Under the sun

Monday, March 20, 2006

Assistant Directors

Unlike the public, i'd been looking forward to watching Chithiram Pesudhadi from last year onwards, the reason being my friend Sudheer who worked as an assistant director to Mysskin in this film. I finally watched it last week with him. In my opinion, the movie is not as bad as the current bunch of films released. At the same time, it is not a very good film with strong performances and suchlike. It is good in patches [the suicide of the heroine's father], the performances of Dhandapani and the heroine Bhavna(?) being cases in point. The love angle between the adiyaalu and the heroine is as unrealistic and unconvincing as any average Thamizh movie. The music is decent too, scored by Veenai Chittibabu's son. The hero can't act for nuts and his gang of friends are totally unconvincing as gangsters or even sidekicks. Funny how a gaana song [Vaala meenu] can be the USP of a movie but its paid dividends for Oscar Ravichandran who took up the movie and hyped it up rather productively for its second release in good theatres. The second half was the better half, but i was disappointed with the way it ended, the build up being quite decent till then. The crowd definitely enjoyed the movie more than i did, and for once i was glad that the public verdict was different from mine.

My friend worships Kurosawa and quite a few of Kurosawa's DVDs i've watched are ones i borrowed from him. The director, he tells me, is a Kurosawa fan too, but he used to take it too far when he tried cloning the great director in his film. I don't know if its a joke or for real; Mysskin is said to have told the hero of CP to do a Toshiro Miffune. The end result? Comic irritation.

Sudheer did have a bitter taste in his mouth, after being virtually chucked out by the director, along with most other assistants, towards the completion of the movie. The world of assistant directors is a very harsh and unrewarding one. For a villager chasing his dreams, its no big deal because there is nothing to lose. Its not the same for a middle-class, B.E.S graduate to work in an industry where not only is the money never a daily guarantee, but where your dignity is insulted day in and day out just because you are a lowly assistant. There is just a glimpse of promise now for him. Time shall tell.


5 Comments:

  • i totally agree to this point! the plight of asst. directors - well said.

    By Blogger expertdabbler, at Wed Mar 22, 09:31:00 PM  

  • //For a villager chasing his dreams, its no big deal because there is nothing to lose. //

    What do you mean ?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Thu Mar 23, 02:10:00 PM  

  • PK,
    The number of people who get a break amonsgt the thousands around Kumaran Colony and thereabouts is very small :(

    msp,
    ////For a villager chasing his dreams, its no big deal because there is nothing to lose. //
    Not exactly well phrased, i should say...
    It is easier for a (poor) guy in a village to go all out looking for a chance in Kollywood, putting up with all the insults and living with the very paltry money, compared to a city-bred middle-class graduate guy with the baggage of ego, peer pressure and parental expectations. Not for a minute implying that it is OK for village guys to be insulted or not to be given any money.
    No offence meant whatsoever to villagers chasing their dreams :)

    By Blogger Bala (Karthik), at Thu Mar 23, 03:53:00 PM  

  • I kind of guessed you didn't mean it that way A_A.Thanks for the clarification.

    Generations have gone through this. Once they become directors how do they treat their assistants ?

    "Thirudanai Paarthu Thirunda Vittaal......."

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Thu Mar 23, 07:02:00 PM  

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    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Thu Mar 30, 03:06:00 PM  

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