All right! The three part final of Naalaya iyakkunar wound to a close on July 11th 2010. Here is a rundown of the important moments.
The remaining two short films were screened. Awards were given for the best film, actor.actress,director from the preliminary rounds. Finally the awards of the finals itself was given.
Oru shot by Tamilarasan
genre: Drama
The claim to fame of the movie was that a long single shot sequence forms the major part of the movie where the fate of the four protagonists unfold.
You have four abductors on the run with the kidnapped girl. The long shot captures their run and their encounter with police. If you expect a nerve wracking Bourne identity kind of gripping sequence you will be disappointed. The long shot was underwhelming to be frank. All four characters were talking at the same time for an extended amount of time. If it was to convey tension, all it did was to convey confusion.
Anyway, Pratap remarked that it looked like the climax of a movie and not a movie by itself.
Kathi by Sengottai Mohan
genre: Drama
The movie opens in a rural fair. Through some long shots and good aerial shots the ambiance is set and then the camera closes up on the item of real interest. The hero is demonstrating his skills at throwing knife. He has his girl friend (and adulteress) tied against the board. He methodically impales the board just near wrist, hip, knee, and even the rose as it drops from her lips. But when it comes to aiming a spot just by her neck, he misses it.
The camera cuts to a court scene and they try him on murder charge. They acquit him as the court concludes it was an accident.
This movie had its brilliant and not so brilliant parts. The opening shot and aerial shots set the ambiance very well. But it was tad too long. The knife throwing scene didn't get to the pulse-racing stage as soon as possible. It did manage to reach there eventually. But it was too little too late and the audience ( at least I) felt that I have been watching the movie for a long time without anything happening.
The court scene was the biggest letdown. You have witnesses coming and vomitting all the background information. If this scene had been improved a bit the movie could have done much better.
Naalaya Iyakkunar Awards
Best supporting Actor - Senrai of Color (a worthy award, I believe)
Best Supporting Actress - Baby of color
Best Actor - Bobby
Best Actress - Neelima
Best Film - Thabela vaasitha kazhuthai
Best Director - Karthik and Balaji ( A tie)
Naalaya iyakkunar Finals - Best short film awards
Third place - Oru shot by Tamilarasan
Second Place - neer by karthik
First Place - nenjukku needhi - nalan
I thought Balaji deserved an award despite his film in the finals being a little repetitive. But I was in full agreement on Nenjukku needhi being awarded the first prize.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Naalaya iyakunar Finals 2nd part July 4th
The finals continued with its second set of three movies today. Here is a brief description of each movie and my take on them
Aadu puli aatam by samuel mathew
Genre: Drama
You see a aged couple coming into the hospital. The wife is in labor. The couple is accompanied by their first kid - a girl of ten years old. The husband says to the wife , as she goes into the operation theater, that he does not mind the kid being being boy or girl. He just wants her to come out safe.
The scene cuts to two middle aged ladies coming to the hospital. One of them is in labor too. They get admitted to the hospital. Both the deliveries go well. The man and woman has a boy child. The other party deliver a girl child. The man goes to the other party and inquires about the new arrival. He says that the kid will be like Goddess Lakshmi and protect them. 'Teach her well. And she will be the light of your life.' The lady replies, we want girls only in our profession. Once she attains the age she will start earning.'
The scene cuts back to few hours earlier. And a twist is revealed.
Personally, I felt the movie was not well paced. Filler shots like operation procedure took up a good amount of time. Bad screenplay??
Neer by karthik
Genre: Drama
The movie has been shot in sea and actually in a boat. Two fishermen brothers, not in very good terms, and their elder relative set out for day's work. The younger brother resents the bossy attitude of the elder. Radio delivers the news of a depression in south and a general advise to the fishermen not to go south.
The younger brother chooses that day to assert his independence. He steers the boat to south against the elder brother's wishes.
Initially it proves a good decision. They net a lot of fish. Then they run into rough weather. Not literally though. The Sri lankan patrol force fires at them. The old man dies in the skirmish and the younger brother is wounded. The rivalry is forgot and the elder brother comes to the aid. He soothes the younger brother and goes up to get the first aid kit. We hear gun shots again.
The day dawns and we see the younger brother, severely wounded and probably dying, with the dead elder brother on his lap. The unmanned boat is drifting in the sea.
Personally, I felt that this movie was well shot. But unfortunately the tension never reached its crescendo. But a good movie, I thought.
Mittai Veedu by Balaji
Genre: Comedy
Balaji had directed 'kaathalil sothapuvathu eppadi' - a primer on love in colleges in the preliminary round. In finals, he came up with what looked like its second installment to the judges (at least to Pratap) and me.
The hero tells about his parents to the girl friend so that she can be prepared for meeting them. She confides to the camera that she is nervous as ma-in-law usually see the girl friends as usurpers of their rights.
The meeting takes place and we see that the ma-in-law is nervous too. She is afraid that if everything does not go well then the young couple will move away and she will loose her son and even the grand child when it is born. So she tries to go out of her way to make the girl welcome.
The underlying tension is resolved in the climax when the ma-in-law and the girl friend find themselves to be more alike than different.
I thought that this was a sweet movie. Hollywood movies seem to have left a big impact on Balaji. His movies are Hollywood like. Even in this movie you can see traces of 'When Harry met Sally'. There is a scene where you see a series of just-become-father's first reactions. And ditto when you see the kids resembling their parents. But I must admit that he has got style.
Naalaya iyaunar Awards
More awards were announced this week.
music composer - Vishal
graphics - The movie 'Ants'
best screenplay - Balaji (kaathalil sothappuvathu eppadi)
Which movie did you like? Leave a comment.
Aadu puli aatam by samuel mathew
Genre: Drama
You see a aged couple coming into the hospital. The wife is in labor. The couple is accompanied by their first kid - a girl of ten years old. The husband says to the wife , as she goes into the operation theater, that he does not mind the kid being being boy or girl. He just wants her to come out safe.
The scene cuts to two middle aged ladies coming to the hospital. One of them is in labor too. They get admitted to the hospital. Both the deliveries go well. The man and woman has a boy child. The other party deliver a girl child. The man goes to the other party and inquires about the new arrival. He says that the kid will be like Goddess Lakshmi and protect them. 'Teach her well. And she will be the light of your life.' The lady replies, we want girls only in our profession. Once she attains the age she will start earning.'
The scene cuts back to few hours earlier. And a twist is revealed.
Personally, I felt the movie was not well paced. Filler shots like operation procedure took up a good amount of time. Bad screenplay??
Neer by karthik
Genre: Drama
The movie has been shot in sea and actually in a boat. Two fishermen brothers, not in very good terms, and their elder relative set out for day's work. The younger brother resents the bossy attitude of the elder. Radio delivers the news of a depression in south and a general advise to the fishermen not to go south.
The younger brother chooses that day to assert his independence. He steers the boat to south against the elder brother's wishes.
Initially it proves a good decision. They net a lot of fish. Then they run into rough weather. Not literally though. The Sri lankan patrol force fires at them. The old man dies in the skirmish and the younger brother is wounded. The rivalry is forgot and the elder brother comes to the aid. He soothes the younger brother and goes up to get the first aid kit. We hear gun shots again.
The day dawns and we see the younger brother, severely wounded and probably dying, with the dead elder brother on his lap. The unmanned boat is drifting in the sea.
Personally, I felt that this movie was well shot. But unfortunately the tension never reached its crescendo. But a good movie, I thought.
Mittai Veedu by Balaji
Genre: Comedy
Balaji had directed 'kaathalil sothapuvathu eppadi' - a primer on love in colleges in the preliminary round. In finals, he came up with what looked like its second installment to the judges (at least to Pratap) and me.
The hero tells about his parents to the girl friend so that she can be prepared for meeting them. She confides to the camera that she is nervous as ma-in-law usually see the girl friends as usurpers of their rights.
The meeting takes place and we see that the ma-in-law is nervous too. She is afraid that if everything does not go well then the young couple will move away and she will loose her son and even the grand child when it is born. So she tries to go out of her way to make the girl welcome.
The underlying tension is resolved in the climax when the ma-in-law and the girl friend find themselves to be more alike than different.
I thought that this was a sweet movie. Hollywood movies seem to have left a big impact on Balaji. His movies are Hollywood like. Even in this movie you can see traces of 'When Harry met Sally'. There is a scene where you see a series of just-become-father's first reactions. And ditto when you see the kids resembling their parents. But I must admit that he has got style.
Naalaya iyaunar Awards
More awards were announced this week.
music composer - Vishal
graphics - The movie 'Ants'
best screenplay - Balaji (kaathalil sothappuvathu eppadi)
Which movie did you like? Leave a comment.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Naalaya iyakunar June 27 Finals 1st part
The finals took on the razzle dazzle and trappings of the entertainment programs lie maanaada mayilaada. I dont know whose idea was that.
There was even a item number like dance. And with the compere asking every aspirant finalist how they are feeling it was no wonder they did not show more than three short films in one hour.
But it looked like many bigwigs of kollywood had turned up for the finals including AVM Saravanan sir, K Balachander and Shankar.
So here is the round up of the first three short films that were shown on Naalaya Iyakunar Finals on June 27th.
Suyambu by suryapratap
Genre: Historical
A periodic film which takes a bit of effort from viewers to follow. The movie started out in dark and stayed chasing shadows for a long time. The story was simple. A brave soldier raises up in revolt against a tyrant. They make a surprise assualt on the tyrant's fort but is repulsed. The soldier is betrayed by his partners. His wife sis captured. The soldier frees her and then engages with the tyrant in a sword fight. The soldier is killed in the battle.
The movie cuts to a long shot showing the soldier's small son practicing sword fight. He is being taught by none other than his mother and the slain soldier's wife.
Madhan said that the biggest obstacle of making a periodical movie is that you have got to erect sets at huge cost. There is no way you can shoot a believable movie in dilapidated structures of today as suryapratap's short film was. He is probably right. But for me, the major irritant was the semi dark surrounding for the most part of time and the fact that the jumpy narrative. But it was a good effort overall.
anu annuvaai by ajay gnanamuthu of White magic pictures
Genre: Romance
The story starts with the hero in a reminiscing mood. He and his daughter are on the road in a car. In voice over we get to know of his love interest , anu, in school days. A blind school comes in focus and we get to see the hero and Anu, both blind. They fall in love. There is a small problem. The hero has a chance of getting back his eyesight by an operation. Few days before the operation, Anu falls ill. Hero gets his eyesight back but gets the news that Anu has passed away.
Cut to the present and the hero is back in the blind school and is able to see the nun, the class,the school. He asks for a photo pf Anu. But the nun says there isn't any. As he is going out the nun asks a woman on the sewing machine, 'Do you think what you did is right, Anu?' She nods.
The movie received a good round of applause from the crowd. Personally I felt that the romantic scenes didn't have spark. But the twist in the end made up for it. Again another decent film.
nenjukku needhi by nalan
Genre: Comedy
A poor guy is selling toys on roadside. Gangsters come and pick him up on the pretext that his blood donation saved their boss and hence they have come to repay for his help. They do everything to make his day a great one. Then comes the twist. He is taken to the hospital where the boss is and put in the bed next to him. He is told that the boss's heart is weak and his heart is going to be transplanted to boss. Then comes the climax. It is hilarious. You all should watch it in YouTube or wherever they host the clippings of the episodes.
Personally I liked this of the three movies screened today. Though it could have been shorter and sweeter the twist in the climax made that film worth watching.
Naalaya iyaunar Awards
They also handed out few awards in other categories. I think the decision was made on the basis of the movies of the previous rounds.
Best editor - alphonse puthiran
Best cinematography - manikandan
Which movie did you like? Feel free to talk about it here.
There was even a item number like dance. And with the compere asking every aspirant finalist how they are feeling it was no wonder they did not show more than three short films in one hour.
But it looked like many bigwigs of kollywood had turned up for the finals including AVM Saravanan sir, K Balachander and Shankar.
So here is the round up of the first three short films that were shown on Naalaya Iyakunar Finals on June 27th.
Suyambu by suryapratap
Genre: Historical
A periodic film which takes a bit of effort from viewers to follow. The movie started out in dark and stayed chasing shadows for a long time. The story was simple. A brave soldier raises up in revolt against a tyrant. They make a surprise assualt on the tyrant's fort but is repulsed. The soldier is betrayed by his partners. His wife sis captured. The soldier frees her and then engages with the tyrant in a sword fight. The soldier is killed in the battle.
The movie cuts to a long shot showing the soldier's small son practicing sword fight. He is being taught by none other than his mother and the slain soldier's wife.
Madhan said that the biggest obstacle of making a periodical movie is that you have got to erect sets at huge cost. There is no way you can shoot a believable movie in dilapidated structures of today as suryapratap's short film was. He is probably right. But for me, the major irritant was the semi dark surrounding for the most part of time and the fact that the jumpy narrative. But it was a good effort overall.
anu annuvaai by ajay gnanamuthu of White magic pictures
Genre: Romance
The story starts with the hero in a reminiscing mood. He and his daughter are on the road in a car. In voice over we get to know of his love interest , anu, in school days. A blind school comes in focus and we get to see the hero and Anu, both blind. They fall in love. There is a small problem. The hero has a chance of getting back his eyesight by an operation. Few days before the operation, Anu falls ill. Hero gets his eyesight back but gets the news that Anu has passed away.
Cut to the present and the hero is back in the blind school and is able to see the nun, the class,the school. He asks for a photo pf Anu. But the nun says there isn't any. As he is going out the nun asks a woman on the sewing machine, 'Do you think what you did is right, Anu?' She nods.
The movie received a good round of applause from the crowd. Personally I felt that the romantic scenes didn't have spark. But the twist in the end made up for it. Again another decent film.
nenjukku needhi by nalan
Genre: Comedy
A poor guy is selling toys on roadside. Gangsters come and pick him up on the pretext that his blood donation saved their boss and hence they have come to repay for his help. They do everything to make his day a great one. Then comes the twist. He is taken to the hospital where the boss is and put in the bed next to him. He is told that the boss's heart is weak and his heart is going to be transplanted to boss. Then comes the climax. It is hilarious. You all should watch it in YouTube or wherever they host the clippings of the episodes.
Personally I liked this of the three movies screened today. Though it could have been shorter and sweeter the twist in the climax made that film worth watching.
Naalaya iyaunar Awards
They also handed out few awards in other categories. I think the decision was made on the basis of the movies of the previous rounds.
Best editor - alphonse puthiran
Best cinematography - manikandan
Which movie did you like? Feel free to talk about it here.
Monday, June 14, 2010
naalaya iyakkunar 2 - contact address for short film submission
Those of you who want to participate in Naalaya iyakkunar 2. Here is the contact address
JV Media Dreams
194, G3 Golden Nest Apartments.
3rd pradhaana saalai, sri sai nagar
virugambakkam,chennai 600 092
Mobile 9884250666
This is what I quickly noted down as the credits rolled. Please drop me a comment if this address is not correct.
JV Media Dreams
194, G3 Golden Nest Apartments.
3rd pradhaana saalai, sri sai nagar
virugambakkam,chennai 600 092
Mobile 9884250666
This is what I quickly noted down as the credits rolled. Please drop me a comment if this address is not correct.
naalaya Iyakkunar - 13th June 2010 episode synopsis
I sat before the T.V hoping they would show the short films for finals. Instead they just introduced three more finalists. What a disappointment! But each finalist had a story to tell. I got drawn intot the program as they introduced each finalist. I was surprised to the extent some of these people have gone to pursue their dreams. I wish them all the best. And here is a quick round up of the finalists who were introduced on June 13 episode.
Karthik
He was an engineer in software company in Bangalore. He had planned to quit the job sometime in 2010 and pursue a career in films. When he saw the ad of 'Naalaya iyakkunar' in T.V, he switched the career. Apparently he had gone on some assignment to France and he refuesed to go again so that he can participate in this program
Nalan
He directed the short films 'nadanthathu yenna' and 'thurumbilum iruppar'. Both films were well received by the jury. The former is a comedy movie. The dismissed student brings a fake father to manipulate the principal into taking him back. The real father turns up just in the climax. Not a original plot, I know.. But it was funny enough. The later one is a humorous take of 'Devil's advocate', I think. I didn't get to see the movie actually.
Comedy is his forte.
Ajay
He is a wild card entrant. I believe he is a visual communications graduate. He looked the weakest of the three contestants. Let's see.
Who is your favorite finalist? Leave a comment.
Karthik
He was an engineer in software company in Bangalore. He had planned to quit the job sometime in 2010 and pursue a career in films. When he saw the ad of 'Naalaya iyakkunar' in T.V, he switched the career. Apparently he had gone on some assignment to France and he refuesed to go again so that he can participate in this program
Nalan
He directed the short films 'nadanthathu yenna' and 'thurumbilum iruppar'. Both films were well received by the jury. The former is a comedy movie. The dismissed student brings a fake father to manipulate the principal into taking him back. The real father turns up just in the climax. Not a original plot, I know.. But it was funny enough. The later one is a humorous take of 'Devil's advocate', I think. I didn't get to see the movie actually.
Comedy is his forte.
Ajay
He is a wild card entrant. I believe he is a visual communications graduate. He looked the weakest of the three contestants. Let's see.
Who is your favorite finalist? Leave a comment.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
kalaignar TV naalaya iyakunar finals on sunday, June 13, 2010
Yes, the finals of my favorite event is here. It was supposed to start last week itself. But they just showed the bio of the contestants who made it to the finals and then left the actual contest for the next week.
Watch this space. I will post the movies, details and my take on the short films as it unravels.
Watch this space. I will post the movies, details and my take on the short films as it unravels.
Friday, May 28, 2010
naalaya iyakunar (or naalaiya iyakunar??)
naalaya iyakunar is a talent show that comes on kalaignar TV. (a tamil channel). This is one talent show I watch. A show for the budding directors to showcase their talent, this resembles On the Lot. A theme is given every week and the contestants have to shoot a short film. The films are judged and the winner is declared. And every week a contestant is eliminated (or so they say. But usually it happens once a month :-))
The title of the show, naalaya iyakunar, means 'Tomorrow's Director'. Next years director might be a more apt title. The short films are really amatuerish. But once in a while you get to see reasonable movies. So it is worth the watch...
The person who makes naalaya iyakunar show worthwhile is Madhan. He is a well known figure in Tamil popular literature circles. Though he is not a director himself, I guess he is what someone can call as a discerning viewer. He gives very insightful comments about the short films. Sometimes you get to learn more from him than from watching the films.
But why dont they bring some well known directors like K Baalachandar, Mani rathnam or intellectual stalwarts like kamal haasan?
The title of the show, naalaya iyakunar, means 'Tomorrow's Director'. Next years director might be a more apt title. The short films are really amatuerish. But once in a while you get to see reasonable movies. So it is worth the watch...
The person who makes naalaya iyakunar show worthwhile is Madhan. He is a well known figure in Tamil popular literature circles. Though he is not a director himself, I guess he is what someone can call as a discerning viewer. He gives very insightful comments about the short films. Sometimes you get to learn more from him than from watching the films.
But why dont they bring some well known directors like K Baalachandar, Mani rathnam or intellectual stalwarts like kamal haasan?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)