/* */ Hi Pal.. Film4thwall has been moved to PIXMONK - my new home :).: Gilly of Gully :)

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Gilly of Gully :)

Fine entertainment from the Sharks and Rockers teams.



When did you laugh out loud while watching a movie ? If you can't remember, just watch this movie, even if you have watched it already. Luckily, in Tamil cinema industry, we have so many good films based on humour. One such gem is 'Chennai - 600028'.

I still wonder the guts of Venkat prabhu and SPCharan to convince SPB to produce this movie. Either they have narrated him and explained extremely well or they just gave a try. I would rather assume the first one, as the script is so convincing to believe whatever shown on screen.


The movie starts with SPB's voice over giving an an introduction about gully cricket and what can be expected from the movie. [ as in NILA NIZHAL novel by Sujatha - He once visited Srinagar and observed kids playing cricket on a frozen lake. That inspired him to write a novel with cricket background and of course he was a good player too ].

Story

Cricket is the life of the story, with 2 rival teams [ Sharks and Rockers ] involved in it. Rockers Raghu moves from Royapuram to Visalakshi thottam [ Sunnambu kaalvaai ]. The cricket ground rivalry gets in to the ground as well as their personal lives.What happens then is the story. As SPB narrates in the beginning, the friends go through intimate friendship, love, joyful moments, rivalry, dances, celebration, fights, problems and above all CRICKET.

At one time or the other, we all have played cricket [ at least book cricket :) ] or been to ground saying so. With cricket as the main ingredient, the writer slowly assembled the story in bits and pieces. In fact, its a combination of events rather than a story with some purpose. Hats off to the script and dialogues [ not only Venkat Prabhu - his associate Saseedharan and Sripathy - always repect the team work ]. The beauty of the narration is that all the prime characters were introduced in the first 12 mins of the movie.

The first credit goes to SPB who took a bold decision to produce this movie. The sports movies are always told seriously in most of the cases. First time, they have combined cricket and humour. We have watched variety of humour ranging from Kali N Rathnam to 'lollu sabha' santhanam. This type of humour doesn't fit anywhere what we have experienced earlier [ Even the crazy Mohan dialogues ]. A set of friends talk and through out the movie [ almost ! ] I never felt that they speak some written dialogues. I heard once that Venkat prabhu asked the crew to chat casually and captured some of the wits came out of the conversation. Also, the characters get equal opportunities to enact their roles [ including the character Rockers team captain John ].

Dialogues are used with almost freshness without looking for the grammar of cinema dialogues.. [ Somebody hits the ball outside the ground and Siva going out to get the ball says pOdaa poramboku :) ]. I remember my school friends used to utter the best available tamil words, damaging the entire family, if a catch or 4 is missed.

Editing needs a special mention as the lengthy game cricket can't be shown over by over in a movie. It would be different for other games [ 10 round boxing was interestingly edited in 'Cinderella man', children's cycle race in 'Children of heaven' - Adhaane.. endgadaa kanamenu nenachen :) ] but it's really tough to edit a cricket match [ thought it's 15 overs ] by showing the gist of the match. The credit goes to Lenin sir.

Yuvan Shankar raja has done a fabulous job with his songs. My favourites are " Un paarvai mele pattaal [ What a song , Vaali at his best as usual ] - Vijay Yesudoss ", "Yaaro - SPB" and of course 'Saroja.. saamaan nikaalo' [ beautiful dance number.. A simple catchy line used by a setji in Mudhalvan ]. Premji Amaren apart from his casual role, has taken care of the background score. Equal to YSR, he has done a fantastic job - he is very brilliant in choosing some old movie songs and music [ Pothi vacha mallaigai mottu, Aboorva saogodharargall sad theme, sax theme for Arvind's love, guitar for a break in friendship, yaaro theme for another love, cricket theme ]. All the music used in the background easily fits the visuals, just like a glove.

Sometimes, a clever crazy Mohan dialogue or a catchy timing of Prabhudeva might be easily missed in a movie. Similarly, when I watched it first time, I couldn't follow much of 'Badawa' Gopi's cricket commentary. Second time, I was able to capture them and listed here. The dialogues are so natural.

என்ன‌டா இன்னைக்கி க்ரவுண்டே ஜிலோனு இருக்குது..

அந்த‌ர் ப‌ண்ணிட‌லாம்டா ம‌ச்சான்

" உத‌டு கிட்ட‌ வ‌ந்து டைம் என்னானு கேட்டா ம‌ச்சி.. ::: ஏய்.. வாட்ச் இன்னா வாய்ல‌யா வ‌ச்சிருந்த.."

"அறிவில்ல‌... :::: இதோ பின்னாடி தாண்டா இருக்கான் "

த‌ம்பி.. டாஸ் ஜெயிச்சிட்டீங்க‌.. சொல்லுங்க‌.. ஃபீல்டிங்கா..ப‌வுலிங்கா..


Snippets from Badawa Gopi's cricket commentary.


முல்லை பெரியாறை விட‌ பெரிய ஆறு.. [ Sixer :) ].

‌ள‌த்திலே ப‌ள்ள‌மில்லை என்றாலும் ம‌ட்டையைத் த‌ட்டி த‌ட்டி..

கௌரி ஆன்ட்டி வீட்டு எண்ட்லிருந்து..திருப்ப‌தி ல‌ட்டு போல‌ ம‌ஞ்ச‌ளாக‌ ஒன்று வ‌ருகிற‌தே.. அதை தான் நீங‌க‌ள் அடிக்க‌ வேண்டும்

வெற்றிக் க‌னி ஜூஸ் வ‌டிவில் வ‌ருகிற‌து..

இடுப்பில் ட‌ய‌ர் வைத்திருக்கும்.. இஞ்சி இடுப்ப‌ழ‌க‌ன் ம‌ட்டை வீச‌ வ‌ருகிறார்..

ஐஸ்வ‌ர்யா ராய் நேரில் வ‌ந்து ந‌ம‌து சுமார் மூஞ்சி குமாரை எப்ப‌டி ஐ ல‌வ் யூ என்று சொல்ல‌ முடியாதோ.. அதே போல‌ 15 ஓவ‌ர்க‌ளில் 135 அடிப்ப‌து ந‌ட‌க்க‌ முடியாது.

Coincidentally [ God promise-aanga ], I happened to travel with Venkat Prabhu in the same Indian Airlines flight from HYD to Chennai [ IC936 -6.30 AM]. He was accompanied by another guy [ Asst director ] narrating a fight story between a police man and an army man [ VPrabhu paavamga.. 6.30AM flightla pasila kadhai kettu vandhirupaar ]. I had approached him and told that I watched Chennai - 600028 for the third time and it was so refreshing. He accepted the appreciation very humbly and told that the movie GOA will be ready for Diwali release.

the best dialogue is

லெக் சைட்ல‌ போட‌த‌டா.. ஆஃப் சைட்ல‌யே மைன்டைன் ப‌ண்ணு.. அடிக்க‌ரறாணுங்க‌ன்னு தெரியுதில்ல‌.. ம‌ச்சி .. 32 ர‌ன் தாண்டா அடிச்சிருக்கோம்.. பாத்துடா.. ப்ளீஸ்டா..

ஏ.. அவ‌ன் எப்ப‌டி போட்டாலும் அடிக்க‌றாண்டா !


:)
-Toto.

7 comments:

  1. Toto,

    You have created an interest in watching the movie. The review is good in the sense that it outlines the story line without telling the story.

    Thanks

    Venkat

    ReplyDelete
  2. A very good movie and an equally good review. it is really a refreshing movie with a different story and a wonderful narration. you have selected the highlights of the movie well, i also liked the scene where Raghu cries inside the bathroom after moving to the new (rival) location. Illavarasu also deserves special mention; of course the show stealer is Premji.
    Couple of Gilma scenes and songs would have been avoided… (kurainu onnu sollanume).
    The best dialogue is as you have noted (but in the reverse -

    ஆப் ஸைட்ல‌ போட‌த‌டா.. லெக் ஸைட்ல‌யே மைன்டைன் ப‌ண்றா.. ம‌ச்சி.. 32 ரன் தாண்டா அடிச்சிருக்கோம்.. பாத்துடா.. Pleasedaa .
    ஏ.. அவ‌ன் எப்ப‌டி போட்டாலும் அடிகக்க‌றாண்டா ! ) and also the climax is untimate…

    ReplyDelete
  3. Reviewing Chennai 28 is a big challenge...except repeatedly re-emphasizing that it is a must watch movie....Moreover, most of the comedy scenes are contextual and hilarious....

    You have done a good job....Premji losing bet with school kids in beach is amazing piece of comedy which will leave everybody in splits....

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Krishna. You are correct and I have changed the dialog sequence. More than Premji, I liked 'Radio Mirchi' Siva.. Before the bet match, 7malai tries to call the school boy's father and he gets the voice msg 'This service has been bared from you cell phone..'.. Understanding his look, Siva says.. 'Doctor busyaa machaan.. aamandaa busy-yaa dhaan irupaar ' and his mokkai kavidhai with 'SELVI' :) .

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Kathir.. We used the dislogues in our office cricket match (tennis ball ).. Ye.. Unix team-kaaran eppadi pottalum adikaraan.. Machaan'. The movie has equal amount of suspense element in the narration. A perfect climax for a light movie.

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  6. i liked 'Saroja' more than Chennai -28. saroja was racy.quite witty.i was able to appreciate the sense of humour in both films ofcourse.but repeat viewing may help in picking up some moments which v miss first time.i felt the end was a bit abrupt. the production team deserve praise for taking up such an off beat theme and bringing out a watchable film.atleast 4 of the main characters are doing well in the current market.

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  7. Thanks Rajan.. Saroja was another surprise package from Venkat Prabhu team. I like both the movies. We'll discuss about Saroja some time later.

    ReplyDelete