Re-Visit to 'Kodambakkam'

[If you are not a keen reader of this post, don't miss the next post. Even if you read thru this and share your views, don't miss the next terrible post].



The post title is not to mislead you that I am visiting my residence ('pettai') soon.

This post is on the upcoming tamil release 'Kodambakkam' which is once again on the issues of the southern tinsel town.

Yes..Director Jagan, who couldn't register his mark in his first venutre 'Puthiya Geethai' inspite of attractive casting of Vijay, Meera Jasmine & Amisha Patel, is back with a storyline on the agonies of an Assistant Director. This time he has entrusted more hopes on his story plus 'Punnagai Poove' Nanda, Diya (surprisingly as a village belle) and TejaShri.

The nearby pic taken at a photo shoot, doesn't really reveal an agonised assistant director's plight. However, I remember seeing some pics in 'Vikatan' few months back, which looked realistic with the hero with a cycle, walking on the streets... (!!). Trust the director really comes out with a nice story package, instead of depending merely on an attractive title. I have also realised that the Director (who was an assistant to Cheran earlier) has roped in several directors like Cheran, P.Vasu for certain director roles in the movie.

There were many movies released earlier on the tinsel town stories. Most of them made a mark in B.O. office, except few. I have listed some of them, from our DBI team's database. If you recollect some more, pl. share with me....

I can start with 'Raman Ethanai Ramanadi' which had Sivaji, KR.Vijaya & Muthuraman in the lead roles. I believe this movie which revolved around a humble village guy becoming big as an actor, along with his personal turmoils, was a big hit. (Pl. correct me, if you observe anything contrarily here..)

'Meendum Kokila' was an instant hit, with its comedy scenes and glamorous Deepa (the actress), Homely Sridevi & Kamal. I can still remember the scenes involving 'tossing of the seedai's at the shooting spot and 'Chinnanj Siru vayadhil...' song. Even now,it is a watchable movie.

Sujatha's novel turned movie 'Priya' based on the kidnapping of a film actress (Sridevi) and her rescue by our hero (Rajini) didn't talk much about the agonies of the film technicians. It just relied on the adventure portion of the story and used the glamour of the industry.

Nobody can forget 'Natchathiram' with Sripriya in the leading role. The movie was all about the struggles of a young lady who comes up in the movie industry as a leading actress, inspite of her personal problems. Being a subject on the glamour industry, many of leading stars did a cameo in this movie.. you can name them.. Sivaji, Rajini, Kamal etc.,

'Kallukkul Eeram' by BharathiRaja focussed on the industry from a different angle with so many new faces like Vijayashanthi, Aruna etc., Eventhough the movie didn't click in the Box office, BharathiRaja registered his face with a role in this movie.

'Manak Kanakku' by R.C.Sakthi, wouldn't have been noticed by many of you guys. As I had mentioned in some of my earlier posts, Ambika and Radha had really performed in this movie, which had a good story line on the personal lives of some film technicians. Rajesh was also in the cast. It had a decent run, eventhough I am not sure about the producer's coffers.

K.Bhagyaraj presented kollywood in a sugar coated story in 'Thaavani Kanavugal', where an unemployed youth becomes a movie hero unexpectedly and succeeds in his life. There were so much of expectations out of this movie, since it had Sivaji Ganesan and it was released just after 'Mundhaanai Mudichu'. But it didn't click that well in the B.O. as expected.

I remember, watching a junk movie named 'Cinema Cinema' as well, in which they ridiculed the actresses who don't know anything. They used to cut and paste the photos of the dance movements of the heroine and used to edit it continuously to show as if she dances. [In the recent days, directors don't bother whether the heroines really dance well or not. They manage to show some extravagant settings or nicely composed songs, to makeup the poor dancing skills of heroines.. like Vindhiya's in 'Sangamam' and Sada's in 'Anniyan']

'Kandukonden KanduKonden' in its glittering package had an aspiring youth, who wants to win the directorial race in the tinsel town. Eventhough, Kodambakkam played only a small part in the movie, Ajith and Pooja Batra played it out very well. It was a hit, not because of the story link to the tinsel town, but becuase of the glittering casting coup -- Aishwarya Rai, Tabu, Mamooty & AR.Rahman.

'Vinnukkum Mannukkum' which had Devayani as an actress, directed by her lover (at that time) husband Rajakumaran, failed miserably in B.O. - inspite of the leading cast Sarathkumar, Vikram & Kushboo. Anyhow, the true love story started in this movie....

The recent flick 'Maha Nadigan' was the height of all the hits, which ridiculed everyone in the industry. Satyaraj's dependence on his funny comedy and glamour girls Namitha & Mumtaz, favoured the movie to click in the B.O. So far, I didn't have a chance to see this yet....



Apart from the above movies, you had 'n' no. of other movies, where the hero or heroine used to play a small part in tinsel town.. like Bama Vijayam (Rajyashri), Payanangkal Mudivathillai (Mohan), Naan Paadum Paadal (Ambika), Raaja paarvai (kamal), Pudhu Pudhu Arthangkal (Rahuman, Janakaraj), Sigaram (SP.B), Mugavari (Ajith), Nilakaalam (Roja as actress in this Sujatha's novel directed by GandhiKrishna) ..... and so on.

Now,going back to the subject movie...
We need to wait and see if 'Kodambakkam' is a sugar coated glossy film or is really talking about the agonies of the film technicians. I doubt whether it will succeed, if it is not a nicely packaged story. Everyone in this movie - Director Jagan, Nandha, Diya, Tejashri - need a big break, since they have not yet made it in a big way so far. Can they do it? Let us watch out....


'Kosuru':
Sometime back, there was a rumour that Parthipan & Surya may join hands to do a film on another tinsel town story, which succeeded recently in Kerala. It is nothing but 'Udayananu Tharam' with Mohanlal, Srinivasan, Meena in the lead roles. If this remake really happens, it may be another better fare to watch.... Will this rumour become a fact? Any producers to take it? Will Surya consider this inspite of his current line up of 'Ghajini', 'Aaru' and 'Jillendru oru kadhal'?
173rd post