Ayan & Mr. Reloaded : In Search of The Hero Down South
Sagar Alias Jacky Reloaded – Prodigy in the Living Room
Heard about this film mid-week, got sold out on the Mohanlal factor. Couldn’t help it. Have always wanted to catch a masala potboiler in the theater where I can’t understand the dialogs for the love of me, but still enjoy the fun cus’ it really wouldn’t matter in the masala state of affairs. Then the talk about the film being expensive, all style no substance et al got me even more excited. I mean who the hell wants to make sense on weekends anyways!
So there I was. Watching a Mohanlal big-budgeter, gathering all the excitement I could. Superb opening titles, the music got me again. It did get me the night before though, but I didn’t expect to be this blown. I mean what more you want – they have put the beats at all the right places. I am assuming a ML film deserves that kind of elevation, but this was way too cool. Some out of the world background, and the volume! Man! It was something they might term ‘price of admission’ whatever that means.
So here you had the film kick off with a conflict of course, considering The Man has to be brought in somehow, so there was this family screw-up, some guy gets kidnapped, some dynasty politics on one of its bad hair days, waiting to be pulled out of its misery in a hair-raising climaxes of all, and so on. (I do care about my pun usage, so don’t take pun-ga!)
Soon the misery dials Sagar’s number, and the intro takes a lifetime, but its time well spent. The call gets routed as many times as you would hold yourself from not sleeping off on a Saturday evening. And then IT happens. You actually see Mohanlal in the frame! I literally jumped off from my seat, seeing such a build-up and celebration of the hero, a trend now far gone from hindi films. Nobody gives a fuck about the hero. It’s more of the off-screen antics and cheap tricks that spoil the day for you. And here was an overt celebration of the bygone era. So they told me he is playing some espionage-don-criminal-with-a-soft-heart. I could care less. He was the man who was defining coolness, at the moment I could use some coolness. And that was it.
Not to mention I wasn’t really into digging the story and stuff, but I did notice some intrigue and betrayal in regular measures filling up the screen time. But all I could really munch on were the cool action sequences, the build-ups, the long shots, the macho-in-your-face beats, nothing was uttered without a heavy Prodigy hangover, and weren’t I glad for it! Our man takes up a mission, gets his supercool gang together, which obviously consists of two-timers in disguise and shit, so they all gang up together, with their own brand of the unsaid, and the cool shall lead the way, so they walk in a profile, share some in-jokes, move to the groove and travel to Goa on a rescue mission, where else! So the much awaited rescue happens in a Clint Eastwood in Sandalwood ishtyle and before they could shed any tears or give a fuck about what just happened, we launch into an item number! O-Sama!(not the terrorist mind you, but WMD for sure). And the bhai-ka-gang-waala-rockstars soon join the party while apna Mohanlal hangs about and around. It’s a happy state of affairs. Feels like my first day on job with gangsters. Some armed induction, this!
Few more words on the rescue operation, it happens with the least bit of suspense, the hero kicks the miserable kidnappers in the ass through and through, no false pretense(Feck you, Rosario brothers’ had me by the balls). And I was reminded of the many miserable moments in films where you wish the hero could say just that but never did, for fear of the elders. Ha ha. Some redemption I tell you!
And then there was this journo-turned-cool-turned-journo-chick for the heroine. She had this strange sense of familiarity, and did make me squirm looking at the possibilities of our Man-with-no-name-but-two-names actually falling for her inquisitive bespectacled eyes and thus stoop down from his overcoated-glory-of-ultra-hep-avatar(though there is this particular Ladakh-shot number with her gushing how much she is in awe of the man who refuses to take his coat off even in the heat of the moment, quite tastefully done – VENNILAVE).
Thankfully, he stayed the same cold and detached and lack of an expression for want of better films, while the hot journo went through quite some motions and ups and downs that life or rather a lack of script bestowed her with, her world goes topsy-turvy while apun ka very own Cochi-waala-munna-bhai saves her littal brather from the gruesome hands of life as seen through the eyes of an-accident-friendly car.
Amongst other things, there were perfectly choreographed slo-mo’ed face-offs, mostly done in low lights(come to think of it, may be it was an hour long film slo-mo’ed in its over 2 hrs glory), a quintessential hindi-mouthing sharp shooter aptly called Sniper Sheikh(no less!), some past throw-backs in sepia style to explain some of don raja’s old relational and emotional threads(read ‘not needed’), some copy-friendly lines(He has Revenge in his Eyes & Love in his Heart, Hell is right here, Naina! – you have to see it to believe it types), some good old Sobhana moments for love of yore, Godfather references, lots of sun and saands(no I am not hinting at obesity), and a movie title that makes the whole experience worth it, I mean wouldn’t you want to call a big budget film that you dream to make some day with ‘all style no substance’ SAGAR ALIAS JACKY RELOADED’?!
I would.
COUNTERVIEW
I ideated my vision of a perfect weekend after watching Ayan and decided to go on a commercial, full-on mirch masala filled movie watching spree. This thought process automatically dragged my feet to the screen showing Sagar Alias Jacky Reloaded.
All I could think of all through the movie was – This is such a dross!
Be it the mafia or the gamblers or the politicians or the government officials- our hero breezes through in a cryptic fashion. It is more like driving through a big empty parking lot without lines or barriers, safely avoiding shallow water and other hazards and allowing reasonable clearance.
Unfortunately, the South Indian movie industry (on a major scale) has recently had a recrudescence of one disease in particular: bringing in rap songs to make the movie stylish. In doing so, they just don’t realize they are feigning both style and substance.
This is apparently a story of the most famous and powerful Don returning to where he belongs after decades of estrangement. Talking of the initial days where Sagar was introduced to the audience, the movie Irupatham Noottandu was quite a thriller. His return has not left any impact on the hearts of the audience like the trailers/promos promised. Neither is he the powerful king pin of the underworld nor is he the Mr. Charming anymore- if the definition of being powerful means dawning long leather jackets, stylish goggles and a gang of youngsters sticking on to you for reasons best known to them, I stand corrected!
S.N. Swamy has done a lousy job with the script. Jacky needs to be the same-point taken! But what is it with the role of a glam reporter in both the movies?? Get a life dude! The character in itself doesn’t have a grip and doesn’t require any presence in the movie. A talented artist like Bhavana was utterly wasted.
The movie kick starts with the kidnap of Sagar’s childhood friend Manu(Manoj.K.Jayan) who is the husband of Indu played by the once-upon-a-time-elegance-personified Shobhana whose role is confined to attending to her baby and washing away her eye make up every time she confronts her cunning brother (Ganesh) and her supporting father (Nedumudi Venu).
When the cunning politician stops the investigation; courtesy: the sour relationship he shares with his brother-in-law, Indu turns to the much effficient(??!!) friend, Sagar to get her husband back. The film then “intends” to give birth to a series of events which makes Sagar get into some serious business. I still don’t get the risk involved in the rescue operation of Manu. The build-up given to the Rosario brothers and the kind of hold they have over the casinos of Goa fade out once Sagar releases Manu without any hassles and walks out in full flesh and blood with the Rosario brothers looking helpless and non-villainous! The highly accented English spoken by Jacky makes the whole character look rather un- cool adding to the boring leather jackets and the wooden walk. Now this is what we say “His clothes complement his physique and character” (huh!!). Those horrendous pronunciations are still ringing alert bells in my head- Feck off Rossario! (I faint!!) Tayak Cayare! ( I enter into coma!!) Hell is right here Naina! (I am dead!!)
After watching Big B, I had some expectations out of this movie. Amal Neerad failed to re-create that magic-be it having the viewers stick onto their seats expecting twists and turns or utilizing the potential of actors like Jagathy Sreekumar, Nedumudi Venu , Suman and Bhavana. Jytohirmayi’s suppsoed-to-be-hot number fails to sizzle too. (sigh!)
The movie is not unwatchable though. You can plan your summer vacations-thanks to the resorts and top angle shots of exotic locales and water bodies (Dubai and Goa) and groove to some sexy beats given by Gopi Sundar. If not for Gopi, I would have slept through the movie. The classy timing of the peppy beats kept me sailing. Otherwise, the film fails in all aspects; the theaters will not be reloaded.
Finally, whoever said that this movie is all style and no substance- Please watch Sivaji and definitely not Sagar alias Jacky. I am sure you will change your stand!
AYAN – Have yourself a break!
Ayan. Surya. Tamannah. Harris Jeyaraj. KV Anand. Prabhu. Reasons enough. The film does not disappoint, to say the least. Quite a flying start, Vegas skyline and stuff, off to the whole world in few seconds and crazy rap from nowhere, then Chennai Airport, Surya enters like a breeze(as usual), escapes a security check of pirated film DVD’s while another loser gets caught, and our man scores his first not-so-anti-social-smuggling home run. On their way home, there is a Rajini Fan Club bash on the roads, he gets down the car and joins in the fun. That is Surya for you. A man who matters more than what goes on in the film.
So in the same streak, we move on. We are introduced to his fun life back home, getting pushed by his mom for a government job while he has better ideas for a career, displayed rather extravagantly in the song that follows – Pala Pala, a song that transcends all that equator could take you on a fifth-grader globe-trip. We are left at Congo or Uganda or Ethiopia or Kenya or somewhere(forgive my history or the lack of it), where there are some big-time diamond deals happening in disguise, and a whole fiery scheme of events unfold, and Deva(Surya) gets the smuggled diamonds where they belong, police ki aankhon mein dhool jhonk ke, yet again.
So now that we know that he is an aspiring Tony Montana minus the ‘fucks’ and Michelle Pfeiffer angle, its time to introduce the heroine, so we see some funny domestic scenes, cultural eccentricities, local flavour, appeal to the masses and stuff. A cool pyar-ka-izhaar song follows(my favourite of the lot – Vizhi Moody, though all the songs pack a punch, including the desert outing Nenje Nenje and the infectious Honey Honey) and we are off into a happy average-to-Good business Surya summer hit.
And as in all similar movies of the drama genre, here too we have a conflict. The confidante, partner-in-crime of Deva, Chitthi, turns out a foe of sorts, and also has the sister is the heroine angle mind you, for keeps. So Chitthi has to go, off in the smoke and dust of crime, quite literally, and our man Deva is out to wreak havoc on the long-haired confused-tongue villain called Kamalesh. While lucky Kamalesh happily snorts coke and pushes an annoying old guy off the second floor, poor old Deva has to resort to cheap desi daaru atop his humble house near the Chennai railway station.
Ayan does not make high promises and is quite a nice and enjoyable masala watch in its little promises. Don’t expect it to surprise you and all, and you might be surprised at an odd place or two. And even if there isn’t a sense of ecstatic pay-off, there is always Surya who you can go back to!
Another unabashed quest of the ever-elusive on-screen hero, watch it for the B-grade un-aesthetic and un-refined tenor.
COUNTERVIEW
(Well, not exactly…)
Unbeatable! Unmatched! Flawless!
This is Surya for you, all set to mesmerize you with his looks, quips, smile, style and above all-acting! I do agree there was not much scope of serious acting in this masala flick but the way he carries himself throughout the movie is something for which we need to give this man a strong applause.
You are taken in for a surprise when you catch the difference between the original characters of Deva outside the airport speaking the typical Chennai slang and the wealthy traveller faking out polished English, in an interstice. For all the Surya fans, it is a visual treat to watch the various get-ups he had dawned in his previous movies- father figure in VA, hunch-backed guy in Perazhagan in an attempt to con the customs officials at the airport.
Surya is groomed by Doss Anna excellently portrayed by Prabhu. Though Surya is well educated he helps Doss in releasing pirated CDs and smuggling precious stones from Namibia, Malaysia, Zanzibar and South Africa. Jegan as Chitti Babu arrives in the frame and joins Surya to all the places. He is not only the comic element of the movie but also plays a crucial role in the latter half.
After about half an hour of the start of the movie, emerges the villain in the form of Kamalesh (Akashdeep Saighal) who is the son of a friendly rival of Doss and gang. While his father believes in the age-old formula of maintaining a healthy competition, Kamalesh is the symbol of the present generation gangsters who believe in making money in short cuts either by hook or by crook. This attitude of his makes him plants one of his gang members in the gang of Doss with the intention of getting to know of all the business dealings. This particular drug dealing reminds me of Papillon where drugs are transported in human bellies. Akashdeep needs to learn a lot in the field of acting. Looking like a monster is just not enough to survive in the industry.
Moving to the cute actress Tamanna and the romance between her and Surya- Tamanna has carried the role of Yamuna in a subtle and decent manner, like the role demands. This is their first film together as a pair and their onscreen chemistry is far away from being awkward and out of place. Their first and second meeting is well written and wonderfully shot. The songs have been picturized in a modern yet decent fashion. Harris Jayaraj has given reasonable scores but is clearly not his best. The songs are hummable but give you a feeling of repetition. The sexy number by Koena Mitra is pushed into the second half which rather makes the movie drag a bit.
The action sequences are no less. They are stylish but picked up from various English thrillers especially the scene where Deva frantically runs behind a couple of thugs to get hold of the diamonds he had traded reminds of Jason Bourne in the streets of Congo. It wouldn’t be fair to take off the credit from Surya for having performed those extremely risky acts of Parkour in the narrow lanes and streets of Congo.
The film dips in quality in the second half and so does the originality of the script. With an exceptional start, K.V.Anand could have played with the script to give it a unique touch. Sadly, the movie ends up to be an old wine in a new bottle. The film does have its share of flaws and the climax was miserably poor in terms of action and the impact a climax should generally have.
In nutshell, the flaws can be sidelined and the movie can be watched for-good songs, appealing screenplay, interesting action, sweet romance, limited but neat comedy, Surya, Chitti Babu and Prabhu.
Watchable! Enjoyable! Digestable!
I cannot help but repeat what I said about Surya….
Unbeatable! Unmatched! Flawless!
As for The Hero,
I am still searching though…
Acknowledgement:
Counterview(read south-indian-cinema-literate view by i-View author) – Rashmi Dewan)
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Wonderful Article.
Counterview.
One of the best article published in pfc
Absolutely agree with you on Sagar Alias Jacky. Proves that film cant just be style and no soul. where was the script and it was the loudest that i have seen in a while. feel sad that an actor of Lal’s talent goes wasted in efforts like this. whoever said modeling is acting. Liked the main villian though.
Amal’s Big B was promising. but this was almost similar in visual design with no story. maybe cinematographers should stick to their craft.
that being said i couldn’t get tickets in the theater at cochin and had to buy in the black market at twice the price ( 50% less than the multiplex in b’lore) . Somewhere the economics works, if it that is all that matters.
Tushar- good to see that you’ve seen 2 of the more stylish South Indian movies in recent times.yes Sagar Alias Jackie is not a patch on Irupatham Nootrandu, after a good initial the movie has not really kicked off the way the makers would have thought.and yes Ayan is a decent watch, though it could have been better.
I hope Amal Neerad & K.V.Anand do much better in their next outing.Incidentally this is the 2nd movie for both of them.
he he he – Tushar – Guilty pleasures of masala movie viewing are back and this summer you have to rely on the ‘too numerous on PFC southies’ for some real entertainment!!!:-)) Enjoy while it lasts.
the only thing more entertaining than this review would have been watching these movies with you.
ayan is shit
nice job tushar & rashmi! really liked that you included a counterview! had no idea akashdeep has gotten into tamil films.
Im not much of Mohanlal or Surya fan, but thanks for the lovely article Rashmi and Tushar. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the comments guys.
@Salil, glad to see you drop by. I don’t know much about Malayalam films so this was quite a first-time watch for me, hence the sweeping remarks :-)
@dabba, trust me with that one.
@chakri, ayan that was short!
@Amanda, counterview is the view. I guess even Akashdeep doesn’t have an idea if he is there in all these films!
@Gautham, Thanks.
@VPJ, I would look forward for more :-)
Rashmi, as always your article rocks.
Keep it going……