2 States - Movie Review

  There are some habits which makes you wonder why on earth you left them. One such for me is Blogging. When my last post said Apr 2012, I realized that I have been away for too long! So, here is the first of hopefully many-s to come.

Genre: Romance/Drama
Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Amrita Singh. Ronit Roy, Revathy, Shiv Kumar Subramaniam
Direction: Abhishek Varman
Music: Shankar Ehsaan Loy

After 'Hello', '3 Idiots' & 'Kai Po Che', another Chetan Bhagat novel has transcended to silver screen with a great support from the masses. This time, it is '2 States', the real life story of Chetan's marriage to his wife Anusha.

The story involves a college couple from two different cultures of India falling in love while studying together in IIM Ahmedabad. Arjun Kapoor plays Krish Malhotra, a Punjabi boy and Alia Bhatt is Ananya Swaminathan, a Tamil Brahmin Girl. Like all the college romances, it becomes the responsibility of the lover duo to make their parents accept this relationship and get them married.

Arjun says in the movie, 'The girl's parents have to like the boy, the boy's parents have to like the girl, then both girl's & boy's parents should like each other and by the end of this process if some love remains, they get married'. It was never an easy task when the boy's mom is typical Punjabi Mom (Amrita Singh) who regards all South Indian as Madrasis and a grumpy father (Ronit Roy) who had not been in good relation with his son for years. The girl's family (Revathy & Shiv Kumar Subramaniam) is equally difficult to subdue - An orthodox Tamil Brahmin family with cliched affiliation towards Carnatic Music and Degree Coffee.

With goals set and plans awry, how Krish & Ananya persuade each other's parents and convince them for the marriage marks the journey of the movie till the end credits.

The plot of the story is a giveaway as the book got released 5 years back but the way the director has adapted it to a family entertainer demands a big round of applause. Also the casting was near perfect with all the actors delivering good performances. Me being a Tamilian, I felt Alia Bhatt didn't look like a real Tamil Brahmin but she did pull off the role naturally compared to the attempts of other North Indian Heroines to act as Tamil girls.

Songs composed by Shankar Ehsaan Loy complimented the story-line and the placement of the songs were spot-on. Background score was also handled well with the Chennai related scenes having a South Indian Classical touch. The pace of the movie gets slowed down as the second half switches to a melodramatic mood. Art Direction also deserves a mention  for creating a good replica of a Tamil Brahmin Household and grand wedding setups.

This movie is definitely worth a watch and a good weekend entertainer.
For Chetan Bhagat fans, this would be a good experience of seeing one of their favorite novels on screen.

Rating: 3.5/5

Verdict: An honest adaptation bolstered by some good performances

Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of the picture published. It is used in this review as a supporting element and never intended for any copyright infringements

Why I admire Madhan Karky ?

Karky - A name which was only known to me as the author of widely acclaimed book "The Mother" - Maxim Gorky! Then came the audio launch of "Endhiran" and the name Karky became popular in Tamilnadu. This time it was Madhan Karky. To be honest, it was first the name that grabbed my attention before Madhan Karky's lyrics. And, from then it has been a journey of pleasant surprises and enchanments through the songs for which he has penned the lines.

Madhan Karky is a tamil film lyricist [or rather lyric engineer!], software engineer, dialogue writer and also an Assistant professor of Computer Science department at Anna University, Chennai. Being quite a multifaceted personality, he has enthralled me in at least more than one portfolios among the above. And, why can't he do that with such an elan, he is the son of Kaviperarasu Vairamuthu.

So,when I came to know that he has written some songs for Endhiran, the expectations were of high standards and yes, he exceeded the expectations with his "Irumbile Oru Idhayam" number and the count has now exceeded beyond 75 songs.

Let me put down my most favourite 5 songs of Madhan Karky and the specific lines which made me think this is special.

1. Irumbile Oru Idhayam - Endhiran

A robot acquires the knowledge of human emotions and guess how it would react if the first emotion it feels is the kiss of a beautiful girl. This song captivates the exuberance of a robot in love and rightly so, the lyrics has been interspersed with a lot of techie stuff. Some samples,

• "பூஜ்ஜியம் ஒன்றோடு,பூவாசம் இன்றோடு" - Robots are primarily computers whose commands are made of Zeros (பூஜ்ஜியம்) and Ones (ஒன்று)
• "கூகுள்கள் காணாத தேடல்கள் என்னோடு" - Reference to Google
• "என் நீலப் பல்லாலே உன்னோடு சிரிப்பேன்" - நீலப்பல் - Bluetooth
• Memory-யில் குமரியை தனிச் சிறை பிடித்தேன், Shutdown -ஏ செய்யாமல் இரவினில் துடித்தேன்! Sensor எல்லாம் தேய்த்தே நாளும் உன்னை படித்தேன், உன்னாலே தானே என் விதிகளை மறந்தேன்!! - Final lines about the Three Laws of Isaac Asimov 

2. Ennamo Edho - Ko

This song is featured in a situation when a  photo journalist is in a dilemma to express his love for his colleague. This song became a smashing hit and there was a great deal of discussion about the meaning of the words "Kuviyamilla Katchipezhai". 

And that line is

"ஏனோ குவியமில்லா குவியமில்லா ஒரு காட்சிப்பேழை! ஓஹோ உருவமில்லா உருவமில்லா நாளை!!" - குவியமில்லா means Out of Focus and காட்சிப்பேழை is a visual device like a monitor. 

His feelings for her are like an out of focus image in the display screen of the camera. How good is that for a simile!!

 3. Nee Korinal - 180

Another beautiful composition which is in the form of a puzzle. In the movie, Hero gets numerous birthday presents for his girl and hides them at specific locations. The clues for the locations are in the lyrics. For example,

• தீயே இன்றியே - நீ என்னை வாட்டினாய்! உன் ஜன்னலை அடைத்தடைத்து பெண்ணே ஓடாதே! - Location is a Microwave Oven
• ஓடும் ஓடும் அசையாதோடும் அழகியே! - Clock

4. Ask Laska - Nanban

Even before Nanban, Karky had ventured into writing foreign language songs for tamil films like "Continua" - 180 & "The Rise of Damo" - Ezhaam Arivu.

Ask Laska is a song of similar genre where the pallavi is created with the word love in 16 different languages.

அஸ்க் லஸ்கா ஏமோர் ஏமோர், ஐ அஸ்த் அஸ்த் லைபே!
அஹாவா போலிங்கோ சிந்தா சிந்தா, இஷ்க் இஷ்க் மைலே!
லவ் இஷ்ட ப்ரேம ப்ரேம ப்யாரோ ப்யாரோ ஒரு காதல் உந்தன் மேலே!!

 அஸ்க் - Ask - Turkish, லஸ்கா - Laska - Slovak, ஏமோர் - Amour -French/Spanish,

ஐ - Ai - Chinese, அஸ்த் - Ast - Icelandic, லைபே - Liebe - German, அஹாவா - Ahava - Hebrew, போலிங்கோ - Bolingo - Lingala, சிந்தா - Cinta - Malay, இஷ்க் - Ishq - Arabic,

மைலே - Meile - Lithuanian, லவ் - Love - English, இஷ்ட - Ishtam - Telugu, 

ப்ரேம - Premam - Malayalam, ப்யாரோ - Pyaar - Hindi, காதல் - Kadhal - Tamil

Some more words & lines that captured attention:

• "என் நெஞ்சில் நாடிமானி வைக்க, காதல் காதல் என்று சொல்ல!" - New word நாடிமானி - Stethoscope (The Heroine is a medical student)
• "தேஜாவூ கனவில் தீ மூட்டினாய்!"- First time, I am seeing the word Déjà vu being used in a Tamil song
• "முக்கோணங்கள் படிப்பேன் உன் மூக்கின் மேலே, விட்டம் மட்டம் படிப்பேன் உன் நெஞ்சின் மேலே!" - New way to learn Geometry by Lovers! :P
• "நீ கொல்லை மல்லி முல்லைப்போலே பிள்ளை மெல்லும் சொல்லைப்போலே!!" - What a wordplay!

5. Azhaippaya - Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Eppadi

 This song just takes you back to the memories of our college life. Waiting for the call from girlfriend, Imagining what we will be discussing, what will I be speaking and what will be her reactions and all other sweet nothings. This song shows the desperation of the boy to receive a call from his girlfriend and the lines are perfectly placed to bring out these emotions.

• "காலில்லா ஆமை போலவே காலம் ஓடுதே!" -ஆமை=slow then காலில்லா ஆமை! Time is so much slow paced when she is not with him!
• "இங்கே உன் இன்மையை உணர்கிற போது, ஒரே உண்மையை அறிகிறேன் நானே." - New Word "இன்மை" means Emptiness/Absence
• "நான் என்ன பேச வேண்டும் என்று சொல்லிப் பார்த்தேன், நீ என்ன கூற வேண்டும் என்றும் சொல்லிப் பார்த்தேன்! நான் அத்தனைக்கும் ஒத்திகைகள் ஓடவிட்டுப் பார்த்தேன், நீ எங்கு புன்னகைக்க வேண்டும் என்று கூட சேர்த்தேன்!!" - Just what we would have encountered during our college days!
• "அழைப்பாயா? அழைப்பாயா? தவறாமல் அழைப்பாயா? தவறாக அழைத்தாலே அது போதுமே...! அழைப்பாயா?" - He is so desperate that even if she calls by mistake, he will be happy! 

The above mentioned songs not only made me admire the composition but also induced me to do a line by line analysis of the lyrics!

Apart from this, Karky is also instrumental in spearheading Computer Science based Tamil Language projects in Tamil Computing Lab (TaCoLa) of Anna University.

Check out these links:

www.agaraadhi.com - Online Dictionary

www.agaraadhi.com/game - Onlne tamil games for Children

Madhan Karky has brought in some creativity in writing tamil songs which has captivated the imagination of this generation and also, introduced new tamil words to the public which many of us were not even aware that they existed. Looking forward to many more blissful songs from the pen of Madhan Karky!!