1 / 4 STARS
DIRECTOR: SHANKAR
ACTOR: ARJUN
ACTRESS: MANISHA KOIRALA
MUSIC DIRECTOR: A.R. RAHMAN
STORYLINE:
Arjun plays a T.V. news reporter (well, actually a cameraman, but he's promoted to head reporter, as if the jobs are related somehow), who interviews the Chief Minister (Raguvaran). He asks too many tough questions, and the Chief Minister, sickened, yells out, "I have a tough job! You try being CM for a day!"
And so Arjun does become CM for a day, and apparently he is a good one, even though all he does is dismiss everybody and at the end, arrest the original Chief Minister.
He falls in love with Manisha Koirala, a village girl, whose father is played by Vijayakumar. But Vijayakumar wants a mappillai with a government job (and apparently, being CM -- the ultimate government job -- doesn't count). So he says to Arjun, "You leave politics or you forget my daughter."
To make a long story short, Arjun is eventually forced into politics (after a rousing speech by Manivannan) and loses a lot. He loses his parents. He loses his lover. He loses the supposed essence of who he is. To eventually deal with Raguvaran's character, he has to lose his ethics (tit for tat).
COMMENTS:
I really don't know why this movie was such a big hit. OK, the basic storyline of a man sacrificing everything for politics is a neat idea, if done right. Shankar (who was brilliant with "Gentleman" and "Indian") does it all wrong. I never once felt sorry for Arjun, and thought his crying was kind of fake when his parents died.
I just think people in India are so fed up with politics, they like the idea of someone coming in and dismissing everyone else. (Another theory that I've been given is that what makes MUDHALVAN a good movie is the soundtrack and the way it's presented on the theater screen; I myself watched it on video). That's exactly what Arjun does, come in and dismiss everyone. He dismisses a whole lot of people, as if that would solve anything; he's just beefing up unemployment and tearing down a government that, at least, stands. This movie seems to say anarchy is the way.
The sentiment is rigidly fake. And every "normal Indian citizen" in the movie seems blindly stupid; they just follow Arjun blindly and make him their "thalaivar." And next time I see a pal-abishekham, I'd like to see it done on God, and not on a cinema actor, thank you very much.
I'm not an Arjun-hater. When I say I don't like MUDHALVAN, people say I'm prejudiced against Arjun. I'm not. I thought his acting in "Kurudhippunal" was excellent and that "Gentleman" stands as one of the finest classics in all of Tamil cinema history.
But this movie...
It was a hit for Arjun, but chalk it up as a boring movie for me.
NOTE ON THE MUSIC:
The songs were a big hit in India, though I didn't care much for them. One thing if you're a beauty pageant fan: former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen makes an appearance in the song "Shakalakka Baby." Lots of graphics done by Venky are used in the song "Mudhalvanae."
RECOMMENDATION:
I don't know. The majority of people seem to like it, and people like me who don't are a small minority. I guess if you're the type that doesn't care much about plausible storylines and just like the glitz and glamor, watch it in the theater. But if you look for something more from a movie, skip it altogether.
VIJAY VANNIARAJAN