On Thani Oruvan

               The surprising thing about Thani Oruvan is, its not a remake.When I learnt about the actor-director combination ('Jeyam' Ravi and Raja) naturally assumed this must be another one of those Telugu remakes which they did a lot from 2003.[Jeyam(2003),M.Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi(2004),Something Something Unakum Enakum(2006),Santhosh Subramanyam(2008),Thillalangadi(2010)].

Though the above films were commercial success and did a lot to boost Ravi's carrier,it did nothing to boost the image of Dir.Raja, as these were xerox copies of their Telugu counterparts.His only and one original movie Velayutham(2011) was an average and rumored to be an unofficial remake of a Telugu movie.

But Thani Oruvan is fresh.The outstanding acheivement of the movie is its antagonist Arvind Swamy. As Siddharth Abimanyu, he gives one hell of a terrific performance.I wouldn't want him as my enemy.So we have to appreciate the guts of Mithran(Ravi) who chooses him as his enemy not by chance but by choice.

The movie is all about the cat and mouse play between Siddharth and Mithran. Siddharth is scientist who runs a medical mafia and kills who ever on his way and the son of state minister Sengalvarayan(Thambi Ramaiya).This father-son duo is one of the best in recent Tamil Cinema.Mithran is an IPS officer fresh from academy and an orphan.We are hooked up in the movie till last minute investing in the fate of Siddharth and Mithran with the help of lots of twists and turn in the screen play.

Nayanthara as Mahima succeeds in not irritating the hell out of me whenever I see a heroine pining away for the hero and vice versa.Nothing much.
The back score and songs are okay but not that much catchy.

Jayam Ravi as Mithran  has done a decent job. But the fact is he does not have much of screen presence. Aravind Samy as Siddharth beats him by miles in performance.I have enjoyed tiniest bit reactions of Arvind than a full page dialogue delivery of Ravi.

Raja has done a good job in explaining that the Hero beats his enemy not because the villain is a damn fool but has made a mistake.Watch movie for that said mistake. The movie could have toned down the violence level,the torturing of Jana,an IPS officer is very much disturbing to say least.Not sure how they secured 'U' certificate in censor board.

Mithran seems to be the embodiment of goodness and preaches a lot.He advises heroine,his friends then even the villain a lot. No wonder he fell in love once the heroine started advising him for a change. But we dont feel the same fire he feels. A star with more charisma on screen might have done the role better.

A good movie and worth watch for Siddharth Abimanyu and Mithran.

On Slytherin

Every Harry Potter reader and movie goer knows Slytherin is the evil house of Hogwarts. Its not hard,considering we are hit over the head by the blunt statements of our protagonist's friends from the starting of his diagon alley journey about the evilness of Slytherin.

Here's what Hagrid says when Harry asks about Slytherin,

‘Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin,’ said Hagrid darkly. ‘There’s not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn’t in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one.’

So Harry's first impression is he better be a Hufflepuff who are duffers(in Hagrid's opinion) than a Slytherin.The pale boy whom he has disliked in Madam Malkin(Draco Malfoy),who has reminded him of his cousin Dudley seems wanting to be a Slytherin..blimey the murderer of his parents Voldemort was a Slytherin!!!

His first friend Ron Weasley says this on the train,
I don’t suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin.’ 
‘That’s the house Vol— I mean, You-Know-Who was in?’ 
‘Yeah,’

So no wonder Harry was prejudiced against the house from the beginning..no wonder he begged the sorting hat not to put him in Slytherin.

As its from Harry's POV,we too jump the bandwagon. It doesn't help that Draco Malfoy,Severus Snape and Voldemort are all from Slytherin.:-) 


More than Voldemort,Snape and Malfoy fuels Harry's anger against the snake house.In Chamber of Secrets Harry worries for days about his may-be-blood relationship with Salazar Slytherin and his suitability in Gryffindor.If a Boggart lesson takes place in CoS before Harry meeting Demontors,his biggest fear might be Salazar  Slytherin as boggart calling Harry ''My dear Grandson'':-) :-) 

Harry's mentality is justified.After all he is a 11 year old boy.Who ever is nice to him means 'good'.Infact we are not introduced to one nice Slytherin(not good,nice) till HBP when Horace Slughorn comes along. Even then Harry is not that much fond of Slughorn. 

House cup rivalry and Quidditch matches have added fuel to fire.Pure blood supremacy which degrades Muggle born students as 'Mud bloods' is perhaps the breaking point of the already waned relationship between both houses.

Despite all these things, I am sorted into Slytherin,the house we all hate along with our hero Harry Potter, in PotterMore -J.K.Rowling's official website.

That's right. I belong to the house of Snape and Malfoy who are pretty much my least favorite characters in the entire series.But I have to defend my house or perhaps my personality which qualifies me as a Slytherin. The question is not why,but How.

TBC

On Harry Potter

       There are things we enjoy,that made great impact on ourselves that we simply can't imagine our life without it..My friends may roll their eyes at me for this dramatic statement..I hardly blame them, because they had to endure with my obsession during our school days.(infact I inflicted my obsession on quite a number of people!!!)

      If its still not clear from the title, I'm talking about my beloved Harry Potter series by J.K.Rowling...that is I'm not a fan of Harry potter movies,only books.(unlike some of my friends)..

             I watched first two movies to get my imagination of characters and wizarding world right..I spent the last of my teenage years immersing in the wonderful Hogwarts..
Though in the later years I understood,magic didn't solve anything but created many problems along the way..but where is fun,with out trouble??(for us to read anyway).

             When I got tired of reading the books again and again(I know,I read that many times),I discovered the wonderful world of fan fiction:-) 

               Though you have to swim across thousands of garbage to read one decent story, its worth our time..I got addicted to fan fiction for some time and started seeing the characters in grey shades than my previous version of black and white.. When my favorite characters are shown to be imperfect,I accepted it and admired them for their flaws..after all I don't want to read about Heroes but normal human beings who are pushed to such extremes..

              Quiet a rant..isn't it???