As one who keenly follows Tamil films and being a die hard fan of both ARR and Mani Rathnam, I wasn't going to let go of the opportunity to watch PS1 on day one.
Having read the original story, I was indeed curious and eager to behold how the master film maker would unveil this masterpiece on the big screen. And boy oh boy; wasn't I disappointed?
The first half did hold the promise, the screenplay (with some crunchy dialogues borrowed from the original) was savoury, the casting was alright (if you are prepared to ignore the small matter of the age of the characters - obviously it's just a number), the music held its own and the cinematography shone through at least in parts.
But does the movie hold together? No. And that's a big no. It's a pack of cards flying all over the place, the makers trying to hold onto them together, sadly to no avail.
Disappointingly disengaging (for those who have read the original, just try and remember how engaging that was) unless you stimulate and force yourself to focus hard, outdated war sequences (incredible that such a stellar crew has stuck to the fossilized non methodical sword-spear-hand combat sequences) and a dismally sub par VFX (the climax fight was the worst of the sufferers, I believe) take off a big bit of sheen of what was supposedly a magnum opus.
Continuity errors and goofs galore, unexpected and unacceptable for the scale of the movie and the credentials of the team furthers the downslide.
Too lackadaisical an effort perhaps? Not deprecating whatever the effort has gone into the making of the movie, but yet given the magnitude of the task at hand, this was unpardonable.
A few frames here and there do stay in your mind, but for an adaptation of one of the greatest novels in Tamil history, regarding the movie as a masterpiece is belittling the original and the language itself.
It's an average movie if you are being too generous, nothing more.
Having read the original story, I was indeed curious and eager to behold how the master film maker would unveil this masterpiece on the big screen. And boy oh boy; wasn't I disappointed?
The first half did hold the promise, the screenplay (with some crunchy dialogues borrowed from the original) was savoury, the casting was alright (if you are prepared to ignore the small matter of the age of the characters - obviously it's just a number), the music held its own and the cinematography shone through at least in parts.
But does the movie hold together? No. And that's a big no. It's a pack of cards flying all over the place, the makers trying to hold onto them together, sadly to no avail.
Disappointingly disengaging (for those who have read the original, just try and remember how engaging that was) unless you stimulate and force yourself to focus hard, outdated war sequences (incredible that such a stellar crew has stuck to the fossilized non methodical sword-spear-hand combat sequences) and a dismally sub par VFX (the climax fight was the worst of the sufferers, I believe) take off a big bit of sheen of what was supposedly a magnum opus.
Continuity errors and goofs galore, unexpected and unacceptable for the scale of the movie and the credentials of the team furthers the downslide.
Too lackadaisical an effort perhaps? Not deprecating whatever the effort has gone into the making of the movie, but yet given the magnitude of the task at hand, this was unpardonable.
A few frames here and there do stay in your mind, but for an adaptation of one of the greatest novels in Tamil history, regarding the movie as a masterpiece is belittling the original and the language itself.
It's an average movie if you are being too generous, nothing more.