Super Deluxe

Yet again thiagarajan kumaraja proved he is king in story telling. Starting from story, props, visual, BGM and every actor role were apt and movie is definitely worth watch for more than once !

'Super Deluxe' is everything you cannot have imagined by just knowing the title. With Thiagarajan Kumararaja at its helm, I did have high hopes. The writing duties were shared between the director, Mysskin, Nalan Kumaraswamy, and Neelan K. Sekar - all promising names in the industry. The cast featured Vijay Sethupathi (in the role of a transwoman as revealed from the poster), Samantha Akkineni, Fahadh Faasil, Ramya Krishnan, Mysskin, and more. Did they deliver? A colossal YES!

Super Deluxe is 'Pulp Fiction' for Tamil cinema in 2019. There are four different storylines happening parallel to each other, yet somehow connected in ways that you would not see coming. Each frame in the film boasts a colour palette that only someone like Kumararaja can come up with. The opacity is rich and saturated, the costumes match the backdrops well, and the colour tones employed by cinematographers Nirav Shah and P.S Vinod blend with the respective storylines brilliantly.

The screenplay will throw a good number of surprises (and twists) at you. It's too random to be placed into a single genre (or even two, or three!). The undercurrent of black humour is certainly there, but when the emotions take centre-stage, the viewer has no choice but to treat it with the seriousness that it whole-heartedly deserves. The list of whammies include someone dying during sex, a husband/father returning to his household in the most unforeseen way possible, a porn movie that had more than what its teen viewers bargained for, and lastly, the struggles of a wife (of a self-proclaimed godman) whose son has met with an unruly accident.

When it comes to performances, Super Deluxe holds nothing back. If we thought Sethupathi did not have any more challenging roles to do (we last saw him as Ayya in Seethakaathi), here comes yet another cracker of a show by him, conveying the troubles that a transwoman often has to deal with in our world. This has to be Samantha's best performance as yet, where she doesn't play second fiddle to a masala/sappy hero, instead putting forth an extremely layered act. Fahadh Faasil is tremendous as usual, playing the husband who has to deal with his wife's infidelity and the unlikely aftermath that follows. The actors who portray the schoolboys who decide to watch porn at home on a regular working day, certainly show promise.

However, the top honours go to Ashwanth Ashokkumar, the child actor playing the kid excited to meet his dad for the first time. This has got to be one of the most well-written, well-acted child characters in a movie in a very long time. He wants to prove to his friends at school that he's not a 'test-tube baby', and he does not care who or how his father has turned out to be in the meantime. And it is for this reason that the finale of this particular segment felt the most satisfying (and heartwarming at the same time).

Leela's (Ramya Krishnan) segment could have been edited better, but the aesthetics (just look at Arputham's prayer hall and how it has been designed) are impressive. Everything in the movie has been placed to impeccable detail - the police station set, the gangster's house that the boys barge into, the roadside walls (filled with movie posters and a parked lorry with rusted barrels and what-not) and many many more. When it comes to comedy, Mugil's (Fahadh) monologue with his wife's dead lover will surely leave you in splits. Berlin, the cop, has been played with the right amount of nastiness by Bucks.

This isn't your regular commercial potboiler - it's a film with substance, well-rounded characters, tasteful aesthetics, clap-worthy performances, a moving background score (by Yuvan) and subtle philosophy. Watch it with people who appreciate cinema for the flagrant/expressive art-form that it is.

Second Time: Watching it for the second time did feel a bit bored as the movie was very very slow paced, but there were few tidbits that I got to notice and few unnoticed background noises, music & dialogues. But still, it is definitely one of the differently best-made movies every in Tamil cinema.

First Time: Yet another pulp fiction kinda movie with 3 plots going in parallel with a wee bit of interesting link in the end along with a universal message that relates to life, relationships, sex, sexism, love and with a whole lot of other societal concerns. Yuvan's BGM is the SOUL of the movie. Camera angles/frames portrayed the environments realistically. Each and every characterization just feels so lively, shuttle performance by everyone. Most importantly, it starts and ends with sex. oooohhh... 😜

Masterpiece would be the perfect word to describe this cult movie. It holds you with curiosity until the last-minute and creates a great impact. All actors have played their part so well that they stay in our mind as characters of the film. Vijay sethupathi as Shilpa, he has given an extraordinary performance as usual. Samantha as Vembu proves that she is a star performer. The end voice over philosophy creates a greater impact and connects all the important dialogues in the movie which points to message that the director tries to conveys to the audience. Thiagarajan Kumararaja deserves National Award! Close to 3 hours movie without songs must watch guys!

No doubt Thiagarajan Kumararaja's Super Deluxe is one of the masterpiece and the cult classic film in Tamil. The moment I saw the posters of Park Chan-wook's Sympathy for Vengeance, Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill and a picture of David Lynch at the DVD Rental store in the film, I was sold, that's when I thought this is going to be full paisa vasool padam. You're getting a full package of four Film (since it has four different story) wrapped and served on a platter.

In one of the interview Thiagarajan Kumararaja said he's afraid to write and he's lazy. Seriously...? When he can create wonders like Aaranya Kaandam and Super Deluxe when he's afraid and lazy, just wonder what would be the outcome if he's not lazy or afraid.

Take a bow to the writers - Kumararaja, Mysskin, Nalan Kumarasamy and Neelan K. Sekhar for crafting such a phenomenal story across their views on life, relationships, love, sex and spirituality. And an extra effort made by Kumararaja to hyperlink those stories along With Idiosyncratic and Palpable characters.

Samantha as Vaembu, is one heck of a performance. For the fact, she wasn't the first choice for the character, many leading actresses had turned down playing Vaembu. And now I can say, no one else could have done it better than Sam, she's irreplaceable.

And our very own Makkal Selvan Vijay Sethupathi playing the transgender women Shilpa, the episodes between him and his son Rasukutty (Ashwanth Ashokkumar) Was so pure, for sure you will fall in love with that kid. Bagavathi Perumal as SI Berlin is one character where the audience will feel like thrashing him, Shilpa-Berlin and Vaembu-Berlin scenes, will definitely fill the rage in the eyes of the audience for its own reasons. Leela's (Ramya Krishnan) dialogue towards the end of the climax, will definitely hit you hard.

Fahadh Faasil as Mugilan, Mysskin as Arputham, Gayathrie as Jyothi and the four kids. You will witness some awe-inspiring performance by each and everyone, proving their caliber. Even the minor characters, has done some stupendous job in acting.

Once you understand Kumararaja, the same lengthy and boring scenes will now slowly transit to an interesting setting. Vinod and Nirav Shah cinematography elevates the story, the color pattern, the unconventional camera angles, along with the crisp editing by Sathyaraj Natarajan, I was spellbound.

If you've already validated 'Rowdy Baby' as Yuvan Shankar Raja best in career in terms of its quality treatment and popularity, then you must Watch Super Deluxe. As they say, there's something more than that meets the eye, U1 's sound design techniques is one among that. Every minute detail that you witness in his background scoring along with Illaiyaraja songs, is something which can be considered as the added bonus to your paisa vasool ticket. And the ride ends with the compelling climax.

If one can even enjoy the steady frame for more than 8 seconds and the silence within that. Then it has to be Thiagarajan Kumararaja's Film.