Q: What is common with 80's/90's commercial flicks and OSTHE? A: Everything. First Day First Show were always going to be exciting, especially if it is your first time the feel reaches boiling point. I was eagerly looking forward towards the brouhaha, the fan frenzy, the wolf whistles and everything associated with a typical First Day First Show. The movie started one and half hour late and it was not at all worth the wait.
The OSTHE stuff: 1. Rajapaatai trailer : This got the maximum cheer from the audience followed by Santhanam. STR comes third. It is the first time I saw the trailer. Chiyaan looks terrific, and I should catch this movie.
Santhanam- Apart from Santhanam, nothing is OSTHE in the movie. I have never been more grateful for this guy's presence in any movie. In other words, 'star value' of a movie can be replaced by Santhanam value. Nowhere have I seen an actor on screen who makes the audience clap automatically every time he mouths a dialogue. His comic timing, dialogue delivery, the comparison-rich one liners which are unbelievably original yet adulterated at times is second to none. It was a master stroke by the director to cast him and make him appear throughout the movie. Thank you Dharani, only for this.
- Richa Gangopadhyay: Richa actually contributes to 2 high points of the movie. Firstly, her presence. She is super hot and beautiful. The cinematographer clearly must have had a whale of a time capturing her raw pulchritude in the village costumes(Sonakshi who?!) But she still seems to carry over the Mayakkam Enna cardboard look, but who cares? Secondly, the song 'Neduvalli'- which is Richa's name in the movie. This number looks colorful on screen with STR's dance making it a visual treat. The song will remain memorable for Santhanam gimmicks trying to imitate STR at the end of the song.
Cinematography, location and art: Gopinath's camera work and lighting adds to the aesthetic appeal of the beautiful locations, though it does not resemble Tirunelveli at all (unless there exists one in the North)
The Not-so-OSTHE a.k.a NAASTHE stuff:
Introduction: Hey! You remember the yester-year films where they start with a flash back and villain introduction scenes etc.? Well OSTHE has the same. STR? No. I am not even going to talk about STR's opening scene. Given that watching those twenty odd minutes is an ordeal, I am not going to remember that now and describe how bad it was.
Stunts: Unless I get authentic information from someone that STR drank cartloads of Red Bull (which gives you wings) before shooting the action scenes, I don't see his constant leaps from one roof top to another in such a frequency justified at all. I can very well say this- No more Kuruvi Vijay taunts. STR has surpassed him by a mile.
Casting: STR- Let's face it. Dabanng worked simply because of Salman Khan. It is his star value, screen presence that made Dabanng a blockbuster and STR does not have any of that at all. It is like TR and Mumtaj cast in a remake of Pasamalar. Complete misfit- Yet, STR has done his best to do justice to the role of Osthevelan (Seriously! Is that even a name?!)
Nasser-sigh! What a performer. From Bombay he has been reduced to pouring water from bucket with his vest and dhoti on. (Thalamuzhugal act per se). Jithan Ramesh- He has pulled of his best performance after Jithan and still he is a weak link- blame it on the screenplay. It is sad to see him call STR 'anna'.
Story, Screenplay : Apart from the occasional sub plots there is nothing to brag about the story. Not even the letter 'n' in novelty contributes to the movie. There exists no subtlety which made the original version click. OSTHE was loud and is an extravaganza of glorified cliches.
Music: Thaman has gone from bad to worse. The foot tapping Osthe Maamey and the energetic Neduvalli are the highlights of the album. BGM scores and Re-recording passes muster. I have to say this- L.R.Easwari, Total Respect. Though no match for the picturization of Munni Badnam Hui, Kalasala sounds brilliant on screen thanks to the veteran's sleazy voice. The lyrics of this song and the visuals made me feel nauseated to say the least. If not for the 120 bucks, I would have left the theater.
The Villain looks better than the Hero. Well done Sonu Sood!
Dialogues: Dear dialogue writer, pulling in a dialogue from Shivaji to say ''Sivaji the boss, OSTHE the mass'' is plain stupid. Doesn't work a bit. It deserves a thousand facepalms. Added to this, is the mockery of the Tirunelveli dialect. Just adding a 'ley/la' to every usual Tamil word does not help. On top of this, hearing STR speak them was outright irritation guaranteed.
Bottomline: OSTHE is the movie that has managed to extract the maximum yawns from me. OSTHE is your quintessential test of patience. Not even Mallika Sherawat can save the movie.
- Comments
