If not for Riya Sen’s (and Manoj’s) spectacularly bad acting skills, this song could’ve found redemption.A frenetic beat accompanies this song about rains, Theni and the rainy season in Theni.A languorous jazz piece, “Merke Merke” is an exploration of love and lust, made even more beautiful by PC Sreeram’s camerawork.
I is as magnificent as it was promoted to be. PC Sreeram’s camera work is excellent. The editing is very sharp as well. Shankar is one director who gives adequate importance to the songs and in I he has created a different theme for each song. However, the songs do not add strength to the film. Musician AR Rahman and Shankar have always churned out several hits in one album but in I they could not achieve it.
Some of the highlights include the short yet sweet exchange of Madras Baashai between Amy and Vikram, the stunning acting sequences from Chiyaan after Interval, Amy sets the screen on fire as a model, finally though I hate to repeat this in every Shankar movie; the Songs and its jaw dropping picturization. As again Rahman somehow keeps waving his magic wand for Shankar movies at ease, springs life to the movie. PC Sreeram’s work behind the lens, especially for the shots in China are simply magnificent, also puts justice to the extensive makeup work from the Weta workshop
While his earlier works had the imprints of Sreeram, Anand broke the mould soon and treaded a singular path of his own. “He was not afraid to take risks or to make mistakes,” says cinematographer Richard Nathan who worked as an assistant to Anand in four films. “He was obsessed with staying abreast of every technological advancement in the field of image-making.
It was in Mumbai that Kalidasa, the first talking motion picture in Tamil, was born. The 1931 film was shot in Mumbai, on sets made for Alam Ara, and ever since then, Tamil cinema has had a long-standing love for Maximum City. The city has charmed many Tamil filmmakers, who have gone on to make it a backdrop or a character in their creations.
Pin it on those reds or moody greys – the palette that has been chosen for the film, those plentiful buses that end a frame (edits courtesy Sreekar Prasad), or just the Maruti Gypsy that Aadhi drives, the movie has a distinct 90s flavour that can’t be ignored.And here – at their home – reside Aadhi and Tara, who just want to live together – no strings attached. “He’s old-fashioned that way,” says Bhavani when her husband (Prakash Raj as Ganapathy) objects to the relationship. “You know, he doesn’t use the indicator at all,” she says.