Taking the unconventional path is always a welcome move and in a commercialized film industry like it is today, it needs lot of courage and determination to do so. Young debutant director, Saravanan has taken such a bold step through his ‘Engeyum Eppodhum’ and thanks to the backing and able support of his mentor director, A. R. Murugadoss and the renowned Fox Studios, he seems to have reaped his rewards. But, has he made a 'very good' movie? Partly yes and partly no, because he could have actually made an even better execution of what he wanted to convey the audience, in general.
The question of the motive behind making this movie comes primarily because of the director’s own confession that he wanted to pass a message through this film. May be inspired by the likes of his own mentor or the legendary Shankar, but I feel he has done little good to send a strong public message using this platform. Firstly, unlike his inspirational directors, he hasn’t (imaginatively) proposed a solution to the problem he has handled. If he can’t do so, is there any necessity to hinge around it on a far-reaching medium like this? Even otherwise, I sincerely feel he hasn’t also succeeded in creating a strong awareness for the reckless driving that we witness everyday. Instead, with all those gruesome cuts as in the ‘Final Destination’ series, such a film can only sow a small fear in the audience mind, everytime they board a long-distance bus.
It might be argued that there is a culture in some parts of the world to teach a lesson to traffic violators, by showing many such gruesome accident scenes. But this is not a platform to tell it that way, given that the movie is not being shown only to a select group of audience. If the director has intended to emotionally touch the nerves of the majority traffic rules followers, there could have been better subtle ways of conveying the same. For instance, never was there any scene in ‘Anbe Sivam’ that showed the cruelty behind, in a gruesome manner. Still, I am sure you can’t escape from the goose-bumps in some of the emotional scenes, how many ever times you watch that movie. Unfortunately, Saravanan doesn’t seem to have picked that trick, for his own venture.
A lot needs to be desired in the way the movie has been ended as well. After all those tear-inducing moments, I wish the director could have atleast ended on a positive note. As in the movie ‘Kaloori’, the very fact that ‘Life has to move on’ could have been conveyed in a subtle, intelligent way of his own. Instead, the background voices kind of advising the audience, gives only a documentary look to the movie and I doubt if they actually have the strength to strongly hit the ears of those it was aimed at.
The only reason why I would say it is a partly well-made movie is the way the director has woven two parallel, quite enjoyable romantic tracks to culminate in the tragedy. Like a pill coming with an added sweetener, he has well-understood the way he wanted to convey the message he had in his mind. The freshness and natural exuberance of the lead actors makes the reels involving them, very refreshing to watch on the screen. It is also the reason why you may not notice some of the logical loopholes, here and there. If not for the tragedy that has been used to knot these two stories together, the refreshing feel would have carried on to you, even well after you the leave the theatres. Sadly, when you have a director’s (a bit challenging) vision of conveying a message amidst two love tracks, we have to just live with what we have got.
Bottomline is, ‘Engeyum Eppodhum’ is a brave attempt from Saravanan, with his heart in the right place. If only his mind was placed even more perfectly, he would have hit the bulls eye. Nevertheless, the crowd-pulling capability of A. R. Murugadoss has given the much needed visibility to take this movie to greater heights and success. If you ask me, I would only recommend this to those who wouldn’t mind watching movies like the ‘Final Destination’, and to those who have been looking for a good way to implicitly teach their friends to watch out on their driving habits. Others I would say, you wouldn’t lose much giving this a miss. But, as the movie and innumerous sign boards on our roads try to suggest, ‘DRIVE SLOWLY and DRIVE SAFELY’…
P.S: If anyone finds the reason behind the title for this film, do share it with me…
No comments:
Post a Comment