Boys

S. Shankar has gained quite a reputation for making expensive crapfest. I have only seen his 'Indian' and 'Nayak, The Real Hero' and loathe both movies (though they have great soundtracks and female leads). Little did I know that he directed 'Boys'. After watching the movie I must give him some credit for making something that is at least watchable.

'Boys' starts off as an entertaining teen flick following six teenagers but the story slowly progresses as the protagonists move into adulthood, a little too fast, and then the movie tackles various social issues. Themes like friendship, sex, censorship and injustice are well presented here. 'Boys' is considered a poignant film for the middle-class Indians.

The humour works very well. One can easily relate to the various situations the teenagers experience. However, the more intense sequences are loud and overdone. They appear theatrical and melodramatic.

A.R. Rahman's score is terrific. The visualization of the first two songs and the romantic songs is very poor. The special effects used in the songs are awful. The lyrics of the romantic songs are clichéd but the rest of the songs have great lyrics. I especially liked the last one, 'Secret of My Success'.

S.Shankar has cast an ensemble of newcomers and the five actors who play the title role, Siddharth, Nakul, Bharath, Sai Srinivas, and Manigandan, all perform very well especially in the comedic sequences but they ham it up in the more intense scenes. Genelia D'Souza is competent. Vivek is likable as the supportive Mangalam Sir.

'Boys' is almost three hours long and it could have used some editing. Yet, it's still an enjoyable watch despite the aforementioned as long as you have a working fast-forward button on your remote control. I'm surprised that the man behind abysmal tripe like 'Indian' and 'Nayak' came up with something more 'human'.

I had a chance to see a trailer of this movie in a cinema theater and it looked modestly impressive but I imagined that it would be the standard Tamil movie fare and thus not worth wasting precious time on.

A day before of its release, one of my buddies proudly flashed his first-day-first-show ticket at me. I wondered if this movie was really worth bragging about? Then I learned that it was by the same director and writer who made Indian (Hindustani), Mudhalvan, Gentleman, Kaadhalan and Jeans. The First three movies were really good and the first and last were Indian's entries for the Oscars, so I speculated that this movie "Boys" could possibly be good.

A few days after the movie released, it was was the talk of the Town and the entire college was raving about it. Every single discussion was about Boys, Boys and Boys. People bragged that they had seen it 6 times already and were going to see it again. It kinda was like the Itchy and Scratchy movie hype in a Simpsons episode. I finally got to see this movie in the cinema. When we went and asked if we could get a ticket, the salesman said that "It was Boys for crying out! House full". We had to grab some quick tickets in black. Unfortunately, all the controversies caused by this movie had lead to all sorts of censorship already.

First of all, one must congratulate Shankar for a very daring and bold initiative in Boys, especially given how conservative the people of Tamil Nadu can be. This movie is extremely sexually explicit and I believe that it even had nudity before the censor cuts. Shankars big mistake was to advertise this as a family movie which it certainly is not. Any parent who sees this movie, especially those conservative ones from TN, are going to be furious. I believe that this was what cost the movie its performance in Box office and commercial success. The audience of middle class teenagers and college students was simply not enough to ensure it a box office success.

Molestation charges There is one song "Girlfriend" in this movie which could possibly just fall under the category of eve teasing or even molestation by sex-hungry Boys. This is probably what caused the most disturbance and did not let people see beyond think, leading to very harsh criticism of the movie in many circles. I would also imagine that women would be a bit uncomfortable with the scenes shown, to say the least. However, they fail to realize that it was just one song which had that and that it was JUST A MOVIE.

Stupid People vs a Great movie

You gotta know that the general population of Tamil Nadu actually went on riots and burnt effigies of a single celebrity who dared to say that premarital sex was OK. They also burnt effigies of the single supporter she had. Such were the conservative and village minded people who Shankar had to unfortunately deal with.

It really made my blood boil to see that so many good scenes and dialog from this movie were cut voluntarily. I've seen this movie 6 times already and would kill for an uncensored version. In contrast, the people of Andhra Pradesh, famous for its modernity, loved this movie.

Technical Aspects

As with all Shankar movies, every single technical aspect from dialog to screenplay to cinematography is top notch and by far the best of all his movies and also on par if not better than every single Tamil movie out there. The dialog is hilarious and extremely creative. Its impossible to come up with stuff like that seen in this movie. Every single action and hilarious antic in this movie has its consequences which are shown and utilized till the very end.

The acting is super-realistic. Shankar really knows how to get the best out of everybody. The acting of every single person including every extra is superlative and draws you in deeply. The freshly introduced cast of Boys are amazing actors.

Shankar has really explored the teenage life and antics of the Boys. He has also effectively portrayed their perspectives of the world, their studies and their parents, who are generally not shown in very good light but like I said, it was extremely realistic and something many can relate to. The Screenplay is unbelievable.

Social Message

Who says that this movie doesn't have a social message? It has a very important one and that is Love and Passion vs Getting Settled in Life which every parent wants a quick solution to. Every conservative family wants to get their children settled in life as soon as possible but completely ignores the personal life and needs of the child. Its an extremely good message if one could just keep and open mind and see the movie till the very end.

Songs

I used to hate the songs at first but truth be told, they are awesome. After seeing this movie, I really started to like the songs and they had some true significance and relation to the plot. The songs were all super hits, done by none other than AR Rahman who unfortunately went and blabbered something about Boys running successfully only due to the songs, leading Shankar to ditch him for his unfortunate crapfest, Anniyan.

Conclusion

Indeed, Boys may not be for everyone and one really has to keep an open mind while watching it, especially if one is a woman. Teenagers should have no problems. Having said that, this movie is undeniably a ground breaker and a landmark film in Indian cinema. It is extremely under-appreciated in Tamil Nadu just because some of the sexually explicit stuff that the Boys do caused too much shock which presided over common sense.

This movie is awesome and a ground breaker when it came to Tamil Cinema or even Indian Cinema as a whole. What I cant figure out is how the director/writer came up with all the stuff seen in this movie? He must have interviewed hundreds of college going guys throughout Chennai and studied their life very carefully. The ideas here are pure genius and typical of Shankar, even if too controversial. Sujatha also writes dialog for most other Tamil films but only when it comes to Shankar's movies does the dialog really stand out. Shankar has the ability to bring out the best in every performer, actor and writer, even extra. Even if Mani Ratnam makes more realistic movies, Shankar is the better director for being far more creative in his work. For example, the "Malgova Aunty" scene and dialog threw me off the chair. I was on the floor. If you don't like this movie, then you're

a) Completely retarded b) A conservative c) From a mofussil background d) All of the above

If only Shankar could be as creative as he was in this movie, in Anniyan which was absolute crap in comparison. I don't think that even Shivaji would be as good as Boys. I hope that after Shivaji, Shankar makes Boys-2.

Most of the criticism surrounding Boys more or less relates to Shankars traditional story lines with high morals and family entertainment. Boys in far from a family movie and it is perhaps the most sexually explicit Tamil movie to ever come out, without actually having any nudity after censorship.

Boys is thus something one just cannot watch together with the family as most of it concerns the sexual adventures of 5 Boys, all newcomers, putting in superb performances. Now, while people who consider themselves morally upright and strict may find this embarrassing, most of the actual teenagers of India will actually be disturbed at how accurately it depicts what they actually do, without their parents knowing.

Boys will be Boys and that needs to be accepted. Society is'nt as squeaky clean as one would like to believe. First the teen, especially college going, audience will be disturbed, then thrilled and then appreciative. This made the movie a success in the cities but a lot of revenue actually comes from conservative suburbs and villages where people viewing will not have a clue of whats going on since the movie reflects the behavior of mostly, socialite urban populace.

But with Shankar's style and AR Rehman's music, Boys is certainly a superb movie if you don't have any of the reservations discussed above. It does'nt have a great storyline on the line of Indian, Mudhalvan etc but Shankar injects quality into each and every scene, making this movie highly enjoyable from the beginning to the end. Its just sheer bloody fun and genius.

This is a first of its kind teen drama in Tamil. Puthiya paadhai, indru poi naalai vaa,pudhiya mannargal, kadhal desam have equal share of teen drama but not raw enough like Boys. The visionary of youngsters predicted in 2003 is brilliant.

Vikatan wrote 'Chiiii' on its first page but now giving reviews to trash like Iruttu arayil murattu kuthu, hara hara mahadevaki, zombie etc in the name of A movie.

This is a gem for many reason. Everyone starred in this movie got a better life. Panjum panjum sernda thappu, Dating, Barbie doll anime, 6 ambitioous people starting a music brand, getting sony sponsor, Mtv shows oh my god a lotttt of things that people doesn't even knew existed.

This movie was spoiled by the boomer 80s kids who objected this like its a sin for people to enjoy their life, elope, find their way in life.

The audio track of this movie is a GEM. This is a dictionary book for electrifying music. Even after 20 years the songs are so fresh and enjoyable. I'm a fan of 'Ayyappan' song. Most underrated. Just look at the artists in this movie - Karthik, Tippu, Sunitha Sarathy, Adnan Sami, Blazze, vasundra Das, Clinton, Lucky Ali uffff...🔥 Secret of success is such a motivational song.

The main story is 5 teen boys who are controlled by their parents wants to break the chain and live a free life. One of them falls in love with a girl, supported by their friends, plans to elope. To get their life going they opt in for their interest of life - starting a music band named 'Boys'. Remaining of the movie describes the adventures they go through, downfall, struggles in life on the way to success.

Vivek gets a great credit to this movie. He motivates them, advises them, helps them, lateral thinking etc. Sendhil appears for just 2 scenes in the movie but explains Data and Information concepts - Information is wealth.

I still gave 8 rating only because of the obscene scenes which are not needed in the movie. Those scenes almost dilutes what director wants to convey. If those portions were edited, this movie might make an impact.

Let kids be free. Let them go out of house, let them try new things, let them learn life on their own, let them figure out their future that's all its about.