Thalapathi

Thalapathi (1991) : Brief Review -

The Most Emotionally blended Family Friendly Crime Drama of 90s. One of the most popular genre in Hollywood Crime Drama didn't get much exploration in Indian Cinema till 80s. Then several crime dramas in masala genre gave hope but ultimately weakened the support of family audience. In early 90s Mani Ratnam brought Thalapathi set in crime world but differently i mean it's affectionate. It's all for people not for just for personal benefits of gangsters so it was meant to create more attraction to the family audience. At the end it becomes a Family drama yet not done with it's crime World to fulfill the hunger of watching a perfect Blockbuster. This was first and may be last time in Indian Cinema that a crime film became an emotional family drama and is likely to remain the one of it's own kind. Rajnikant and Mammootty's brotherhood mania is terrific. Both of them were really acting and not just entertaining and then another great actor Arvind Swamy was joined in a supporting role. Even the female side is filled with rich quality performances of Shobhana, Srividya and Bhanupriya. Overall, the acting department of Thalapathi is far better than any other crime drama i have seen till date. Mani Ratnam is a genius, he knows how to connect a negative film with audience positively and so he makes those negative characters more positive than born positive characters in the film. Many people consider this film as reference to Mahabharata characters which is not totally acceptable. The film is very well set in it's own crime Universe then I don't think there is any need to link it with an epic. Thalapathi should remain the only crime film having emotional intelligence and Blockbuster Family Drama elements for some time more.

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest

Modern friendship of karna & Duryodhana . Good movie, music & cinematography is excellent

Plot : A fourteen-year-old Kalyani gives birth to a boy alone and, fearing societal backlash and incapacity, abandons him inside a moving goods train. A slum dweller finds the baby, takes him home, names him Surya and raises him. Surya grows up to be intolerant of injustice, especially to the poor, and wonders why his biological mother abandoned him. The only item from his mother is the yellow shawl in which she had placed him. Devaraj, a powerful gangster, who is kind but feared by most, fights injustice with violence. Surya attacks and kills Ramana, an auxiliary of Devaraj. Surya is arrested for murder and faces brutal torture from police, but Devaraj bails him out after perceiving Ramana's felony and realises Surya's cause was genuine. Surya and Devaraj, who share an ideology, come to understand each other. Devaraj declares Surya as his Thalapathi (commander) and best friend.

Gangs are unrepentantly personal in matters of business when cash is handled by others to keep business in the know of exigencies embedded in his thesis deeming enemy the enemy as long as the women around have an eye for details keeping mothers in abeyance as a choice of business over cash or enemies in abeyance to keep cash over business. Either way, you lose one or the other to keep at the game of war in the name of love until the mother wants him dead for enemies out of line in search of the mother avering thereby and therein that women kept the money for mothers till enemies of substance battle it out over which one to be held guilty of cash and which one to be held guilty for business when militaries take it all to keep doors and windows redundant in witnessing wars of enemies.

This film is about 15 years old. i watched it quite a few times and it never fails to impress me. As said earlier it is a modern version of the Mahabharata, with Rajni as Karna.

Its starts with a 14 year old mother forced to abandon her son and the son grows up in the city slums far away..he befriends a underworld don and swears loyalty to death for him Meanwhile the mother gets married and has a son who becomes a top government official. Nobody knows of her earlier son except for her husband. Thing come to head as her younger son is posted to where the elder(who the mother doesn't know is her son) is dominating.

Watch the movie to see what happens. The mother-son scenes are amazingly touching

The movie with the combo of Mani and Thala's of neighboring states and with splendid tunes from Illayaraja ,a certain delight is a sure bet !! Trite , crisp dialogues are characteristics of this movie just as any mani ratnam flick is. The scene which stands out for its 'crispness' comes the intensely set one in which Rajni after being imprisoned in the initial scenes is released as somebody else turns in as approval for the crime which he created. Surya,(Rajni) unaware of who has sent him, walks across to him n asks him, " YYYYEN?" After a few pauses he gets the reply," DEVA!! ". He comes out of the room and walks in the corridor just to witness Deva (Mamooty) and there begins the friendship between Surya and Deva which is so deep, committed and brilliant. The tone of most of the scenes keeps one gripping and with its melodramatic ingredients and songs, contributes to a bit of dilution of its intensity though. The storyline, a slight adaptation of mahabarata with superstar playin the Karna character to finesse is simply awesome.

A sure must watch flick !!