Surya S/o Krishnan- My Father My Hero
Spending the Christmas weekend at my home town Vizag, i had not many options at the movies. Among the Telugu movies there was Kotha Bangaru Lokam, Nacchavule which were supposed to be good, but i had enough of teen flicks, and honestly i did not want to spend time at another teen movie. And there was Aamir’s Ghajini, but i was not in the least bit interested in it. I had already seen the Tamil version, and while not a great movie, was good masala time pass stuff. Honestly speaking the promos did not make me feel, that i would be watching something radically different in Hindi, and i was not going to brave those crowds to watch it. And so the choice for me was Surya S/o Krishnan.
The movie was actually a dubbed version of the Tamil movie Vaaranam Ayiram, starring Surya and directed by Gautam Menon. But had been wanting to watch it from long, for couple of reasons. Surya has been one of my favorite Tamil actors, loved him for his understated and restrained performances, and movies like Pithamagan, Kakka Kakha made me a fan of his acting skills. And also the topic of father son bonding, interested me a lot. I had been hearing a lot of reviews on it, some critical, some good. Well i had never ever trusted the Telugu movie websites to offer a decent review, and i trust them as much as i do India TV or Fox News. And having watched the movie, let me say for one thing, i am happy, that i watched one of the finest movies in recent times.
The movie starts off with Krishnan( Surya) , passing away with cancer. His wife Malini( Simran), his daughter and his daughter in law Priya( Divya Spandana aka Ramya) are at his bed side. The news is informed to his son Surya( Surya again), who is traveling on a mission. As the news of his father’s demise is conveyed to him, Surya breaks down, and re collects the moments he had spent with him.
Krishnan, had meet Malini in college, where they fell in love and got married. Surya is born to them, and he grows up a happy go lucky youngster, who loves to play the guitar. He later joins engineering college where he shows scant interest in studies, and is more interested in the culturals and of course his beloved guitar. Returning to home Surya, meets Meghana( Sameera Reddy) on train, and is totally besotted by her. Taking a cue from his Dad, who told his mother, that he loves her on their very first meet, Surya, also opens his heart to Meghana. She however is just amused and tells him, that she would not fall in love with some one unless she knows him.
Surya again meets her at Chennai, and she tells him, that she is leaving for US soon, to do her Post Grad, and unlike Surya, she happens to be a topper. However later Surya comes to know of his father’s financial difficulties, and when Krishnan is hospitalized with a heart attack, Surya does some design jobs, and also moonlights as a singer, to make some money and also build a home for his parents. Surya however finds he can’t forget Meghana, and so on his Dad’s advice proceeds to US, to find her in San Francisco. Meghana this time slowly falls in love with him, and they are all set to return back to India. However destiny plays the villain here and things turn totally topsy turvy for Surya.
To see what happens later in Surya’s life, and whether he finally achieves a meaning to his life, just watch this wonderful movie on screen.
Right from the beginning where Surya receives the death of his father to the end, the movie just had me totally gripped. And its been a long time, since a 3 hours plus movie, totally engaged me as much as this one. The emotional scenes are handled with a sensitivity and restraint, not found quite often in Tamil cinema. Some of the scenes which really gripped
* Krishnan’s death scene at the beginning
* The scene where Surya breaks down over the phone while talking to his parents.
* The scene where Krishnan tells Surya, “we are both grown up men now” at the college.
Also the romantic interludes between Surya-Meghana in US and Surya- Priya later are treated beautifully. Gautam is one person who brings a subtle treatment to the romantic scenes, which he had also displayed in Kakka Kakka earlier.
Also loved the way Gautam Menon, uses the Forrest Gump style of the hero narrating the story, here Surya, narrating the moments he had with his father. And also the detailing part.
If we take the courtship between Krishnan and Malini, its a throwback to 70’s Chennai, and also Simran’s costumes in the song, pretty much the way females used to dress. The huge Bentley cars, Surya’s hairstyle and dressing, the Shivaji Ganesan posters at PILOT theater, most of it reminded me instantly of the good ole 70’s masala flicks in Telugu i had grown up with. Yeah all during the 70’s and even 80’s, most of the Telugu movies were shot in Chennai, it was only during the 90’s, that the industry moved totally to Hyderabad. Also having spent a good 2 years in Chennai, it was a kind of nostalgia trip for me.
Not just the Krishnan-Malini track, even some of Surya’ s scenes, have that detailing. The tight tees which Surya wears as a teen, are again a throwback to the 80’s, which was the decade i was also a teen. The Solidaire TV billboard and also that Arnold Schwarznegger poster is vintage 80’s.
The camera work by Rathnavelu is first rate, capturing the beauty of the San Francisco Bay area, the middle class neighborhoods of Chennai, the gullies and seedy areas of Delhi, the beauty of Kashmir. Also loved the way Gautam Menon, uses the tone and shade, to depict different facets in Surya’s life.
Did the movie have flaws? Yes it did. The second half goes quite off kilter in certain places. Also that gaana kothu song, showing Surya, going crazy with his thoughts about Meghana was quite overdone. Again some of the scenes especially in the second half, just seemed to be there to please Surya’s fans. Especially the climax, which would have been really much more effective with some trimming.
But there are some movies, in which i am willing to overlook the flaws , when the picture connects to me. Forget about New Age, Cult, Indie, whatever, whatever, my first rule of thumb is did the picture connect to me, did it really appeal to me? And if yes, everything else is secondary. Surya S/o Krishnan, was a movie that totally connected to me at every moment, because of the father- son bonding. Yeah maybe all Dad’s are not like Krishnan, but thats beside the point for me. Most of the father son scenes really appealed to me a lot. As also the family scenes, which were totally natural, unlike the overdone stuff i see in some other family movies.
And one more reason for me to love this movie was Surya himself. For me he has always been the most underrated actor, and here he again showcases his talent. Be it as the senior Krishnan or Surya, he is just first rate. Showcasing a wide range of emotions from a loving father, to a happy go lucky youngster to a grief stricken lover to a responsible son to an addict not in control of his love, this has been one of the best performances of this year. Take a bow Surya, and i am sure, he would be having a handful of awards this year for this movie. Just that one scene, where he breaks down in the telephone booth while speaking to his parents, is worth it.
Simran, has made a transition, from being a mere sex kitten, to a mature, talented actress in her own right. And she imparts a quite dignity and grace to her performance, aging gracefully as ever, as Surya’s mother.
Having had the mortification of watching Sameera Reddy, reduced to a mere bimbette in Race, it was great to watch her in a totally natural performance, and she looks a million bucks.
Divya Spandana aka Ramya, used to be one of my favorite Kannada heroines, and though she has put on some extra weight, she still manages to leave a mark.
Harris Jayaraj does give a couple of good songs, but honestly speaking not a very great score. And also his BGM is totally single track.
So at the end of the day, i would just say one thing, go for this movie. It is really worth it, with the wonderful emotional moments, the photography, some tender romance and of course Surya.
Tags: Gautam Menon, Harris Jayaraj, surya, Varanam Ayiram
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
I saw the movie yesterday and must say it is a treat and torture to see a director make ‘his’ own movie in his own terms. It is a treat because the honesty in the intention and portrayal is endearing. Torture – because even the slightest missteps in such a well meaning movie irritates you more. Vaaranam Aayiram personally did not touch my chord – but I know quite a lot of my friends who would have found this a tad too close for their hearts. It is the upscale ‘Thavamaai Thavamirundhu’ with loads of heart. I am jotting down my thoughts for a post on this ‘unique movie’.
Jai, i am awaiting to see ur post. Well as i said, this is one of those kinda movies,where i am just willing to overlook the flaws, and be somewhat more indulgent, i guess because of the family bonding part, as also Surya’s performance.
I tried to watcht his movie but I could not take it for long.. Not my cup of tea and I would say calling it one of the finest movies is just too much! It is unique, yes but it not his best.
Biggest let down – Dialogues!
But, it is commercial movie so why analyze it. Right? ;)
Cheers!
Sarang-
Ratnakar – I loved the film! What an opening, that implies nostalgia – how many Tamil films have an opening that implies the mood of the film?
Surya crying at the airport was the best enacted scene in my opinion..
And I loved all the songs man..Pity that some of them did not work for you!!
Jaiganesh – Post it soon, boss! Eagerly awaiting!
the movie has its heart in right place…it connects well…length of songs shud b shortened to have the right effect…n lip syncing songs may look odd sometimes…
Ratnakar-
That was a nice write-up.I’ve personally seen both VA & Surya S/O Krishnan and mentioned most of my comments already.But would repeat again that the movie was honest in its intentions.Yes its not without its flaws, but they do not outweigh the positives.I also liked the songs.Atleast I admire Gautam for not compromising on the narrative & Surya for having faith in Gautam’s subject.
VA is one of the better movies that to have come recently in Tamil cinema. It has its flaws and is indulgent yes..but it has its very good moments too. A little more trimming towards the ned and a better second half would have made this movie a great success. To me Sameera was the biggest surprise, it was hard to believe that she could be so good and natural on screen with a spontaneous performance. But much of the credit for that should go to Gautham menon. I have certain reservatin against him as a director, but one things he is very good at is his treatement of the romantic tracks. They are always very natural and subtle. His heroines have always decent charecterisations with certain depth. There will never be a vulgar or a peverted description of a heroine in his movies. And coming to the memorable scenes in the movie, the scene where surya breaks down to ramya explaining his fathers fear if his grand son will forget him..was top notch..