The Age of Multi starrer!

.

The special treat for all Tamil Film lovers happens this year with many Multi-starrer movies hitting the screen back to back. Well, the multi starrer movie trend is not new to us. But it was dormant for a period of time before. What made the Tamil filmdom to kick away this Multi-starrer saga for some years?

Types of Multi-Starrer:

•   Hero and Villain: There will be two leading stars performing in the same movie. But one will be a hero and another baddie (Or with a little negative shade)!
•  Both heroes and never meet: The stars are depicted with utter heroism in their own way but never meet in the movie till the very turning point which is generally kept intact for the climax. Example: STR and Bharath in ‘Vaanam’
• Super Hero and Follower: One of the stars is shown as a generous and very strong man. The other (mostly a ‘growing-up-star) will be following him and always seeks his help. (Example: ‘Aegan’ (Navdeep and Ajith), ‘Sukran’ (Vijay and Ravikrishna) )
•  Elderly Hero and a Companion: This is similar to the third case, but here the ultimate story revolves in the hands of the elderly hero! (Example: ‘Anbe Sivam’ (Madhavan and Kamalhaasan)
• All are heroes: The best multi-starrer type where the leading characters of the plot are shown of equal age, go hands-in together till the end of the story. Do you think this is difficult for Tamil Cinema? Sometimes, quite not that easy when one of the leading stars is having a huge fan following compared to other.

Yes. I do talk about ‘Nanban’ and ‘Vettai’ which hit screens within a gap of single day. In the former, the trio comprising of Vijay, Jiiva and Srikanth have already stirred up great expectations among the fans. Many critics cited that Shankar could be at fault by choosing Vijay for a story which has no fights, a major hit nationwide and of course the one that had a perfect casting. Well, Shankar was quite successful even before the movie release by keeping his fingers over the perfect cast. This made the other things easy for the movie. Even the selection of the actors for the leading roles created a big buzz among the audience. Now the film being released, the audience will watch it out primarily for the excitement of seeing some leading stars shaking legs together…

Coming to the latter, Vettai comprise of Madhavan and Arya. Both the heroes are not new for multi-starrers. They are basically performers getting encumbered to the story always. Arya who is known to team up with his contemporary stars like Vishal (‘Avan Ivan’), Navdeep (‘Arindhum Ariyamalum’), Jiiva (‘BEB’) and many more joins for a commercial pot boiler with the ‘Alaiypayuthey’ hero. Even Maddy is not new for these kinds of many-hero subjects. But it happens for the first time in Kollywood for a ‘Commercial-Entertainer’ genre.

Some of the previous movies which had ‘multi-starrers’ was made to work out serious themes where there was a necessity to cast a star (who performed positive (aka) hero roles) in anti-hero form. An example was when Ajmal was required to do a villain role in ‘Ko’ with Jiiva as hero. The director used a technique to keep in secret the nature of the villain who was disguised within smart-looking guy like Ajmal.

Speaking the truth, these kinds of multi-starrers are not new for us. We had it right from the MGR-Sivaji (“Koondukili”) days to Rajni-Kamal (“Ninathaale Inikkum”) and then there were many notable movies on the way. But after this period, these types of movies began to fade away. How many knew that Ajith and Vijay acted together for a movie? (Thanks to the Techofes Quiz).

It’s quite absurd to compare Kollywood with Bollywood where multi-starrers are abundant and easy to be made. But it is time to think beyond stardom. Each movie is special for its story and not for the hero. A hero should be remembered for the story than the corollary. Even Vijay who had an onscreen chemistry with Surya (beginning days) had to wait for so many years to team with some other heroes in the lead.  The difficulty happens when there is an overshadowing of one over the other. This may spoil the plot, or sometimes their off screen relationship too. When a hero generously accept the story in its way and bend him for its course, then a multi-starrer would be a cake-walk for the Tamil Industry. Despite upholding one man as the hero, why can’t they give way for the story? The major reason for snubbing this trend is due to the embossment of a hero’s image. What happens if he is paired with an equal one? The answers are like creative difference, ideology-clash, and screen –space variations….and so on! By the time people list out the reasons, there are still some film-makers who manage to prove the otherwise.

SPEAK OUT...NOW ITS YOUR TURN!

Its been more than a month since I got into the campus of IIT for summer internship. The first day I got to meet my guide and that happens to be the last day to meet him for that month. After one month he came back but that never made any difference:). We(Shangy, myself) were as usual happy, jolly,what not(put all such words to express our vettiness). We regret for wasting these holidays. At the same time we feel joyous for making guest appearances often to CEG campus giving surprise visits to director office!. Once during our visit to IRS, suddenly Photo(subject) sir asked us,"When is the last date for your review? Innum neenga oorukku poleeya?". He totally forgot that we are still students of the dept pursuing final year.

The internship offered us too many lectures. They were too good. But only a few of them were non-technical. All the others dealt with concretes, structures, bending moments, geosynthetic polymer, etc. Everytime we sit as an audience for these lectures, we used to scratch our heads and give false nods. Sometimes, the speaker might ask,"So I hope you are all well-versed with the fundamentals of Civil Engineering!" Even civil engineering students will keep their mouth shut, the GI rockers(Sai, Shangy and myself) will give such a positive reply. Yet a very false reply. These lectures were often dealt with MS-ppts....Thank GOD . We sit as mute spectators, take notes, sometimes sleep for a while....and move on. This happened because we are not aware of the topics they speak. Its new to us! But these lectures comprised materials of rich concepts. Some speakers were too good and they never missed our attention!

For one and half month I hear a lot of CE terms. I longed to hear some familiar terms or atleast some words which I dealt for the past 5 semesters(starting from second to six).....Yesterday there was a lecture on BIM. The Building information model helps to integrate the design, programming and other aspects of a proper construction. The speaker showed the interface of the BIM software. He then said,"Were you able to relate this to any of the softwares you know?". I could hear my heart thumping faster...It brings back some memoirs. I scribbled three letter  on my book and still staring on those slides which showed the criss-crossing of pipes. While he was about to close the presentation, he queried, "what is the relationship between GIS and BIM?"

Atlast, we heard those three letters. All three of us turned to teach other to wish,"Hey GIS d....?" He continued,"Who have dealt with GIS as a course or elective?" This time three hands went up like as if they were shot towards the ceiling and piercing to sky! He smiled. Then another question, "what is GIS?". Its a database, process, manipulate, design,store.....hmm,hmm". Now its time to handle the usual mechanism. Go to mute mode. We were shocked to hear such familiar questions and sat with mouths mumbling something ....hope the right answer for his questions. He completed the session and left the hall.  That was  a blunder from our part. We should have utilized this opportunity!

But that guilt is not for such a long time. As I traced the entrance of IIT, my thoughts were overturned by the prospect of a getting a straight bus.

Yet, this lecture made my day! At last one distinguished member of the CE was able to bring out  those three letters. Still I need to learn something very big for future, "Speak out!". Something happens when you need to answer someone. This happens at a higher frequency when you have correct answers for the queries.

seat putting culture.....

This happens everytime in our chennai buses.....U wait for a long period of time for a bus. After u see the arrival of a bus.....thousands of thoughts wander around your mind....Ur mind runs faster to clung to a seat in the bus than your body. When u open your eyes and take a view around, you could see the hundred and one members waiting with the same aspiration. At last you push yourself in the rush and fall onto a seat.....there u see a 30x30cm handkerchief lying... All that it tries to convey you is that the "SEAT IS RESERVED"....The owner of the material will be coming to that seat. Well when the Govt passed this law that you can reserve the seat in a bus just by putting your bag or cloth over the seat from outside. Last week a young woman fought with an old lady when she sat on the place where she kept her bag for reservation.......

For a person like me who have no guts to pick up an argument with such people, all i feel to to convey them is "HAVE PATIENCE"........