed.
My rating for Episode #07 - 4.5/5
Episode #08
Title - Thunintha Pin
Rasa/Emotion - Veera (Velour/Courage)
Director - Arjun KM
Composer/Re-recording - Sundaramoorthy KS
Cinematographer - Sudarshan Srinivasan
Cast - Adharvaa, Kishore, Anjali, Azhagar Perumal
Run time - 35 minutes
Tag Line - Courage, dear heart!
An army/police officer, new recruit, the husband of a pregnant woman is directly sent to the forests to hunt down Naxalites. He shoots the comrade of the Naxalites at the correct spot and was asked to bring him to get more information. The Naxalite member goes missing at the hospital, but he escapes the hospital with all the required medicines he would need for himself and his team and heads back to the forest. This young man collects all the courage back and runs after him, saying that he would do anything for the country, if it has to mean to shoot him down and if it also has to mean to sacrifice himself. The wife back then in the village still fights her emotions and whole heartedly believes that her husband is still alive as his body is not found. This gave me mixture of feelings. I am a fan of Adharvaa, he really has a lot of potential in portraying any kind of character. He pulled this off very well, but is this plot enough to pull the rasa/emotion, that I am not entirely sure of. Adharvaa and Kishore just did excellently well, cinematography yet again at its height. Direction and screenplay could have been better. The story line could have been more stronger, so that it would have hit people emotionally to sense that stronger feeling of courage. But failed. I wouldn't say that this is an utter fail. But yeah, could have been a bit more sensible.
My rating for Episode #08 = 3/5
Episode #09
Rasa/Emotion - Shringaara (Romance)
Director - Gautham Vasudev Menon
Composer/Re-recording - Karthik
Cinematographer - P C Sreeram
Cast - Surya, Pragya Martin
Run Time - 48 minutes
Tag Line - Oh.. What else can it be, it must be LOVE...
This might be same usual love at first sight story, but it still feels afresh. So a passionate musician plans on leaving the country seeking for better opportunity, learning and experiments, but steps down from the plan when he meets with the girl who is recommended to sing for one of the jingles. What would be the ending and how do they confess love is the remaining for you'll to sit back and enjoy. I need not exaggerate about GVM, of course we all know how his romance scenes are in all of his movies, and especially when he joins with Surya, it would be taken to the next level, without a doubt. This is yet another episode to be added to the list. GVM's trademarks are been placed through out the episode, even though the episode is longer than the rest, I seriously didn't mind it. Emotions and expressions shouldn't be fed or even imitated for performers to catch up, one should realize the role, inhale it and perform. Surya is one such actor. Besides all the negativities that surround him, he is one amongst the actors who never fails to accomplish something that's new and stays afresh. Hell, yeah, his eyes does the magic yet again along with his body language and voice. This also is one of the episodes with all highs. Cinematography Next level, beyond description. Especially the scenes where he rides the bike, visual treat! The music, when it blends with the visuals, it definitely is a treat. Karthik has done a great job in re-recording too, the BGM deserves a standing ovation alone. Well scripted, well performed. Oh, I'm sorry. Should mention the female lead, who is Pragya Martin who had a cameo scene in Pisasu. A pleasant surprise for all people who has watched this already to see her full fledged performance. Really great to see someone in females who can really outperform an actor like Surya, but I literally couldn't take my eyes off Surya. He nailed it. A must watch!
My rating for Episode #09 - 4.9/5
Final Verdict - Unlike the hype, the series has its highs and lows. More lows than highs though. Out of 9 episodes only 4 would make you sit and watch intently, the rest 5 would literally bore you to the core. But I wouldn't say that it would be a problem if you want to watch the entire series. Just give it a go, as this is an experimentation for Kollywood, where the entire film fraternity came together to put across these wonderful creation.
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