jsataluri

Thiruchitrambalam is an enjoyable feel-good movie from Dhanush, who floundered in Tamil after the duds of Jagame Thanthiram and Maaran, but gave a fantastic performance in the charming, but problematic Bollywood movie Atrangi Re. Mithran Jawahar delivers a simple, lifelike entertaining yarn of a movie which keeps you invested in the middle-class life of Thiruchitrambalam Jr aka Jr Pazham (Dhanush) and his relationships with his grandfather Thiruchitrambalam Sr aka Sr Pazham (Bharathiraja), estranged police inspector father Neelakandan (Prakash Raj) and his childhood best friend Shobana (Nithya Menen).

The plot is predictable, but its heart is in the right place. The director keeps the charming mood going throughout and there aren't any dull moments. The music fits in well, especially the tracks "Megham Karukkatha" which has a nice 50s music and dance style to it and Kanneer Sindha sung by Vijay Yesudas.

While Raashi Khanna and Priya Bhavani Shankar get the typical generic heroine roles as the failed love interests of Jr Pazham and don't have much to do, it is the chemistry between the lead 4 that makes this movie special. It's a cakewalk for Dhanush as he effortlessly plays the boy next door with a traumatic past. Bharathiraja is hilarious and amazing as the grandfather and Prakash Raj brings another dimension to his acting prowess as the guilt-ridden father. Stealing the show from all 3 male leads is an effervescent Nithya Menen who just lights up the screen whenever she's there. Her range of expressions are excellent throughout and you can't look away. As I mentioned in my earlier reviews of her movies, she is an original natural talent who will be remembered as one of the best actresses of her generation.

Please do watch this movie!

7.5/10.

Madhavan makes his directorial debut in Rocketry, a biopic based on the life of Nambi Narayanan. I don't need to write anything about the plot as it's already been covered by most of the reviewers.

We need to understand that most if not all biopics have to take creative liberty with their subjects so that it engages us as a movie goer. Otherwise, we would be better off watching a documentary. In recent times, we have seen Indian movie biopics take major creative liberties to make their subject larger than life. Sometimes the makers have to change the characterization of their subject; for example, instead of portraying GR Gopinath as his original Brahmin identity in Sudha Kongara's Soorarai Pottru, it became a story about a downtrodden Non-Brahmin named Maara who rose up and became one of the most powerful Indian airline leaders because it needed to fit Tamil sensibilities and appease Suriya fans. On the other hand, you have hagiographies like NTR Kathanayakudu/Mahanayakudu where the protagonist is basically God and that can never go well.

Here Madhavan veers between biopic and hagiography. We see Nambi Narayanan from his early days in ISRO to his elder days. His dedication towards science, space and to his country is commendable. He is so totally dedicated to his job that he will not stop until he's fully satisfied. But he is made to become as this all-knowing superhero genius who can solve everything. Nobody else has anything to contribute around him; they just surround him and applaud his ideas as brilliant. Despite a couple of scenes where his dedication and determination does cost him a slight bit of his human soul, he barely has any flaws. Maybe the real-life Nambi was like this, but the over glorification of the character is hammered hard in our skulls without any nuance.

And that's the main reason why Rocketry fails to explore the human side of Nambi. We don't get to know more about him as a person, what made him tick, why he was like this, etc. We get some interesting James Bond espionage type scenes, but because the screenplay glorifies him so much, we don't feel the struggle and humiliation he went through; it just feels hollow. Nor do we get to know his family, his mentors or his friends. They are just satellites surrounding him.

A lot of technical jargon is thrown at us and while I'll say that while it is indeed educative and important, you can't bore the audience with it. The pacing makes the movie feel longer than it is and there are a lot of emotional manipulation where the BGM just tries to overpower you with these loud moments that just don't stick, plus the editing is not slick enough to make you care.

Having said the above, it is still a story that needed to be told and Madhavan is the sole reason you should watch it. Though he does not fit the role of a 27-year-old student in the beginning portions due to his age (despite still maintaining his good looks), he embodies Nambi Narayanan very well from his 30s all the way until his elderly days. He has put in a lot of hard work and love into this portrayal and despite the hagiographic nature as I earlier mentioned, he does make the character watchable. The real Nambi Narayanan makes an appearance towards the end, and it was good to see him speak in his own voice.

On the other hand, the rest of the cast don't have any role to play and it's sad to see Simran, Misha Ghoshal (a talented actress), Karthik Kumar (who reminded me of Atul Kulkarni), Rajiv Kapur/Ravi Raghavendra and Sriram Parthasarathy wasted in underdeveloped roles. While there is some dignity given to the non-Indian actors where they speak their own languages instead of being dubbed in Tamil or Hindi, the less said about them the better. Neither Suriya (Tamil) or Shah Rukh Khan (Hindi) impress in their cameo.

Sirsha Ray also deserves credit for the cinematography which helps engage the viewer somewhat and the CGI isn't so bad.

Overall, while the majority of people may be inspired and wholly satisfied by this labor of love by Madhavan to Nambi Narayanan, others will feel disappointed that the making did not do justice to the human element of the man. Despite my problems with the movie, I'm glad it was told and it's strictly a one-time watch movie thanks to Madhavan. He is one of the rare actors who cares about his audience and wants to give them good concept and content-based movies. He doesn't fully succeed here, but he did at least engage me somewhat. Hope he improves in his next directorial feature and continues to give appealing content with better form throughout his career.

6/10.