Iruvar

actually while writing this,i was trying to find out any faults with the Mohanlal,Aishwarya Rai,Prakash Raj stare'IRUVAR',a film by the Indian Spielberg 'manirathnam'.but i couldn't find anything wrong because the film is superb.first to talk about the star cast,it was one of the most biggest performer studded movie in Tamil cinema.stars other than the above mentioned include Gowthami,Revathi,Tabu,Delhi Ganeshan and more. the movie is based on the real life story of legendary actor mgr,Jayalalitha and Karunanithi.as the title says, the story is about the relationship of mgr and Karunanithi.the names were changed in the movie to avoid controversy but still the movie brought out some political problems in Tamilnadu.the opposition from party of Karunanidhi,led the movie to fail in the box office. one of India's greatest actor MOHANLAL plays the lead, Anandan who is from middle class family in 1940's.his ambition was to be a hero in Tamil films and with the help of his friend as well as writer, Tamil Selvan,who is also a politician,he becomes superstar.the party of Tamil Selvan,takes advantage of Anandan's popularity to get votes for the election and later they succeeds.this eventually leads anandan to come to politics.and gradually the ideas of Anandan and tamilselvan differs and they form separate parties.due to anandan's popularity and kindness to people,anaNdan gets crowned.this leads Tamil to think of killing Anandan and some how Anandan survives from the attempt. in this movie,story moves on character of Anandhan from his young age to his old age.Mani Rathnam decorates the IRUVAR with a love story of Kalpana with Anandan.Anandan falls in love with Kalpana,who resembles his late wife Pushpa. the movie scores one gr8 star for the genius actor MOHANLAL for his extraordinary performance.two stars for the director MANIRATHNAM for his good written script.a glowing star for AR Rahman,proving that he is really GOD OF MUSIC.an exclusive star for AR Rahman's back ground score.Prakash Raj as Tamil selvan is also worth a proud star because of his acting excellence.Aishwarya Rai also gets a superb star for her good acting in her debut film.rest of the three stars are given to the dialogues,camera and art direction. A MUST WATCH FOR ALL.

Mani Rathnam has told a fine story about two friends. One who is a film actor whom the people love dearly and harbours political ambitions. One who is an accomplished writer, poet and politician. sounds familiar?

Anand is played by Malayalee actor Mohan Lal and Tamil Selvam's role by the very talented Prakashraj.

One cannot miss the resemblance to the real lives of M.G. Ramachnadran and Karunanithi. However very little is revealed of Pushpa who plays the love interest of Anand. Perhaps Manirathnam was playing his cards carefully, avoiding possible repercussions from Ms Jayalalith, who was the real life mistress of MGR.

There is also some fine acting by Naser who portrays the real life Tamil leader, Anna Durai. Indian cinema has few directors who can make a film that will stand the test of time. Manirathnam is one of them. The story for this film has been well researched and planned. Most Indian films skip these vital steps prior to production. Some may complain about the typical indianess of the film with the usual song and dance sequences in a good film like this. But do bear in mind that the intellectual crowd who sees the usual song and dance as a distraction is a minority. Majority of our desi brothers go to see Aishwarya Rai shaking about. And a movie can make money only by pleasing the Lowest common Factor of the society: The typical desi. Unless Mani Rathnam entertains them we won't have the opportunity to see more movies from this fine director.

This film tells the story of two friends and the parallel events in their lives. Although Rathnam states officially that this film is not a true story, it is generally believed that it was inspired by the real life stories of M. R. Karunanidhi and MGR during the beginning days of the DMK and their respective film careers.

Everyone always calls this film a "documentary" and tends to emphasize the fact that it supposedly tells the story of Karunanidhi and MGR. I think this film has very little to do with politics. It goes beyond the popular perception of two famous political figures in TN and tells their personal stories and attempts to disconnect these two characters in the movie from the superficial symbols of power we may perceive them as.

People that stubbornly hold onto to the idea that this film is about former Tamil Nadu chief ministers Karunanidhi and MGR (M.G. Ramachandran) will most probably not enjoy this film as much as people who view it as a drama about two ordinary men who turned out to do extraordinary things.

Some of the finer points in the movie are the unsaid words between Mohanlal and Prakash Raj (not their role in politics!). All the invisible dialog that goes on between the two of them is reflected in the background music. Mohanlal plays Anand with a high level of sensitivity. Prakash Raj is also brilliant. Good, controlled performances from the rest of the cast. This film also has two wonderful songs--"Narumugaye" & "Poo Kodiyin Punnagai." Both have amazing lyrics by Vairamuthu and good visuals, as well. Santosh Sivan's camera-work is spectacular, as usual. He impresses in a nicely-captured, post-lovemaking scene with Tabu and Prakash Raj.

I think this is one of Mani's best films ever. Everything about it was astounding. Rehman's music - transported you to the period. Prakash Raj's acting was amazing, he's a class act in this one. Mohan Lal, needless to say was sparkling, some of his emotions, like when he says they expelled him for asking a question and in numerous other instances, were superb. Aish was great... and the accolades goes on.

Also the movie was remarkable for Mani's raw power / edge in showing a movie that so loosely piles incident upon incident, scene after scene - more like a real life documentary, and less like a feature film. Great experimenting and also great final product. Was enjoyed more by film scholars and film students, and not so much by the general public. In the end, it's just good to know that one of India's most successful commercial directors is also experimenting with new themes, new presentation styles, thereby pushing the frontiers of what can be done film-wise.

Its the debut movie of Beauty queen Aishwarya Rai Bachan...She is lucky to co-star with the legend Mohanlal.Mohanlal teamed with Mani Ratnam for the first time to make this majestic movie.Mani was forced to cut many scenes from the movie due to some protests from political parties,which badly affects the movie..but still its a class one.Mohanlal was excellent in the role of M.G.Ramachandran,wonder why he didn't get the national award for this movie,but he won South Indian Film Fare Best Actor award..Its one of Prakash Raj's earlier movies and he was awesome!..this one is his best performance and he won Best-supporting actor.Only Mani Ratnam can make such classic..Its a masterpiece movie in all sense....acting..direction..script..cinematography.

Its surely one the must-see movies before you die.