Movie: Attakathi
Release: August 15, 2012
Actors: Dinesh, Swetha, Shali, Sophi, Ishwarya
Director: Pa Ranjith
Music: Santhosh Narayanan
Cinematography: PK Varma
Banner: Thirukumaran Entertainment & Studio Green
Producer: CV Kumar, KE Gnanavel Raja
Attakathi is the debut venture of Pa Ranjith, who had assisted director Venkat Prabhu. Studio Green has distributed this film which has been produced by Thirukumaran Entertainment. Since this film’s novel promos managed to garner the attention of the audiences, let’s check out how it fares…
The story begins in the year 2000… Hero Dinakaran (Dinesh) is from a middle-class family living in the Chennai suburbs. He pursues BA History course in a tutorial college after completing his higher secondary exams. Finding it difficult to clear the English paper for the fourth time, he joins the tutorial college. Since he has the habit of giving a huge build-up for every small issue which fizzles out later, he is fondly known as ‘Atta’ (Attakathi) among his friends.
While on his way to college, he gets to meet the school-going Poornima (Nanditha) on the bus. Falling in love with her instantly, he begins to follow her every day. The hero thinks that the girl will also reciprocate his feelings and goes to disclose his love but she gives him a shocker of life by referring him as ‘brother’.
Dinakaran, somehow, manages to get out of this love failure and meets Divya and Nathiya. Predictably, he falls in love with both of them. Pondering over which of the two girls would be suitable for him, he goes to give them a love letter only to get caught by the public and get a good thrashing.
A love failure again! But the hero, with his ‘just like that’ mentality, starts routing for the girl (Amudha) next door. Love blooms again… When he finally decides to disclose his love for her and goes to meet her with a letter, Amudha shocks him by giving a love letter asking him to deliver it to his elder brother. Now, that’s love failure once again.
Side-lining his craving for love, Dinakaran gets into the local gang war and becomes a hero of sorts. He also manages to complete his education and arrives in the city to study in a reputed college. At college, he turns a powerful guy. When life is good, his old flame, Poornima, enters the college.
What’s up next… Will he fall in love again and suffer a failure or will it be a success? This forms the second part of Attakathi. Though we have seen the college and love stories a numerous times before, director Pa. Ranjith’s innovative presentation makes Attakathi likeable. Showing the love failures in a comical sense is certainly pleasant.
Very natural dialogues, showing the hero’s friends in different get-ups before and after three years, realistic stunt sequences all have the director’s touch.
In Tamil cinema, if it is a film about friends’ gang, love failure, college life, it generally means happy-go-lucky drunken life. But there is not a scene which shows the actors drinking. The director certainly deserves applause for this.
What Works:
To cine-goers who are either used to seeing city or barren lands in films, the director has showed the life in suburbs. The bus journey in Attakathi is certainly a visual treat. Plain people, appreciable ‘Gana’ songs, Bus Day celebrations, all these have been captured well by the cinematographer VK Varma. Music director Santosh Narayanan and director Ranjith have extended all possible support for it.
The songs Aasai Pulveli and Aadi Ponaa Aavani manage to capture our attention. The same applies to the Nadu Kadalula, a youth Gana song.
The biggest plus of this film is characterisation. Dinesh is the right choice for the Attakathi character. Similarly, the hero’s dad, particularly in the drunken brawl scene and his wife who shuts him up. The heroines are not overtly beautiful and hence look natural for their roles. The hero’s friends. All of them are very natural in their performances.
What doesn’t Work:
Though there are a lot of scenes that makes the film likeable, some scenes are boring as well. It is good performance overall but the hero is doing the same thing throughout the film which makes it a tad boring. The twists in the film are too predictable. The scene in which the hero goes to disclose his love for the heroine and gets distracted by another girl doesn’t go too well with the audiences.
The music director has managed to come out with good song tunes but fails to impress with the BGM. In fact, the BGM sounds as a template throughout the film.
Verdict:
In total, though there are some shortfalls, Attakathi’s journey will be a youth Festival. Go and watch it…
Next post
The staple theme for Tamil movies is love, as in romance, is inevitable in one’s youth. ‘Attakathi’ takes it some more distance, depicting a never say die, young man, unfazed by ‘love failures’!
Though ‘Attakathi’ reminds one of innumerable movies made on love during school days/college days, what gets Director Ranjith kudos is his foray into the suburbs.Dinakaran, who struggles and struggles but fails to get through plus 2, has this ambition, though, of joining a college and study for B.A. (history) degree. His second goal, more intensely pursued, is to get married to only the girl of his choice, whom he wants to woo, himself, So he tries to fall in love with a school girl, Nanditha, who unfortunately doesnot reciprocate but treats him like a brother, much to Dinakaran’s chagrin.
Like his plus 2 attempts, our man embarks on his 2nd ‘love’ attempt, trying to woo Aiswarya, his relative.
Aiswarya, unfortunately, for Dinakaran, falls in love with Dinakaran’s brother! After 2 failed attempts, Dinakaran decides to stop trying to woo any more damsels, while at the same time he finally clears plus 2.
Having become eligible to join college, he joins B.A. and soon enough ( as it always happens in Indian movies) he becomes a leader and is the most wanted in college etc. Inevitably his first love, Nanditha also lands in the same college and he starts wooing her all over again.
However, Nanditha’s parents get wind of this and force her to drop out of college. Hero tries to meet her in her house, gets bashed up, but doesn’t mind, wants to marry his girl, at any cost, so decides to elope with her… While the hero and his cronies are at it, a shocking incident unfolds….
Go watch the movie to know more!
Debutant Dinesh as Dinakaran has done a neat job. Comedy or rather humour is written all over his face and his attempts to appear serious when his love falls flat, are so funny that the entire hall erupts into laughter! he also impresses in the ‘must have’ fight scenes.
Another debutant, Nanditha impresses too, getting a place in cinegoers’ heart in her first movie itself.
The other lovers – Aiswarya, Shaalu, Shobi – have done their bit, with Aiswarya standing out.
Velu and Meenakshi, Dinakran’s ‘parents’ have done their parts well too, with both doing their best to make the audience laugh, in particular, Velu with his ‘antics’. in an inebriated state Gana songs, ‘aadi pona aavani….. and ‘nadu kadal irangi kappala thalla mudiyumaa…. and singer Bala have been well received and another debutant Music director Santosh Narayanan has covered himself with credit too.
Credit should also be given to P.K. Verma, who wields the camera for transforming Manapakkam to Thanjavur.
In the midst of so many movies that look lost, pointless movies that are so boring, that they ‘wound’ you, ‘Attakathi’ is good time pass.